AP700 issues

Irishman

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
So I think my Kessil AP700 is killing my coral. My hammer coral I’ve had for three years is starting to abandon its heads, my Acro are bleaching out and my zoas seem to be stretching a lot. And my nems were all on one rock now they spread through out the tank.

So almost a month ago I had an Alk spike but that’s under control now. And my phosphates are at .08, I know it’s high and I am running GFO. But before I switched lights it wasn’t a factor and everything was growing healthy.

This is the only major change I’ve had in my tank. Anyone have opinions on this? My AP700 is running at 35% max for about two weeks now, custom program. And 35% acclimation before that.
 

zombie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
I would drop the intensity to 20% for a week and see if you see any improvement.

I would also do a full test of all water parameters and post up what you see here.

I would also do a 25% water change after you test the parameters as a safety precaution in case something got in the tank (such as a dropped screw). Throwing some polyfilter in wouldn't hurt either.
 

Fourthwind

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
Not saying that it isn't the light, but I have had similar issues in a tank when I ran too much GFO. Whole tank nearly collapsed, and I blamed it on the light as well.
 

MuralReef

Administrator
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M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#4
What kind of lights were you running prior to the AP700? When I switched from halides to the AP I never did the acclimation setting and I believe at midday it is running at 100% intensity.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
You need to turn it way down for a while. Even though I am no fan of Kessil, the AP700 is not likley the main issue, but it is a secondary one. In order to blast light from one on coral, everything else needs to be perfect/stable, IMO... especially acros, clams and euphyllia. If your are prone to having things/parameters wander, then get a T5 unit where the corals will not mind - the light quality is not the same. Most of the success stories with LEDs are from stable tanks... tanks with swinging parameters and stuff get worse results than they would have with other lights. If you have some issues and your LEDs are up high, then they look like the tanks at Fish Crew or Animal Attraction with lots of dead on the bottom and just a bit of new growth on the top.

.08 phosphates are not death or anything. If you want to lower them, then that is fine but go REALLY slow since there is no immediate need.
 

Irishman

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
What kind of lights were you running prior to the AP700? When I switched from halides to the AP I never did the acclimation setting and I believe at midday it is running at 100% intensity.
I switched from a 4 bulb T5 fixture.
 

Irishman

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
A lot of other people say it could be from my Alk swing, that the corals usually take up 2-3 weeks to show damage from the swing.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
Coral can be unstable and still can show damage up to 2-3 weeks later, but most of the time, they burn tips nearly instantly. Like most things in life, this is likely a combo issue with the LEDs and unstable parameters. If you are going to use the AP700, make sure that everything else is dead-on-balls accurate.
 

MuralReef

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#9
Other pictures and parameters would be helpful. I agree with JDA though if you were using a 4 bulb T-5 and went to the AP700 you may need to dial it back even more.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
Think of it like this: you downgraded light quality - the T5s are better light quality than any LED. You also upped the quantity - the AP700 will have brighter "cones" under the LED emitters than the T5 did. ...so you have more of a worse thing. It can take a while for the corals to adapt to this. If you go slow, them some coral will do OK after a while... not all do which is why people abandon LEDs after a while, or just keep them low and add T5s.

If you still have the T5s, then put them back on and see if this helps to get you back to where you were. If you are anywhere near longmont, I have a whole closet full of high-end lights that you can borrow to see if stuff improves. I am not recommending to switch all the time - this can be bad... but if you have several months with lights that you do not think are helpful to your corals, then a change might be a good idea.
 

Irishman

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
Here are my params over the course of a while. I would like to say everything was stable when I swapped over to the AP700, just went down hill from there. I’ll post pics of coral tomorrow
 

Irishman

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
Few pics of coral.
 
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