Led Issues. Tried A Little Experiment

[harleymike]

Struggling with my sps and tank issues.
I had switched to leds and have backed the lighting down because of bleaching.
But noticed that a lot of my zoas are very extended. Like they are reaching for light, and some were losing colour.
I put my leds on almost 100% for 3 hours today, ( they were running around 35% before this) and a lot of the softies and zoas were very large, and looked a lot more happy than usual. Mushrooms were huge.
Does extending mean they are reaching for the light.
Maybe my issues were not enough light, causing bleaching, or RTN.
Just trying to figure this out.
Mike

 

[harleymike]

I just bumped my lighting up 5% across the board. See what happens.
Anyone wanna buy a tank. LOL

 

[Neopimp]

Lol got one


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[pulpfiction1]

I went from using my Chinese led without dimmers running at 100% i pressume to my aqua illumination hydras and my zoas did the exact same thing,been 10 months now since i changed but everything returned to normal
after a few months. I just assumed my new lights were not as powerful as my old ones and they were reaching for the lights

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[Pistol]

I know that my palys and zoas that are in slightly shady areas have more polyp extension so I would say they are reaching for the light.

 

[harleymike]

Hmmm maybe i haven't been giving enough light and this is why my sps are dying. I was thinking i had it too high and was kiling them and lowered the intensity. ahhahahhaha what the hell LOL
I will slowly raise the intensity and see what happens, at this point it doesn't matter much. 80% of my sps is gone.
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[harleymike]

Another thing i notice with the led change over. I had bee fighting a red velvet algae.It is about 75% gone now. It doesn't seem to like the leds, or i was not providing enough light for them. Not sure.

 

[Pistol]

sps are more easily stressed with changing conditions including lighting, alk swings are very stressful especially if it gets below 7dkh.
if your lps and softies are well then i would think your nutrients are high, carbon is good at removing DOCs and toxins, maybe you are feeding too much. bleaching is the zooxanthellae algae leaving the coral for some reason, i think it can happen both ways, the algae can be stressed and leave or the coral can be stressed and release it, i believe sps corals go pale and bleach in high nutrient conditions as well as poor water conditions and changing environment. slowly get your alk up to about 9dkh and keep it stable, get your lights up slowly as well, start running carbon again, reduce feeding, most successful sps aquarists feed their fish and the fish feed the corals.

 

[scubasteve]

so many things cause it for different reasons the main key is to keep everything the same all the time anything bouncing levels will cause greif.... i have 4 ai sol blue modules hanging 10" above a 24" deep tank montis on middle acros milli and birdsnest 10" from surface and zoas and lps bottom to middle i run my leds w15% b30% rb30% for dawn and dusk and for day have them set w70% b85% rb80% with a 150 min ramping between night dawn day and dusk times for over a yearjust need to know the dieoff rate of the leds i need to up mine 1% every year as they age the intensity lowers by ten years you will need new leds