Led Full Spectrum Questions

[Josh]

I have a stevesLED BIOCUBE 29g retrofit kit i installed.

Some info from steves site.
http://www.stevesleds.com/Biocube-29-LED-Light-System--Extreme-SPS_p_182.html
(hope its ok to provide links of non TFT sites)

It provides an equivalent of 250W metal halide light, enough light for a 55 gallon tank!
18- Royal Blue Luxeon ES 3 watt LEDs
10- 4,000K Neutral White Luxeon ES 3 watt LEDs - Full Spectrum White LEDs!
84watt LED total
HurricaneX Digital Lighting Controller
(above taken from site specs)

I am getting excess algae, ive been told to cut back my white light as that may be the problem. I have the royal blues set to full (previously both were at 66%) and turned down the white down to (50%).

Ive been reading alot lately and ive also noticed every picture you guys post has a metric ton more blue than mine, should i be trimming back my whites and leaving the blue on full?

Total light run time is 10 hours i beleive (Possibly its 12h)

Could use some feedback on what corals actually enjoy. I currently only have 2 small frags
1- tyree green leather
1- small multizoa frag

I beleive my controller goes from 0-4500 (not sure what this setting is) but i assume 2250 as 50% etc etc

Thanks

Josh

 

[dale]

algae control is more about phosphate control, most lighting will support algae,(more light will grow more algae) you dont really want to go less than 10 hrs, if you cut the light so algae wont grow, the phosphates will continue to rise and corals wont grow...., turn down your whites a bit and start thinking phosphate control,, those corals you mentioned can handle most lighting and higher phosphates but harder to keep corals will be less adaptive to phosphate and low light..

 

[Josh]

I guess i still need to do some reading on all this. The algae control has gotten ALOT better its just a few rocks now, i think having my white lights jammed up high for the first 3 months on 14hr light timer is probably my original problem. Originally i had algae all over the glass and had to scrape it every couple days, Now i barely have to touch it.

I did do something dumb just before i got my RO/DI, I bought some RO water but didnt have enough to do my fill so i topped up probably 1L of tap water (yes i saw the algae go nutts and yes i learned my lesson)

What do you suggest for phosphate control?

What causes the high phosphates?

I have purogen im not using yet but thats for nitrates more so? (I have never read any noticeable levels of nitrate/nitrite)

I have a RO/DI that i use for water changes

I just piped in a closed loop refugium (will post setup/design later) with an old reactor. Having macro algae in a refugium should also help with my problem yes?

Fairly deep sandbed (for a BC)

Obviously more water changes is key will try to do 1 tonight after work maybe, Doing changes every couple weeks (not perfect i know)

 

[dale]

feeding is is where po (phosphate) usually comes from or anything that dies, including algae.
the fuge should help a bit, most reefers around here use "gfo in a reactor to remove po...

 

[Kman]

That is a lot of light for only a few corals. I used to use 250 watt MH on my 180 so in a 29 g that is crazy. But it is a simple fix. You should pick up some more frags so you have something utilizing all that light. Pick up some LPS, zoes and soft corals all of which use dissolved organics that will help you process your nutrients as they grow and use all that light. Win win I say. Any way you can change the intensity on the LED? If so I would set the kelvin to 16,000-20,000 K and just lower the intensity. That way you get your spectrum with a lower intensity.

 

[Josh]

Yup ive added 2 frags since christmas, I didnt want to start adding frags until i got the handle on all this. Funny that holding off isnt helping my algae problem.
I honestly have no clue how to set for kelvin, its a hurricaneX controller and the values are 0-4500 (i believe)

Im looking to add a frogspawn and a hammer soon, maybe another frag or two of zoa

Im really just trying to be patient and wait for fragfest 2017

I MAY dose GFO (ive done a bit of reading on it) however i think i will wait until i see what this new refugium setup does for me.

Any issues if i add purogen now? (i didnt have a proper micro sock for it and had to take it out pretty quickly (i now have a better sock)

http://stevesleds.info/downloads/HurricaneX_852016.pdf
^ controller

 

[Josh]

So i guess after reading the controller a bit further the 4096 value is just a stepper value, so if u guys give me an idea on what % to set my blues and whites at
i have 18 x 3w (royal blues) = 54w
i have 10 x 3w (whites) = 30w

total 84w

 

[dale]

id start at 40%

 

[dale]

we cant see your tank so just turn them up till it looks bright enough .. then add more if it looks like the corals are looking for light..

 

[Josh]

guess its tinkering time. Probably going to have to find that happy spot. Was hoping math would be useful for a change. Life is trial and error is it not?

 

[TORX]

I would go even lower. I don't think I ever went over 40% on my biocube after I upgraded to RapidLED retro kit. Maybe lower it even further


Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

 

[Josh]

hmm ok, im gonna set everything back tonight.

They boast they are stronger than the rapid kits so maybe even 40% is high.

Thanks for advice