Removing - Sol Nano LED!?!?!?!

[reesestewww]

I'll start with saying maybe I need to give it more time? I don't know, but that's why I'm posting. I purchased a Sol Nano for my BC29 in December. After about 3 weeks my tank feel apart, lost all my SPS corals and now nothing seems healthy. It's been debated that I had the Sol Nano at too high of a setting. I had a massive RTS event, which again has been debated, can that be caused by light change? I do not know, that's why I ask, but the answers have been "yes" and "no", so who knows? Now after 2 months of trying to get the lights to a proper setting I feel like I just want to place the T-5's back ontop of the tank. Below are pictures of the current state of my Corals (what's left of them) I'd like to hear what your opinion is. Too much light or too little light?

 

I had great growth and a very healthy established tank under the T-5's. The only reason I wanted to switch to LED's was to hopefully richen the color as well as add some natural shimmer to the tank. But its been a complete distater. I'm sure some of you all can understand the desire to revert back to something that what was once successful.

 

Nothing is at is was now as it was under the T-5's. I'm certainly hope you all don't think I'm digging on the LED's, I'm just hoping for some guidance. What to do? I've also attached a pic of my current LED schedule.

 

For those that will ask, I do weekly water changes, clean RO wanter salt mixed with Red Sea Coral Pro Salt. As of today my chemistry is the following:

SG- 1.025

PH - 8.0

KH- 10.1

Ca- 450

PO4, NO2, NO3, NH3 - 0

 

 

Brain Coral starting to do weird things

 

Zoo's and Mushrooms reaching for light at peak lighting, but I've also been told they're shading themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you in advance for any direction and encouragement you may have!

[jera891]

My thought is that things might not be getting enough light. But I could be wrong. See what others say

[reesestewww]

My thought is that things might not be getting enough light. But I could be wrong. See what others say

 

Thanks Jera891,

 

I was just looking at pics of the tank when it was happy and healthy, what a difference....

 

The only thing that changed from when the tank was great, to now, are the lights......

[tattooeryan]

Ive had the same light for about three weeks now. i have it over a 6gal tank with close to the same settings as you. My corals all look great! i think you need to give it some more power. do it slowly over the course of a few weeks and i think you will notice an huge improvement. that is a small fixture for that tank. Good luck! also, how high do you have the fixture from the surface of the water? the stretched out shroom is a dead giveaway of not enough light.

[Dani3d]

wow, watermelon and radioactive green zoanthids should have a very short body, and these are stretching to the point I have never seen...so I would say NOT ENOUGH light.

 

The watermelon in my tank have almost no body as they are very short...no matter at the top of the tank or at the bottom. I once found some frag of it that had fell behind a rock and did not receive enough light and it was like yours. I have 250 watt metal halide 24" deep.

[reesestewww]

Ive had the same light for about three weeks now. i have it over a 6gal tank with close to the same settings as you. My corals all look great! i think you need to give it some more power. do it slowly over the course of a few weeks and i think you will notice an huge improvement. that is a small fixture for that tank. Good luck! also, how high do you have the fixture from the surface of the water? the stretched out shroom is a dead giveaway of not enough light.

 

Thank you Tat. I'm using the AI Bracket.

 

[Electrobes]

Definitely looks like the corals aren't getting enough light, I've not seen coral stretching like that in a while.

[SnakPak]

Definitely not enough light. Zoas and mushrooms stretch like that when they are not getting enough light. Based on your lighting schedule, I would either lengthen the peak intensity time or increase the intensity during that time. I have my AI Sol at 30% across the board from 10am to 6:45pm. I haven't played much with my light schedule yet, but everything seems to be reacting very well so far.

[JDK]

Read this thread. Good info here:

http://web1.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2109573

[reesestewww]

Read this thread. Good info here:

http://web1.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2109573

 

That's an interesting thread. My take away from it, is there's no right answer with LED's.... Not inspiring as I watch my corals die.....

[chunk78]

If you give up on Nano. I am in the market...just PM me

[reesestewww]

I bumped my peak 5% and everything has closed. So frustrating!!!

