Chalice/War Coral/Favia Problems

[JLyons827]

Been at a loss for words lately as I've been trying to figure out whats up with my 57 Gal Deep Blue with 2 Prime HDs. I am able to keep torches, plates, elegances, rics, mushrooms, 3 bubble tips, and various other livestock doing great and growing but for some reason acans, chalices, leptastrea, war coral, and favia never make it. I have other tanks so I move them into my Biocube 32 with stock hood and they all seem to come back but in the big tank they fade and fade pretty fast. New frags last a day or two before receding and me having to pull them. Tested everything myself as well as went to have it tested at a local store and all levels are great besides my alk and mag being a tiny bit low(minimal if anything). Anyone ever experience anything like this? I turned my lighting down to max out at 80%(was at 100 before) so hoping that will change something but was just wondering if anyone has come across a similar issue. All inverts are good and have even tested for cooper with negative results.

 

[DangerDave]

There could be many causes. Can you post your test results?

 

[JLyons827]

Thanks for responding!
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10
Alk-7.5
Mag-1250
Cal-450
Temp-78.5 deg
Copper- Negative
Light Schedule-Ramp up from 11AM-2Pm Full 2PM-7:00 Ramp down 7:00PM- 1030PM

Please let me know if you need anymore info!

 

[Trio91]

how high were your lights above the water line? at 100% intensity, without measuring PAR, you'd have to be (IMO) atleast 16-24'' above the water line.

That high intensity seems like you could be cooking your corals

 

[JLyons827]

They are on flex arms so I without being exact I would say 9-10” off the water. Do you think 80 is still too high? I have blues set to go between 70 and 80 at full light and white at 35% at highest. Maybe around 60% would be better?


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[Trio91]

if the tank is less than 2ft deep then I'd say yes, I think 100%- 80% was way too high. I'm also assuming that you had most of the corals placed Midway to High -up on your rock work.

Even though you are giving them mostly blues, the intensity of the light is still up there.

What do you have left in the tank? If its mostly LPS then yea, I'd top off at around 50-60% max as far as the intensity goes. The Fish n Inverts will not be affected by the light so no need to worry on that end.

If you don't want to play around with the settings, you can just raise the light and still keep it at max output, you'll just need to deal with light spillage

LED lighting guide 2017

 

[JLyons827]

The tank has all lps, Zoas, and mushrooms besides one monti frag I just got but that’s high up so I think I’ll lower it down again to max at about 60%. Many many thanks. Went from t-5 to led so not really used to how strong they really are


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[Trio91]

yea LED's have alot of horsepower to the control factor on them can also become an issue.

I hope it works, your other parameters seem to be ok, so i'm taking a shot and assuming its the light.

 

[JLyons827]

@trio91 Do you know if anyone from the executive board is going go be at the meeting this weekend? I want to join as a regular member and it's super close to me so hoping that will be something that will work

 

[Trio91]

Myself and @ecambero and the Treasurer @julie should be there. You can join now through the forum http://www.njreefers.org/account/upgrades if you like.