SPS Question

[andamanocean]

Hi, all,

I live on the reef literally, walking out my back door down past the pool and into the beach (sand) then across the live rock, and well there's corals everywhere so optimal conditions.

The wife (surely illegal for me to do, or something i can be extorted over - mass corruption here) goes and collects water daily etc),

Our system water is directly from the ocean at the base of the garden 200 meters and put directly in the tank (which is covered in coral)

I have a 50 Gallon with sump, and one Led lights "Deebow" DEE-80 80-100m Total Power 36w

http://www.elmundomarino.com/ilumina...ee-p-4443.html

Adaptive LED display length 80-100cm recommended for marine aquariums

• LED display with 4 positions: white light, moonlight, white light more moonlight, and off (has 2 separate switches) . • screen suitable for maintaining demanding corals. • a beatable: the screen can rotate (90) to facilitate . access to the aquarium
• Stresses especially for its low energy, fine and manageable consumption, easy installation. Includes mounting removable.
• Features Technical:
- Total number of LEDs: 72
- Adaptable: 80-100cm - Power: 36
W - Length: 80cm

Our tank is SPS driven, yet i am not seeing growth and i'd say even receding

of-course all the parameters are fine and checked, and the standard for SPS, and of-course my water etc is all taken where the corals grow naturally.

So where could i be going wrong? are the lights not strong enough (i was assured they would be),

FYI i change 5 litres daily also (main tank is 140l, and sump 60l, but have roughly 25kg live rock in main and 5kg in sump) everything else is fine (fish, inverts etc).

https://i.imgsafe.org/6607ea0.jpg

Right side - seems to be on the way out
Centre bolder - seems to be like white layer of salt over the top
Left larger- no poloyops
green larger - poloyops but clear stringy thing coming out one of the fragged branches
Left smaller - no poloyops


Interesting, frying coral, http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2034606

Ok tank is 30 inch Long, 16 inch wide and 18inch high roughly (tape measure is in car)

http://i.imgur.com/IEvnJaO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fuVZSYL.jpg

[username in use]

I can't find anything on that light and the link doesn't work.

It's hard to say without knowing more. What kind of flow do you have in the tank? How old is the tank?

[andamanocean]

Flow is 5000L wave maker x 1, 1500L Wave Maker (others off as appeared too much) plus flow back in from sump 1,500 L

http://www.elmundomarino.com/iluminacioacuten-led-deebow-pantalla-adaptable-dee-p-4443.html

Adaptive LED display length 80-100cm recommended for marine aquariums

• LED display with 4 positions: white light, moonlight, white light more moonlight, and off (has 2 separate switches) . • screen suitable for maintaining demanding corals. • a beatable: the screen can rotate (90) to facilitate . access to the aquarium
• Stresses especially for its low energy, fine and manageable consumption, easy installation. Includes mounting removable.
• Features Technical:
- Total number of LEDs: 72
- Adaptable: 80-100cm - Power: 36
W - Length: 80cm

[username in use]

Just the fact that there are 72 LEDs and it is running at 36w is troublesome. Modern high powered LED's are running up to 3 watts per LED, so a 72 LED unit should be pulling more like 175-215 watts at full power.

It doesnt state the specifics about the LEDs but I would suspect that is at least one of your problems.

[andamanocean]

Hi, thanks, too high or too low from first look?

[andamanocean]

Power: 36 Watt

[username in use]

You have 1/2 watt LED's when you need the high powered 3w LED's. You're not providing enough light to your corals.

[andamanocean]

Ok, will buy another one tomorrow, or do i need two...

[username in use]

Just buying another 1 or 2 of the same fixture isn't going to solve your problem. You need way more light than they are going to provide. You should head over the lighting and filtration forum and do some reading on LED's if that is what you want. Otherwise you should look into at least a 4 or 6 bulb T5 fixture or a MH fixture.

[andamanocean]

Ok understood, i was looking at http://seasunaquarium.com/shop/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=1844&category_id=121&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=4

[andamanocean]

Just so i understand, its meant to be 3w per litre (though others state with Leds this is not the case as it is a direct light)

so lets say the top tank is 140 L before live rock, and 80 L with live rock thus 3 w x 80 = 240w are required??

[andamanocean]

http://community.************.com/discussion/1099/minimum-amount-of-light-watts-gal-required

Ok here - recommends 6w-8w per gallon - geeze thats a lot of light...

[username in use]

You can't just apply a watts per gallon as it ignores all the variables that exist between the different lighting options as well as tank needs. You could have a 4 bulb ati t5 fixture pushing 160w putting out more usable light than a 250w mh in a cheap reflector.

As for led's the radion pro is putting out 170w max. The kessil ap700 is 185w. They both have less LED's than your current fixture. You need the high out put led's like in those fixtures. Can you shop with Amazon or marine depot where you are from? If so we can make some suggestions based on your budget that you could order through then.

[andamanocean]

Hi, ok yes, can ship, no real budget but time as i don't want to loose the coral...

[cloak]

Woops...

[gallegos]

Lots of Info here. First of you said your levels are in check. What exactly are they? Sps is going to grow slow centimeter per month is a fast grower.

[gallegos]

And yes need better lighting too

[cloak]

This "sps" game is pretty much the same as every thing else IME.. It's all about The roll of the DICE". All these corals want the same thing pretty much... ;)

[username in use]

Hi, ok yes, can ship, no real budget but time as i don't want to loose the coral...

What are the dimensions of your tank?

[Chibils]

What are the dimensions of your tank?
He wrote earlier it's approx 30 x 16 x 18.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[andamanocean]

Ah thanks all a few issues actually

#Not enough light - resolved though will add an additional light structure in a week or two.
#Tank overheating 34.5 - Thailand is very hot currently, now running at 31 daytime (lights) 28 evening, could run mush lower but a problem occurs
#Salinity - the problem mentioned above, caused a mass un-noticed salinity rise to .30 now back around.25.


Currently looking at options for consistent temperature, however here its very hard and to be honest the coral on the beach in the bg sits there with no water at low tide, and roughly 40 degrees most days, so in the tank i am trying to be confident, but looking at ways to get around 26 all the time, chillers here are the cheap Chinese shite with the western pricing (550.00 - 750.00 sterling) need to find how the locals do for their seafood in the restaurants.... or take the plunge and hope it does not break... (no such thing as warranty)... as i learned with the Skimmer, Temperature Gauge, etc

I had a Aircon unit installed directly above but that caused salinity issues mentioned above...

Slownly but surely getting there but we are now appear to not be loosing the SPS.

Yellow goby disappears - guessing dead but no surprise he was direct from the Indonesian reefs and did not eat only about an inch...

Red Starfish was disintegrating when i left, but to be expected the salinity normalisation and temperature normalisation likely caused through me overlooking the two areas.

Will continue to change 5 litres a day because its on the back of the garden - any downsides to this you can think off would be great (only when no rain, if rain will ask my buddy to take from out at sea).