 

 

[SynRG]

Not sure how long you have had your NANO, but I 95% sure that your corals are not getting enough light. I had my NANO over BC29 too and had similar timers, intensities, ramps and photoperiod as you currently do when I first put it on the tank. I bumped up my intensity 5% every week and a half to 2 weeks and observed my corals reactions closely. I kept pushing it and got my peak up to 060/065/065 on my main daylight timer, but it was only at peak for 1hr. Everything responded well until I went this high. I then backed it down to 050/055/055 and things were happier. i dod not have any SPS though. Just Zoas and LPS. Hope this helps. Hard to say what is the exact right thing to do as all LEDs are still pretty experimental. I'd say to keep raising 5% on your daylight timer every 1.5-2 weeks up to say 50% and observe things VERY closely.

 

Also I see your using RedSea Coral Pro Salt but your parameters look better than mine did while using it. I found it had very high Ca and Kh. At one point my Kh was 14 and Ca was 500 with no dosing and 20% WC every week. I switched back to Reef Crystals and parameters came back in line after a few WC. I would not recommend changing a lot of things until you get your corals happy again, but take keep a close eye on your parameters and have a LFS do a Ca and Kh test for your too just to make sure your results are accurate.

 

Hope you get things figured out. These are great little lights, but I just think you have yours set too low... good luck and please keep us posted.

 

One other observation is that I only had my Whites on starting at 12PM and ending at 4PM. Maybe consider shortening your total time that the whites are on by lowering or turning Wh off on T3 and T5 while simultaneously increasing the intensity of all W/B/RY on your T4.

[iball1804]

They're just adjusting, like after a movie and the lights turn on suddenly, you squint and close your eyes to regulate the light input. That's what they're doing. Slowly crank those LEDs week by week, and you'll be fine in no time.

[reesestewww]

They're just adjusting, like after a movie and the lights turn on suddenly, you squint and close your eyes to regulate the light input. That's what they're doing. Slowly crank those LEDs week by week, and you'll be fine in no time.

 

Thank you for the reply. Do you think that it still applies (that the coral are squinting) even though they were not completely open under the lower light?

 

 

Not sure how long you have had your NANO, but I 95% sure that your corals are not getting enough light. I had my NANO over BC29 too and had similar timers, intensities, ramps and photoperiod as you currently do when I first put it on the tank. I bumped up my intensity 5% every week and a half to 2 weeks and observed my corals reactions closely. I kept pushing it and got my peak up to 060/065/065 on my main daylight timer, but it was only at peak for 1hr. Everything responded well until I went this high. I then backed it down to 050/055/055 and things were happier. i dod not have any SPS though. Just Zoas and LPS. Hope this helps. Hard to say what is the exact right thing to do as all LEDs are still pretty experimental. I'd say to keep raising 5% on your daylight timer every 1.5-2 weeks up to say 50% and observe things VERY closely.

 

Also I see your using RedSea Coral Pro Salt but your parameters look better than mine did while using it. I found it had very high Ca and Kh. At one point my Kh was 14 and Ca was 500 with no dosing and 20% WC every week. I switched back to Reef Crystals and parameters came back in line after a few WC. I would not recommend changing a lot of things until you get your corals happy again, but take keep a close eye on your parameters and have a LFS do a Ca and Kh test for your too just to make sure your results are accurate.

 

Hope you get things figured out. These are great little lights, but I just think you have yours set too low... good luck and please keep us posted.

 

One other observation is that I only had my Whites on starting at 12PM and ending at 4PM. Maybe consider shortening your total time that the whites are on by lowering or turning Wh off on T3 and T5 while simultaneously increasing the intensity of all W/B/RY on your T4.

 

SynRG,

 

Thanks for all you help. I used to have SPS's, now only one, so I guess we're with a similar setup. Did you ever have your corals looking like mine? Stretching for light? Do you just think I've backed it down for too long?

[BOMBreef]

First off I'm sorry for your losses and frustration.

 

Looking at your pictures it definitely shows your corals aren't receiving enough light. I just bough a SOL blue about a weeks ago and set my peak at 30%. Already I've bumped it up 5% because my zoas are stretching and I'll bump it up another 5 later this week if it continues.

 

I think your problem was keeping them at a 35% max for only 3 hours a day with a 3 hour ramp for over 3 weeks (that is barely any light), and not reacting to the corals response to low light.

 

With you recent increase of 5% and your zoas response I'd say keep an eye on it an when they open up give them a couple days and bump it up 5%. If you see any problems lower it back down.

[Trick]

you're sure it's not the water?

[reesestewww]

you're sure it's not the water?

 

Yes. See OP.

[Dani3d]

+1, I think they missed light for so long that now they need to readjust to it.

