WAY too much light? Hyrda 52

[JustinReef]

Hi! I knew the light I was using over my nano was overkill but wanted to spend a bit more now for when I inevitably upgrade. I used MH for 12 years but this light is my first LED so I am feeling a bit confused about how much is too much light. 

 

Not having a PAR meter is a problem and would help a lot but without one I am wondering if someone can try giving me some advice. 

 

I have a 12" tall tank and a Hydra 52 13" above the water level. I don't remember all the settings I used but I will try and summarize:

 

-I first ran it at about 100 watts which of course was WAY too much, I believe I had the UV and white way too high. My sps frags became quite pale. They were actually growing fairly fast but their color was terrible. This was for a month.

-I realized this is way too much light and went to about 60 watts with way more blue, 8% UV and about 20% white. Nothing really got any better but also did not get worse. My Monti frag basically has to be in the shade or it turns white. This was for about a month also. 

-Now I am down to about 40 watts with the UV at 5% and the white at 10%. It's quite blue and looks dim to me. So far again, nothing is really getting better but also not worse. This has been 2 weeks. 

 

I know people might start to ask water parameters but I am quite sure this is the light. Photoperiod has always been 7 hours.

 

In general, how would you set this light up over such a shallow tank? I feel like 40watts is super low but I don't know enough about LED. 

 

Thanks! 

[Tamberav]

It takes a long time for coral to recover, probably won't see a huge change in 2 weeks. 

 

Did you acclimate the coral at all?

[JustinReef]

13 hours ago, Tamberav said:

It takes a long time for coral to recover, probably won't see a huge change in 2 weeks. 

 

Did you acclimate the coral at all?

Thanks. Yes, I realize this. I am kind trying to figure out how low to keep these lights. They look really dim at 40 watts.

 

Acclimate to the light? No, they came from a tank with similar light...or so I thought.

[mitten_reef]

33 minutes ago, JustinReef said:

Thanks. Yes, I realize this. I am kind trying to figure out how low to keep these lights. They look really dim at 40 watts.

 

Acclimate to the light? No, they came from a tank with similar light...or so I thought.

40 watts draw/output seems small, even with such a shallow tank.  So i can't help much on the power side.

 

Have you play with the color wheel option on the AI app? I find their preset of 18000K to be pretty soothing.  Their color wheel max out at 20000K, which they keep a tiny fraction of red/green/white relative to blue/uv.        

 

corals going pale could be nutrient/trace elements-related issue, beyond light bleaching.  Just another thought.

 

 

[JustinReef]

4 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

40 watts draw/output seems small, even with such a shallow tank.  So i can't help much on the power side.

 

Have you play with the color wheel option on the AI app? I find their preset of 18000K to be pretty soothing.  Their color wheel max out at 20000K, which they keep a tiny fraction of red/green/white relative to blue/uv.        

 

corals going pale could be nutrient/trace elements-related issue, beyond light bleaching.  Just another thought.

 

 

Hey thanks for the reply. I had some years of maintaining a zeovit reef so I am fairly experienced with low nutrient issues and been keeping an eye on this. I haven't found anything too unusual but that doesn't mean you aren't right. 

 

I still get the feeling that I cooked the corals a bit with the light and as someone above mentioned, it will take a lot of time to reverse. I am just a bit lost on where to set the light for now and how to ramp back up to a final setting (not sure what that would ultimately be). I find LED's much more complicated to figure out compared to halides or t5's but that is probably due to my lack of experience. 

 

I really love LED's though, just need to learn more

[mitten_reef]

24 minutes ago, JustinReef said:

Hey thanks for the reply. I had some years of maintaining a zeovit reef so I am fairly experienced with low nutrient issues and been keeping an eye on this. I haven't found anything too unusual but that doesn't mean you aren't right. 

 

I still get the feeling that I cooked the corals a bit with the light and as someone above mentioned, it will take a lot of time to reverse. I am just a bit lost on where to set the light for now and how to ramp back up to a final setting (not sure what that would ultimately be). I find LED's much more complicated to figure out compared to halides or t5's but that is probably due to my lack of experience. 

 

I really love LED's though, just need to learn more

 

This might be fun for you for settings and programming if you haven’t found/seen it already. 

http://www.aquaillumination.com/signature/

[xthunt]

I ordered a Seneye reef monitor yesterday just to use as a par and spectrum meter. Got tired of the guessing game with adjustable LEDs.

[JustinReef]

4 minutes ago, xthunt said:

I ordered a Seneye reef monitor yesterday just to use as a par and spectrum meter. Got tired of the guessing game with adjustable LEDs.

Oh yes, I have been looking into this. I think it would be a really great investment. I will be travelling a lot at the end of the year so think I should grab one of these. 

[Tamberav]

8 minutes ago, xthunt said:

I ordered a Seneye reef monitor yesterday just to use as a par and spectrum meter. Got tired of the guessing game with adjustable LEDs.

oof... I wanted to get one but worry about accuracy from reviews. Seems hit or miss.

[xthunt]

3 minutes ago, JustinReef said:

Oh yes, I have been looking into this. I think it would be a really great investment. I will be travelling a lot at the end of the year so think I should grab one of these. 

Out of all the money I’ve blown on crap I didn’t need for this hobby, I figured it’s about time to get something I actually do. I know my current tank is temporary, so it will help dial in my light for when I upgrade, and the ones after that. 

[xthunt]

7 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

oof... I wanted to get one but worry about accuracy from reviews. Seems hit or miss.

There’s a brs video that compares it to more expensive units and seems pretty accurate....as a par meter. The only bad accuracy I read about was the other functions like ph ect (which I won’t use). Forgot, it also has a lux and pur function as well. 

[Tamberav]

14 minutes ago, xthunt said:

There’s a brs video that compares it to more expensive units and seems pretty accurate....as a par meter. The only bad accuracy I read about was the other functions like ph ect (which I won’t use). Forgot, it also has a lux and pur function as well. 

Yeah but they also sell products. I am cautious since half their product doesn't seem to work yet they have a working par meter at a fraction of cost. Can't afford the others though! 😑

 

 

[mcarroll]

On 5/16/2018 at 7:44 PM, JustinReef said:

know people might start to ask water parameters but I am quite sure this is the light.

Light, flow, essential nutrients like NO3, PO4 as well as parameters like alk are all pretty directly related.