Urgh seriously.

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Well my golden goby seems to be very happy as I have had to unbury all my corals twice today. Plus she hasn’t decided to try and dry clean her gills so that’s a plus. When I fed tonight I think she ate some shrimp mysis but she is still super skittish. Curious if my dusty off the corals which wrecks her home stresses her out? Not sure how else to uncover the corals.

Any suggestions on possible tops for my tank? I’d prefer to not use glass as heard they diminish lighting. The other issue is that they are so small it would have to be pretty small holes in it.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Never used them but Octo Lids seem to get good reviews

https://octoaquatics.com/octo-lids/

@cromag27 is quite active on this site (and your thread).

 

[Sorcha2]

Hello,

Well my golden goby seems to be very happy as I have had to unbury all my corals twice today. Plus she hasn’t decided to try and dry clean her gills so that’s a plus. When I fed tonight I think she ate some shrimp mysis but she is still super skittish. Curious if my dusty off the corals which wrecks her home stresses her out? Not sure how else to uncover the corals.

Any suggestions on possible tops for my tank? I’d prefer to not use glass as heard they diminish lighting. The other issue is that they are so small it would have to be pretty small holes in it.

You could always DIY your own out of wedding veil style material if your just wanting it to keep fish in the tank.

 

[Bronc]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/diy-aquarium-screen-top-kits-for-rimmed-tanks-1-4-netting.html

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

As I fall asleep as I write this, (if my grammar is bad it’s because I’m seeing double of everything). So for those people who are sps dominate tanks or general knowledge @Brew12. So I’m assuming Maximus clams take the most light which is lower than my sps. My clam seems to be just getting gobs of light and is happy. Most of my sps seems great however I have some select few that do great, then look kinda wonkey. I’m definitely consuming the alk and curious if maybe I still have too much light.

If so now I’m more confused because I have two patches of tequila sunrise that are bright green and doing great. But was told they are a different color under super high light. Which confuses me even more because the tank they are clipped from they use only mh with supplemental blue leds. But they are the same green as mine. My purple stylos are bright purple and growing crazy, same with forest fire digi and ice dragon growing insane. My pearl berry, and I fragged my pc rainbow just to make sure I had some. But it did great in the current location, then my wave makers went to stream and it lost flesh. I still see polyps and with blues it has some color still. But with days on it looks like I dropped in the garbage disposal. Is it possible I’m getting too much light, and the other odd thing is my power is spiking crazy from 9-11 pm but that’s when my lights are off and other days it’s when I’m at work or even asleep? I don’t think I’m insane yet but that one heck of a spike. When I spoke with idaho power they said this is normal.

 

[jsker]

Hello,

I was at a cross walk with my niece on school grounds, which the state law states “ any person(s) in the cross walk, all cars will stop and yield to pedestrians”. Since I was already in said cross walk, the crossing guard aka principal told me to stop and go back. Well I didn’t because we were half way across . So when we reached the other side she just literally screamed at me. She said you will donas I tell you do you understand me young lady. I responded well the law says otherwise and I’m not a student thank you. Which we walked off (no idea it was the principal).

Then I go to get her breakfast and they are serving waffles w syrup. But they won’t provide trays they suggested she use the waffle wrapper, or the table or a napkin. Umm gross so many health violations. All to save money. Well when the principal saw me she came up to me and said do you know who I am? Ahhh no, should I? Which then she screamed at me again in front of tons of people and said you will come to my office now! In which I said no, I need to feed my niece first, and she said she is five she can manage.

When I was in her office, as soon as the door closed she just yelled at me constantly. So I finally got up and opened the door and she said what are you doing? I’m leaving I’m not a student and I’m tired of you yelling st me, specially when I wasn’t the one who broke the law. Then she said I can only drop her off or pick her up, and I must stay in the vehicle on school grounds. But was banned from being in the school and or any school events, even though I’m the main person. So I said fine we will with drawl her and find a better school. Which she said that’s not a smart thing, (umm why if I can’t see my niece in school evenets etc). So spoke to her dad my nieces and he is not happy with the school either, and managed to get banned today also because he scolded the principal as well, when she told him she wouldn’t allow his daughter to be removed. So we spoke with the superintendent and will contact the school board. I feel so bad, but I

 

[Bronc]

Which lights do you have again? I highly doubt you are getting too much light.

 

[Sarah24!]

I have two of the 72 inch marine pro 60 degree lens (not the ic loop version) when I added a third one, the corals really hated it.

 

[Fin]

You really won't know for sure if you have too much light, unless you get a PAR meter. You will just be guessing otherwise.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

@Fin I have used the ly-cor 1500, I averaged 200 par on the sand bed consistently. I can do another test between two and three differences but, the corals did do better with two rather than three.

 

[NY_Caveman]

If I understand those lights correctly, they are half watt chips on 60* lenses, as you say, and are meant to run at the water’s surface, which you do. I think at that focus and depth there may be hot spots that a certain coral would dislike. Diffusion would be an option but may prove tough at that height and LED power. Raising the lights is an option but again, they are low wattage diodes. But that is only if that were really the problem.

I think @Fin is right. A PAR meter would help. You would see if the light is even or not and what PAR you are getting on the SPS.

EDIT: otherwise it is guessing.

 

[Sarah24!]

