Please help with Duncan

[Antaguana]

Can you please help my Duncan, it doesn't look very happy.

Got it 4 weeks ago. Some of the heads open most days but most of the heads do not open.
The skeleton is looking colour.

Parameters are (all tested with hanna):
Ammonia 0.06ppm
Nitrate 17.2 ppm (again higher than idea working on bringing it down)
Phosphate 0.73ppm (high I am working on bringing it down with water changes but im told this should not kill things just slow growth)
Ph 7.9
Alk 9.9 dKH
Mg 1800
Cal 375

I don't have a par meter but I am running 2x AI Prime HD16 on the David Saxby program at 75% tank is a 326 Aqua sys (86Gal DT ~105G inc sump)

This is showing location in the tank

Any assistance or suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Shirak]

For a tank that size you would need at least 6 -8 AI Prime.
If you wanted to stay with AI you are looking at 3 or 4 Hydra 32 oriented front to back for better coverage. Personally I would look for a wider panel type light for more even coverage and get at least 3. And get/rent/borrow a par meter.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I'm sorry but 2 AI Primes on a 86 gallon tank is not sufficient, not even close. These lights are meant for 15-20 gallon tanks, you need stronger lights for your size tank.

 

[Antaguana]

Ok. The AI website says they have a spread of 24" by 24" so I assumed one light would do a 24"x 24" surface area.

The top is 49" by 21" so I assumed 2 lights would be enough.
Just to make sure I understand correctly you are saying one AI Prime 16 for every square foot of tank surface area?

Until I can get more, or additional lights I guess I will turn these up to 100% then.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I would not get more Primes, they are small lights for small tanks. Get lights with enough power to light up 86 gallons

 

[Shirak]

I would shop around. You will spend a LOT of money to get enough Primes. A bigger light designed with a bigger foot print and 10x the power will be more cost effective in the long run. Not sure what is available where you are but AI are underpowered and over price IMO. The spread is not very good either. They tend to spot light. I put diffusers below my Hydra to even the spread a a bit.

For now I would move the Duncan up higher and more centered on the light.

 

[Antaguana]

There is not a lot in the tank so I can put things high and central to the light (for now)

 

[Antaguana]

My LFS has Redsea, AI and MicMol, and EcoTech

Red sea recommends 2x ReefLED 90 for a REEFER 350 G2+ which is more or less the same size as my AquaSys 326.
Would that be sufficient / a good option?

They are quite a bit less powerful than the AI 32HD and 3-4 of those were recommended above (if sticking with AI).

Also the AI 32HD is the same price as ReedLED90

 

[Shirak]

My LFS has Redsea, AI and MicMol, and EcoTech

Red sea recommends 2x ReefLED 90 for a REEFER 350 G2+ which is more or less the same size as my AquaSys 326.
Would that be sufficient / a good option?

They are quite a bit less powerful than the AI 32HD and 3-4 of those were recommended above (if sticking with AI).

Also the AI 32HD is the same price as ReedLED90

Will take a look.

 

[Shirak]

Personally I would skip the Redsea expensive and underpowered and tight puck design. Same with prime and hydra AI. I have heard good things about AI Blade but don’t know much about them. Radion G6 30 X 2 might be a good choice if not too expensive but you pay for EcoTech name just like AI. The MicMol look very nice on paper with the specs. Nice power and led mix. Either a couple aqua max 600 end to end to span the tank or maybe one 900. The Vision look interesting but it’s a tight puck design again with some sort of lens to create spread so I think I would go with the other panel design model.

You might want to visit the lights forum and see if anyone has info on your choices.

 

[Antaguana]

I moved the Duncan and the goni up and they are looking less happy today.

The Duncan is really closed up and look like it has some empty polyp sockets.

The gonni has brown particles coming out between the polyps. On one side they look like green hair algae but a redish brown colour

Could this be too quick change in light or too much flow?

 

[Antaguana]

I moved the gonni and Duncan back down one level each (so both are higher than they were previously but not as high as they were today.

Both immediately opened up a little.

I will try to attach a video with bubbles added to make flow easier to see.

 

[Antaguana]

Hmm didnt work from my phone.. trying from my computer

 

[Antaguana]

This is the right side with the nems and green morphs

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The flow seems fine to me, nothing is bring whipped around, can even increase if you want. My goni's have more flow than that.

 

[Antaguana]

The flow seems fine to me, nothing is bring whipped around, can even increase if you want. My goni's have more flow than that.

Thankyou

 

[Shirak]

Flow looks good to me too. They can handle quite a bit. The Duncan and Goni are in rough shape. Lost a lot of tissue. Duncan usually has flesh all down the outside of the skeleton and the Goni looks like it lost tissue between the polyps which is causing some algae and stuff to grow on the ridges between the polyps. I agree you need to acclimate them over some time. They look good where they are for now. I would try to target feed the Duncan a couple times a week if it will take some food on the remaining heads. Try to hit each one with a couple lps pellets or something similar, since they are no longer connected together.

You can gently blow off the skeleton on the Goni periodically with a pipette.

I think once you get the light issue resolved it will help immensely going forward.

 

[Antaguana]

Thankyou so much for your help.

 

[MrGisonni]

I would get a third prime, lower the lights to about 9" off the water surface. You should be able to get 75 to 125 par on your rockscape which is adequate for Duncan's and Goniopora