Best Program On Chinese Leds

[Zach]

Had my Chinese leds up for about 4 months now and I'm really not seeing tons of growth on my corals. I went through a great growth spurt when I first installed them. Now nothing. So my question is...who else is running these and what programs do you use?

My available programs are:
4 season cycle
Fast growth
Vivid colour
Coral fragging

What are your recommendations and why?

Also. I know the question of dosing will come up. I'm adding calcium and trace elements. No magnesium as my water content always seems to have a ton of it. Corals all seem happy with good extension. Mainly have LPS and softies. 2 nems in tank both very happy and eating like pigs. 120gallon 6' with 3 lighting units.

What does everyone recommend?

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[Kman]

What are your nutrients levels at? (Phosphates nitrates etc) If they are to low growth slows. How often and how much do you feed? Supplemental feeding can to a point make up energy needs for any deficiencies you might have. Byproducts (Glycogen) that are produced from light sources are typically used to keep the coral healthy and for its day to day biological needs. Byproducts (Glycogen) from light will to some extent be used for growth but is not the primary driver for most corals. Only the surplus at the end of the day is used but only if the corals daily needs are met for it to survive. Supplemental feeding greatly increases the available energy supply and the majority of produced energy is typically put towards growth.
What is your water flow at? Proper water flow is important because it increases respiration in corals and allows it to expel anything that is built up within the coral. It also is important to bring supplemental feeding and other nutrients to corals that are needed for growth since they are stationary and can't just go move to get it. To little flow decrees respiration and available food and nutrients and to high a flow collapse polyps, cuts efficiency of polyps because you are only using a portion of them and the mouth is closed because of polyps blocking it and it limits how much and what they can feed on.

At to the lights themselves you should decide what you want more, color or growth. Because if you use one of the presets it will change the spectrum of light towards the program you selected. So if it is good for say color of the corals but not necessarily towards fast growth. If you want both color and fast growth you would have to set it for color spectrum but increase the amount of availability light. This is what I did by adding supplemental T5 for peak time for about 2 hrs. For this time it is a huge amount of extra light and I change the spectrum for growth during my peak time. If your lights have set points you can have the schedule set for color for most of the day and have a peak time set for growth. What kelvin and intensity are your lights set to now?

 

[Zach]

What are your nutrients levels at? (Phosphates nitrates etc) If they are to low growth slows. How often and how much do you feed? Supplemental feeding can to a point make up energy needs for any deficiencies you might have. Byproducts (Glycogen) that are produced from light sources are typically used to keep the coral healthy and for its day to day biological needs. Byproducts (Glycogen) from light will to some extent be used for growth but is not the primary driver for most corals. Only the surplus at the end of the day is used but only if the corals daily needs are met for it to survive. Supplemental feeding greatly increases the available energy supply and the majority of produced energy is typically put towards growth.
What is your water flow at? Proper water flow is important because it increases respiration in corals and allows it to expel anything that is built up within the coral. It also is important to bring supplemental feeding and other nutrients to corals that are needed for growth since they are stationary and can't just go move to get it. To little flow decrees respiration and available food and nutrients and to high a flow collapse polyps, cuts efficiency of polyps because you are only using a portion of them and the mouth is closed because of polyps blocking it and it limits how much and what they can feed on.

At to the lights themselves you should decide what you want more, color or growth. Because if you use one of the presets it will change the spectrum of light towards the program you selected. So if it is good for say color of the corals but not necessarily towards fast growth. If you want both color and fast growth you would have to set it for color spectrum but increase the amount of availability light. This is what I did by adding supplemental T5 for peak time for about 2 hrs. For this time it is a huge amount of extra light and I change the spectrum for growth during my peak time. If your lights have set points you can have the schedule set for color for most of the day and have a peak time set for growth. What kelvin and intensity are your lights set to now?

Holy. Thanks for the great response.

I know nutrient levels are important and I try to monitor them. I think the hair algea I've been fighting is eating up most of it now though. I think the gha growth has a lot to do with the lights being on too long. The lights I have are programmable but not to the level you're talking about. Why I was wondering if the programs sound familiar to anyone and what they've had the best luck with

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[AdInfinitum]

GHA also gives off compounds that inhibit coral growth....

 

[Zach]

GHA also gives off compounds that inhibit coral growth....

Well that's great. Didn't know that

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[AdInfinitum]

Well that's great. Didn't know that

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As I've mentioned in other threads...the reef is a world of "grow or be overgrown". Corals (and Coralline) also give off compounds that inhibit algae growth. This is one of the explanations for some well known, well established tanks on the net that are chuck full of growing coral colonies and no algae problems despite high nutrient levels. Not something you can pull off without established corals and coralline to automatically prevent algae from gaining a foothold....one of the many advantages of a well established system...why I always encourage people to work through issues rather than the popular tear it down and reboot that the impatient think is the way to solve problems.