Help I need lighting coral advise

Walam5858 · 08/29/2014, 02:34 AM

Ok so here's the deal today I awake to find my corals looking bad recently I changed from 8t5 bulbs to my current setup of 4 120 watt led set up I will post pics
My frogspawn won't open up and my lobo has lost all his color and my acan looks like crap I'm scared I'm going to lose them all I did a 15% water change just to be on safe side as just incase I was missing something in water testing!

Water parameters are as follow
Temp 79.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
Alk 8.4 if I remember correctly
Calcium 340
Maganisum 400 I know this number is way off and don't know why hence water change !
Phosphates less than .20
What am I doing wrong
Here are some bad pic. Of today and of yesterday

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zachfishman · 08/29/2014, 04:22 PM

You're probably zapping them with too much light. That happens to many reefers when switching to LED - because the LED light is so direct, what looks like the same brightness can be significantly more light for the coral.

I'd dim your fixtures down 50% and wait for things to recover before slowly ramping things back up.

Walam5858 · 08/29/2014, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zachfishman

You're probably zapping them with too much light. That happens to many reefers when switching to LED - because the LED light is so direct, what looks like the same brightness can be significantly more light for the coral.

I'd dim your fixtures down 50% and wait for things to recover before slowly ramping things back up.

Thank you for the response do you think now that I have backed them way down the LEDs I did that last night so it has been set on low all day today,from the pics that I posted does you or anyone think I did fully killed them off or cam I possibly save them?

dmStewy · 08/29/2014, 08:07 PM

+1 on diming you lights.
I had a similar experience when I switched to LEDs. Also your cal. Is low and your mag. is almost 1000ppm lower than it should be. Although I don’t think the water chemistry is the issue.

Walam5858 · 08/29/2014, 09:46 PM

Yea it was my bad my mag was off on my reading of it lol not in the tank it's closer to1350
I switched back to my 8 bulb t5 setup and things are slowly recovering,thank god.

But now my issue is do I have to many units I have 4 in total over a 75 gallon tank and even when I have them down to 30% power things still look like they are burning!! So now what do I do should I just use 2 units and place them higher over the tank to compensate for the lack of coverage the 2 units alone put out and that should help with burning of the corals rite? Am i on the right track of thinking? Or should I just stick with what I know in the t5 unit? Are the LEDs worth the headaches in the end? And thank you everyone for all the advise and feedback!!!

Walam5858 · 08/29/2014, 09:48 PM

Oh and does anyone think that I did too much damage already to the coral or will they fully heal if taken care of rite?

08/29/2014, 02:34 AM	#1
Walam5858 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 27	Help I need lighting coral advise Ok so here's the deal today I awake to find my corals looking bad recently I changed from 8t5 bulbs to my current setup of 4 120 watt led set up I will post pics My frogspawn won't open up and my lobo has lost all his color and my acan looks like crap I'm scared I'm going to lose them all I did a 15% water change just to be on safe side as just incase I was missing something in water testing! Water parameters are as follow Temp 79.6 Ammonia 0 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 0 Alk 8.4 if I remember correctly Calcium 340 Maganisum 400 I know this number is way off and don't know why hence water change ! Phosphates less than .20 What am I doing wrong Here are some bad pic. Of today and of yesterday g/image/4svnjvwgh/][/url]

08/29/2014, 04:22 PM	#2
zachfishman Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: St Petersburg, FL Posts: 3,577	You're probably zapping them with too much light. That happens to many reefers when switching to LED - because the LED light is so direct, what looks like the same brightness can be significantly more light for the coral. I'd dim your fixtures down 50% and wait for things to recover before slowly ramping things back up. __________________ Patience is a reefer's best tool. Secret Xenia lover. M.S. Marine Biology Staff - Marine Discovery Center, St. Petersburg FL Tampa Bay Reef Club BOD 2018 Current Tank Info: 34g modded Solana

08/29/2014, 08:07 PM	#4
dmStewy Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 105	+1 on diming you lights. I had a similar experience when I switched to LEDs. Also your cal. Is low and your mag. is almost 1000ppm lower than it should be. Although I don’t think the water chemistry is the issue.

08/29/2014, 09:46 PM	#5
Walam5858 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 27	Yea it was my bad my mag was off on my reading of it lol not in the tank it's closer to1350 I switched back to my 8 bulb t5 setup and things are slowly recovering,thank god. But now my issue is do I have to many units I have 4 in total over a 75 gallon tank and even when I have them down to 30% power things still look like they are burning!! So now what do I do should I just use 2 units and place them higher over the tank to compensate for the lack of coverage the 2 units alone put out and that should help with burning of the corals rite? Am i on the right track of thinking? Or should I just stick with what I know in the t5 unit? Are the LEDs worth the headaches in the end? And thank you everyone for all the advise and feedback!!!

08/29/2014, 09:48 PM	#6
Walam5858 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 27	Oh and does anyone think that I did too much damage already to the coral or will they fully heal if taken care of rite?