Reef Lighting help

M

mxsnow145

Guest
Hi, I have a Marineland Reef Capable LED Light 48" - 60" on my 55g and it didn't seem to be enough light for my Acros and Monti so I bought another one used with low hours and added it to the tank. I had it on the tank for about 4 days before I ended up taking it off because all the SPS and soft corals started to close up and it seemed like to much light. However, the acros colored up like I've never seen before. Any ideas on how to acclimate my SPS and soft corals to the 2nd light? Or is it too much light all together?
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
It doesn't matter how many of these fixture you add to your tank they are only 1 watt didoes and never support SPS coral. See if you can return the second fixture and get a 3watt diode fixture, this will support SPS coral. Most fixtures of that type only cover a 2'x2' square you will probably need more than 1 fixture.
 
M

mxsnow145

Guest
well when i added the second light all the SPS started to color up, but the rest of my corals closed up..... so my question was more how do i how to acclimate corals to more light?
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Technically you didn't add more light you added more coverage. Those unit have a 9" wide spread adding a another unit side by side you now are covering the entire foot print of your tank. They way to get less light to the corals that need less is to put them lower in the tank or off to the sides of the fixture. But the SPS still will suffer since these fixtures are only 1watt diodes.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Try putting it on a seperate timer and only have it on for a few hours at a time at first and then increase the on time by an hour a day or so.
I wouldnt knock any leds completely at this point. Maybe this op is having some success with it. Who knows, honestly. Lets just wait and see what happens.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
You were probably seeing more " pop" in the color because you had a wider spread and more light in general. I'm not very found of these units. I was able to keep monti cap and digi under these, but no other SPS on a 30 tall. When I put the sane fixture on an 8g, I did have growth and color in acros, but the fixture was basically sitting on top if them.
The extra light, although not really strong enough to support SPS long term probably did shock the softies and LPS in the tank. Lower all corals that are closing up due to this and try the light out for awhile. Personally, I don't think you'll get good growth long term, but I could be wrong.
 
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