600 Gallon Upgrade Build
- Thread starter Newbie Aquarist
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SPotter
Active member
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
I'm trying O, I'm trying.Love the fish Wayne!! Now hurry up and get those sps in there.
Thanks Dan. Very good to hear from you.
Well, where do I start? I lost 7 or 8 of them but have frags of them to grow. Parameters are stable and on 5 of them I found AEFW after a safety dip. Fragged them but the frags eventually died. On three others the flesh just started coming off and I don't know why. Literally I don't know what happened. I fragged them and have some left over but lost the frags as the tissue just came off. On a couple others after I dipped from seeing the skin recede from the botoom, no pests were on them so I just superglue the dead spots and they have slowly been improving ever since.
So that's pretty much what's been going on with me. But I'm losing color and maybe growth even though it's only been over a month since I had them. I believe it's the light spectrum over the frag tank. How did I come to that conclusion, a friend of mine has some of the frags in his tank and out parameters almost equal each others tank but his lighting is different and his frags are coloring up perfect and he has serious polyp extention.
I will have a light built like his and place it over the frag tank and see if I can get the same results.
dave.m
Active member
It would probably be a worthwhile investment, I think, to get a PAR meter. This would help you match not only your friend's frag tank, but also help you with placement in your display tank to retain best growth and colouration.
Nice to see you back posting. :thumbsup:
Dave.M
Nice to see you back posting. :thumbsup:
Dave.M
Maybe bring your test kits to his home to make sure that the parameters are 'almost equal'... Eliminate that 'bad test kit' possibility
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
And I totally agree with you Dave. But with LEDs that number is off but does give you a round about figure. The only light that met the party numbers compared to MHs were the AI Hydras.
Glad to be back.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
We think alike because that's what I did. The only parameter off was the alk as his was 8.4 dKh and mine was 8.9 dKh. I truly believe a part meter is in the near future.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
I haven't yet. The LEDs in question are over my frag tank. For the main display the top contenders are AI Hydras, Orphek, and a custom build.
dca22anderson
New member
Wayne, love the new corals buddy! Sweet additions! :thumbsup:
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Thank you sir. I'm just glad that I finally achieved stability in the system to keep the additions happy.
Only updates so far is a friend and I have been in the process of designing the proper spectrum of LEDs to achieve the best growth and color. Been reading a lot about chlorophyll A and B and which type of whites work the best; which I know that I am definitely going with 5000K spectrum, true and royal blues, hyper violets, and maybe some limes. Reds and green are definitely out of the picture as I see no use for them IMHO.
I just have to change my thinking because its no use buying a bunch of corals when I could be buying or building the lights to support them.
dave.m
Active member
Just a thought on this...Newbie Aquarist said:
Meeting your corals' needs is important, of course, but you also need to meet viewers' needs, as well. You might want to leave yourself some leeway in case your light combination turns out looking like some sort of day-glo freak show. The human eye is optimized to see in the yellow-green band. A 5000°K light will meet this well but might get overbalanced if you have too much blue in the mix.
And don't forget your fish. You want them to look good, too. One thing I notice in a lot of coral tank photos is that the fish look drab or unnatural under too much blue. Everything needs to balance out for optimal viewing.
Dave.M
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
I totally agree with you Dave. But that's the beauty of dimmers and having lights on each channel to avoid the over blue look or better yet the ratio of blues to use against the whites.
SPotter
Active member
Why not just go with a couple of 8x54w ati fixtures and call it a day????? I know mh's are not an option but why spend a lot of time and money on developing a fixture that might not have the proper spectrum? What will you be using to determine that you have the proper spectrum? I'm not trying to be negative but you've spent so much time on this tank already why not just go with some that's tried and tested already?
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
I have no problem with T5s. I was trying to keep the electric bill down. Other than that I truly love LEDs. But as stated earlier, I have to cover the 48" width of the tank and I don't think 8x54W bulbs are going to be wide enough. I might have to do the 12x54W to accomplish that. Ohhhh the choices.
Lavoisier
Premium Member
I'm running halides and T5s but I love to see successful LED systems. The energy savings is significant. Keep us posted...
biecacka
Active member
I too have been looking at LEDs, maybe a DIY setup, however I am also considering a Cebu fixture from Hamilton that has T5 in it also. That way I can run 4 bulbs on my tank a few hours b4 and after the halide comes on. This will lengthen my viewing pleasure. Not sure if 4 t5 bulbs out out enough light though.
Corey
Corey
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