Is this too much lighting?

[akunochi]

I am beginning to wonder if I have too much light on my tank. Myteemouse swears it isn't and I trust his opinion, but thought I would get some more opinions. I'm curious because a lot of my corals seems to bleach out and I am still trying to find the causes. Also I have seen some larger tanks with less lighting.

Lighting is 3x 250W MH 20K bulbs and lumenarc reflectors. The tank is a standard 180 gal. Lighting is approx 10" from the top of the tank. Lighting is on for 9 hours. I do want to add 2 72" atinics. Goal is a mixed reef with a lot of zoas/acans LPS along the bottom. SPS along the top especially encrusting montis.

Opinions? Thanks

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

Given the tank depth it sounds about perfect imo. Since the bulbs are 20k it seems odd that they would be overpowering the corals and bleaching them hmmm.

 

[roscoe]

Nahhh you are good with what you got. I just upgraded my 250s to 400s.

 

[sandswhitson]

I run 400W halides on my 75 gallon so I would say you don't have too much light.

 

[akunochi]

Ok cool. Just making sure. I was positive that Adam was right, but I have RF as a resource so I might as well use it....

 

[NC2WA]

you are fine...the one thing you should know about your Lumenarc reflectors you can get a PAR value of a 400W bulb with the 250s u have.

what is the pH, Ca, Alk, Mg level of the tank?

 

[cdbdis]

Totally agree - 250's are perfect for your setup. Now if you were running 1000w on Luminarc's maybe there would be an issue...

 

[spectra]

Looks good in my opinion.

 

[reef18ster]

I have a total of 500W halides (not including atinics) over my 75g. Your corals bleaching must be something else.

 

[mfinn]

I had 3x250 watt mh and 2x160 watt vho actinic on my 180 that was all soft corals.

 

[BCT182]

How about the nine hours part? You could slowlu reduce your photo period, and electric bill. lol

 

[akunochi]

you are fine...the one thing you should know about your Lumenarc reflectors you can get a PAR value of a 400W bulb with the 250s u have.

what is the pH, Ca, Alk, Mg level of the tank?

PH 8.4 ca 430 alk 9.5 MG??? (I need a new kit) Ammonia 0, nitrite 9 nitrate 5ppm phosphates 0 copper 0

. I do have a bad outbreak of diatoms which I've been fighting. I know I need more flow, but the few SPS corals I had in there I put up top and in the path of a closed loop return so they would get the most flow....

Known Issues

Flow
Stupid brown slimey algae....

 

[Chichas01]

I agree with Brett about the 9 hours. All 3 bulbs run for 9 hours at the same time? I have 2 250's over my 80 (21" deep) and I run each one for about 6.5 hours with one coming on about 2 hours before the other so the light is staggered across the tank over an 8-9 hour period.
I had a similar issue with colors fading/bleaching but I think it was because my lights were only about 3-4 inches off the water. I moved them up to about 9.5 inches and I can already see the purple darkening up a bit on my Plum Crazy acro.

 

[akunochi]

Ok I think I'll switch back to the center pendant coming on 2 hours prior to the other 2 and on 1 hour past the 2.

 

[BCT182]

I keep mine under 5 hours a day

 

[mal1099]

hoping you hit 9 instead of 0 on that nitrite number if not that could be your issue..i have 1 250 and 2 96watt actinics over my 52 cube no bleaching here.

 

[NC2WA]

couple things that I see:

Nitrite is 9, should be 0
Brown slime algae, (usually caused by lack of flow and/or lights that are on too long)
Flow issue...(need more specifics from you)
Lighting period...needs to be reduced...I would start with cutting back 2hrs and work from there.

how new are these lights? do they need to be replaced? (old lights, another cause of brown algae).

how often to you change the collection cup to your skimmer?? if not once a week, then you might want to adjust the skimmer so that it is skimming out the unwanted crap from your tank.

I assume you are using RO/DI water for water changes?? If not, I would start.

 

[akunochi]

Sorry nitrite is 0. That was a typo.

Flow issue is just dead spots. Need to get my other powerhead back in.
I'll start reducing my lighting period today.
Lights are about 3 months old.
Collection cup I skim aggressive and empty it about every other day.
Yes I use Rodi. The filters are brand new.

 

[diverphil71]

How is the temp in your water?

 

[akunochi]

78* may drop to 77.7 ish at night.