 

I think your problem was keeping them at a 35% max for only 3 hours a day with a 3 hour ramp for over 3 weeks (that is barely any light), and not reacting to the corals response to low light.

 

With you recent increase of 5% and your zoas response I'd say keep an eye on it an when they open up give them a couple days and bump it up 5%. If you see any problems lower it back down.

[SynRG]

SynRG,

 

Thanks for all you help. I used to have SPS's, now only one, so I guess we're with a similar setup. Did you ever have your corals looking like mine? Stretching for light? Do you just think I've backed it down for too long?

I started around 25/25/25 which I feel was much dimmer than the 150W Halide I switched from. I had a feeling that this was a little too conservative so I bumped it to 30/30/30 after week 1. Then I brought it up every 1.5-2 weeks 5% so by the first month or so I had it at 40/40/40. Kept bumping up till I got to 65%, but then backed it back down to 55%. We only have these things 3-4" AWL with the stock arm for I think that acclimating to around 55%-65% on the BC29 seems about right. I never tested PAR so it is pure speculation. If you have SPS, then you'd probably want to keep raising it and watching the reaction very closely. hope you get it dialed in. Just steadily bring up your intensities. I think your corals will start responding positively.

[tokendog]

As someone who has had the AI Sols for a few months and went through the same thing as you, I can say without a doubt that your corals are asking for more light. I have my lights 12 inches AWL and my peak intensity is 70%. These lights put out a lot of par, but there are a lot of factors that go in to the correct settings for your tank.

 

You are fortunate in that your corals are making it clear to you EXACTLY what they want. More light. I started at 20% across the board and my Zoas were stretching like that and actually dying off. It was a slow process but they were disappearing and shrinking in numbers.

 

I said screw it and upped my peak settings to 40% across the board and noticed they seemed happier. I upped it to 50% and left it there for a while. The Zoas are now leveled and not stretching as much and are quickly multiplying across the rock. I see babies all over the rock now. The umbrella leather is no longer stretching for the light and is level. My GSP stays out almost all day.

 

Everything improved when I upped the intensities. I think people are too scared of frying corals that they actually under light them, in which case the corals do poorly, and people think the lights are still too high and lower them even further...It's a vicious cycle.

 

Try higher lighting. The worst that happens is your corals freak out and shy away from the light, in which case you just adjust to the middle ground. As long as you don't go full blast, your corals will be OK.

 

Remember, you will see some immediate responses but you must give it a couple of days to see if its for the better or worse. Corals take time to acclimate to changes just like we do. Don't up the intensities and then see them close up and assume it was a mistake.

[reesestewww]

As someone who has had the AI Sols for a few months and went through the same thing as you, I can say without a doubt that your corals are asking for more light. I have my lights 12 inches AWL and my peak intensity is 70%. These lights put out a lot of par, but there are a lot of factors that go in to the correct settings for your tank.

 

You are fortunate in that your corals are making it clear to you EXACTLY what they want. More light. I started at 20% across the board and my Zoas were stretching like that and actually dying off. It was a slow process but they were disappearing and shrinking in numbers.

 

I said screw it and upped my peak settings to 40% across the board and noticed they seemed happier. I upped it to 50% and left it there for a while. The Zoas are now leveled and not stretching as much and are quickly multiplying across the rock. I see babies all over the rock now. The umbrella leather is no longer stretching for the light and is level. My GSP stays out almost all day.

 

Everything improved when I upped the intensities. I think people are too scared of frying corals that they actually under light them, in which case the corals do poorly, and people think the lights are still too high and lower them even further...It's a vicious cycle.

 

Try higher lighting. The worst that happens is your corals freak out and shy away from the light, in which case you just adjust to the middle ground. As long as you don't go full blast, your corals will be OK.

 

Remember, you will see some immediate responses but you must give it a couple of days to see if its for the better or worse. Corals take time to acclimate to changes just like we do. Don't up the intensities and then see them close up and assume it was a mistake.

 

tokendog,

 

that's great input. Thank you! Makes me feel a bit better, naturally I'm just ready for all this to be fixed and of course I want it to magically happen over night.

 

Do you mind sharing your lighting schedule? I'm really getting the since there there is a sweet spot for most people around 50-60%, but time at these levels is also a factor.

 

Thank again!

[JNA_DESIGN]

50%-60% is where you should be hitting. Just adjust and let the corals get use to it. Every new frag I get looks like its going to die because of the leds untill a few weeks and BOOM amazing color and super happy.