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Lighting Fail need some advice


Mcjudge

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I have a 48"x24"x27" tank, mixed corals sps,lps and softies.  I have 2x Ecotech XR30 Pro's and 2x 39W T5 Razor's (4 bulbs total).  Over the weekend one of my Radions died.  I am working through getting it fixed and so far Ecotech is being great.  The problem is I am leaving for a 2 week vacation on Saturday and the fixed unit will not be here by then.  

So my question is what is the likelihood that my Sps on the one side that were under that light actually make it for 3 weeks with much lower light than they had?

The layout of the lights looks like the image.  I am including a full tank shot so you can see the darker left side, and also a shot of the 5-6 sps I am worried about.

I have some cheap stunner strips I could put there.  The other option was just run out and buy another radion but I really don't want to spend the money right now.  That at least would give me a backup.

The T5's are mounted about 7" from the water.

On a side note I really just added the T5's to mute the disco ball effect.  I am really glad I have them now as a backup, not many people use that reason for wanting to add something that really seems frivolous at the time.

Thank you for your help.

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Is it possible to get a cheap "black box" fixture?  For three weeks your corals on the left side will most likely be fine but they will already have made significant changes in their fluorescing and chromo proeteins.  Suddenly reverting to your original lighting without causing them issues will be the trick. 

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I am sorry I don't know what "black Box" means.  So even if I add 2x 12" Truelumen LED strips through the middle there what you are saying is the biology of the coral will change in that time period? 

I was thinking I should run the Radions both in 40% acclimation mode for a month when the repaired one gets installed.

5 fairly small frags, I love them don't get me wrong but probably $300, maybe more with shipping.  $800 for a new light doesn't sound that bad when you look at it that way.  That Acan there was more expensive than all of those frags but its alot less temperamental.

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I'm sorry, cheap chinese fixtures off the internet.   The half life of a lot of fluorescing or chromo proteins is about 30 days.   How well a coral adapts to decreasing then increasing light intensity depends on the individual species/genotype but you might see a big difference over 3 weeks.   I'm inclined ot think a majority will do ok if you don't get your fixture fixed or add another fixture giving roughly the same intensity.  If you do see a big difference in coloration you will need to be carefull returning your fixture to it's current intensity.   Using your Trulumen strips will help.  Another option might be to move them temporarily under your working fixture.

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Thank you for your help and I like your post about the natural sunlight/leds.  (makes you wonder about corals being much deeper than they are in our home aquariums out in the wild)  I just watched the BRS review of the Ecotech Gen 4 and moving the light 2" higher had a PAR difference of 100-200 and had a huge impact on the hotspots that were created by the new lenses.  It also had a look into some commercial operations that show the distance much more equal to what you have.

 

I think for now I am going to increase the photoperiod on my t5's and add the strips, unless I can find a great deal online for some leds.  Maybe go buy another longer strip to add to them.

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