Cant' seem to keep SPS

[naterealbig]

double post

 

[naterealbig]

Dsalamone, Just plain tempered glass blocks uv.

Are you sure about this? If this is the case, why does the UVC not get filtered out by the bulb itself?

Alan, u sure bud? I use to run DE bulbs and running them without a shield is a death sentence. Where did u gather LED emitting strong enough UV. I heard companies were trying to add UV to LED but that's a diff discussion. If u have a link I love to read it. I'm kinda confused now.

+1. The OP is not using LED's - alanbates is confused about the lighting that the OP is using.

 

[sirreal63]

Regular glass shields UV, think of a SE bulb, the tempering is to keep it from shattering under the heat, which is highly recommended and you can also buy tempered glass with a UV reducing coating. Every reflector I have ever had used regular tempered glass.

 

[naterealbig]

Regular glass shields UV, think of a SE bulb, the tempering is to keep it from shattering under the heat, which is highly recommended and you can also buy tempered glass with a UV reducing coating. Every reflector I have ever had used regular tempered glass.

Very well then. It sounds like a cut piece of glass is all that is relly needed here, assuming it is only the unshielded bulb causing problems. I'd still go the extra step, and replace the CoraLife bulb.

 

[turtlespd]

DE bulbs are like what we see inside a reg mh without the bulb part. The glass shield
Is and acts as the bulb portion. I had my fare share of coral killing I know, lol. I would try the shield first and removing pellets second.

 

[naterealbig]

DE bulbs are like what we see inside a reg mh without the bulb part. The glass shield
Is and acts as the bulb portion. I had my fare share of coral killing I know, lol. I would try the shield first and removing pellets second.

I see what you guys are talking about with the bulbs, and have had my fair share of problems with lighting and murdering corals, which is why I asked the question first about the lights.

I have had problems with both sub par shields and bulbs, and instead of taking a chance, I started from scratch. Admittedly, I knew (and still know) very little about glass, except you have to use it for the DE bulbs. Thanks for the explanation, and hopefully I can pass this info on at some point.

 

[dsalomone]

Thanks everyone for the help.
Nothing has been doing to well except for corals on the sand bed for some time now. I can pretty much tie it to the broken glass now. Even mushrooms would just disappear on me.
This has been driving me crazy for months. Maybe now I can get some frags growing.

 

[alanbates12]

Are you sure about this? If this is the case, why does the UVC not get filtered out by the bulb itself?



+1. The OP is not using LED's - alanbates is confused about the lighting that the OP is using.

Guess I'm a bit confused also. So the UV that a MH gives off us different than the UVs on LED fixtures? Don't want to change the discussion but would like to know.

 

[JAustin]

The uv given off by mh is INTENSE! LED uv is less intense and different in spectrum.

 

[liquidtyny]

is the glass man.. my friend has a frag tank...the glass broke...he lost all his corals.... double ends

 

[naterealbig]

alan - I imagine any light bulb gives off at least some UV radiation. The double ended metal halide bulbs will emit large amounts of UVC without a glass shield (that typically comes with a double ended bulb fixture ). So, when using a double ended metal halide bulb, you must have an additional glass shield between the bulb and aquarium.

I and some others think that this is causing problems on the OP's tank.

The single ended metal halide bulbs emit the same UVC waves, but the shielding is incorporated into the bulb, so the extra glass shield on the reflector is not needed. An extra shield is not needed for an LED's folks use on their aquariums either, as far as I know.

Some UV radiation (such as A and B) are believed to be linked to coral coloring and health, and seem to be desirable to at least some degree, in both halides, t5's, and LED's.

 

[alanbates12]

Thinks for the info guys.

So back to the problem at hand what about the bio pellets. I've read where some people are having this same issue.

 

[JAustin]

I'm 3 weeks into running biopellets and am starting to notice less algae build up on my glass. To early to tell though.

 

[ecvernon]

Hi,
I have been trying for years with SPS frags and just can't get anything to not turn into a white stick.
I have done everything to get my parameters in line and stable for months. I thought I would give a superman monti frag a shot. Placed it on low to acclimate to my lighting and in two days the edges started to burn up and now it is almost completely faded. When this happened in the past, I assumed it was alk with was at 10. Now I keep it at 7-8 while running biopellets. My LFS thinks it is my lighting burning it up. I have 2-250 watt halides with 2-T5 actinic bulbs and my tank is 31 inch deep 150. The frag started almost on the sand bed about 30 inches below the lights.
I just can't seem to solve the SPS puzzle.
My stats are
salt 1.025
phos .01 hanna
nitrate 10 red sea pro
alk 7-8 hanna
calc 450 hanna
mag 1350 salifert
Metal halide bulbs run for 6 hours. Actinics for 10 hours.

David

hi i just read your post and i was having a similar problem. i believe i fixed it by paying closer attention to my alkalinity. Are you still measuring with the hanna alkalinity checker? I was also when i had my problem with sps. When i checked the parameter against a salifert test kit it was reading significantly lower. My target alk was 8dkh(hannah checker was giving me this result)but the salifert test kit was giving me around 6.7 dkh. When I changed test kits and got back into 10 dkh range my problem disappeared. verify your alkalinity with a trusted test kit. Hopefully it could be something as simple for you. Good luck