If I understand those lights correctly, they are half watt chips on 60* lenses, as you say, and are meant to run at the water’s surface, which you do. I think at that focus and depth there may be hot spots that a certain coral would dislike. Diffusion would be an option but may prove tough at that height and LED power. Raising the lights is an option but again, they are low wattage diodes. But that is only if that were really the problem.

I think @Fin is right. A PAR meter would help. You would see if the light is even or not and what PAR you are getting on the SPS.

EDIT: otherwise it is guessing.

Hello,

I agree with both @NY_Caveman and @Fin but only tested with two of those lights not three. When speaking with current they were 1.5 watt leds the ic loop should be .5 Watts. The reason I’m asking is my Maximus clam is plus 24 inches down on a 34 inch tall tank. Clams in theory take quiet a bit more light than sps.

I used a ly-cor 1500 par meter which has been stated to be one above the apogee. While doing this there was a consistent 200 par on the sand bed, which If I recall correctly I was about 1200 at the surface. 90% of my sps is within the first 15 inches to 18 inches. I know some are 8 inches from the surface. Both of my power transformers show they are 180 watt power transformer. Even current shows this which I have two of them on my tank would be 200 watts so this is the minimum they are claiming them to be at for just one which I have them equally placed. When I added the third even with them reduced, it even seem too much for my clam. This is why I’m asking, maybe because either I’m over thinking this, or I have something wrong.

Hopefully if I’m not overly exhausted tomorrow I can set the meter back up and retest. Maybe it’s because the corals have grown they are changing the critical angel of the lights. A prime example is my pc rainbow did great had amazing color where it currently is. Do to myself being dumb I set the wavemakers to stream instead of pulse or wave. This removed the flesh from it (fragged a piece) which is maybe two to four inches same area. It’s doing fine but the original is still struggling. Other sps will do great then just go south. But for example both purple stylo are doing great in two different sections of the tank. Both sections seem to have issues with different sps. This is why I was curious if I have too much light, or if I need to move the two top wave makers out of direct line of the sps and make them on stream for more flow.

As far as water goes, I have dozed less every tues Thursdays Saturday’s etc to dosing every day and alk is 8-9 and cal is 440-460, and my nitrates are 2-5ppm, and phosphate the first color band or undectable.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Everything else sounds inline. Seems I know less about your lights than I thought. When you tested before was it evenly lit at the top of the rockwork, or did you find hot spots? 60* just seems very focused to me. I am no expert, but I was concerned about using 90* lenses at 10” above the waterline in my tank.

 

[Sarah24!]

Everything else sounds inline. Seems I know less about your lights than I thought. When you tested before was it evenly lit at the top of the rockwork, or did you find hot spots? 60* just seems very focused to me. I am no expert, but I was concerned about using 90* lenses at 10” above the waterline in my tank.

Hello,

Yes there were some extreme hot spots until I went through and found the critical angel and repositioned them. I’m just curious if the corals growing or flow because they have grown bad caused a change I haven’t solved yet.

 

[Fin]

Stuff like this is why I moved away from all LED lighting. I never had issues like this with my old MH / VHO combo. You hung the lights and turned them on. That was it. I hope you get it figured out.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I have only experienced leds etc mainly because Boise is too small and really that’s all they have. What confuses me is yes my tank is still doing good it is. Just not all the coral and maybe I am to much of a perfectionist lol. For example my tequila shot rise does amazing and has always been this awesome green with orange dots or yellow dots whichever they are. They are the same color under my friends mh/ led combo. I was reading that they need 500 plus par to be a
Different color. But I’m probably pretty close to 450-500 where they are at now. I think they are gorgeous so not complaining but just maybe I need to move some
Of the sps corals I have lower.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I think perfectionist is part of it. Curiosity though too. I want to know how everything works in my tank and sometimes approach it stupidly as if I could know how the whole ocean works.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

So yesterday I cleaned my sump (sooo gross) and realized should probably do that a little more often ops. But was smart enough to turn the returns off and not send stuff into it. Plus I cleaned the display and I have seen my golden head goby quite a bit now and happy. Before him I had a diamond goby come to find out well he is still alive also. Just extremely good at hiding under the Miami hurricane coral. So the bright side they are going to the sand bed, it’s nust like pismo beach where it has all the clams you can eat (aka bugs bunny). It is a daily chore uncovering the corals. May get some plastic pvc and put them just above the sand.

I need a turkey thingy to blow the water off

 

[Fin]

Well, so you are not a serial killer after all! LOL! You can get the "turkey thingy" just about anywhere. I couldn't live without one of those.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I feel so guilty I need to catch up on every ones thread including my own. Just been crazy crazy busy with work and I think last week I broke 100 hours in a week. Had Sunday off but pretty much slept and caught my tank up. I have to send my secret Santa thing by Friday I think. Worse case I will send it by Friday and do priority mail which is three days or super ship it FedEx. Just haven’t even had time to go grocery shopping and I ran out of milk. Fixed that pretty quick but I finally gave my debit card to my dad and asked wanna surprise me on groceries lol. Gave me that awarkward look of (oh thanks for picking me do I have to). He did but I basically sent a list on my phone. Which I have to fix now because I dropped it on my bed, it bounced and hit the floor. The spider crack is driving me bonkers.