Chalices- LEDs vs T5 vs Mh

I run radions and they are spectacular. I have. A chalice, but its half dead because it was stung by a frogspawn for a day and died completely, but is recovering extremely fast. If it wasn't half dead st the moment I would post a pic, but the radions can easily support a chalice, and my tank is SPS dominated mixed reef and SPS color is insane.
 
I think you'll find that many chalices are more sensitive to the light-shock that many experience when switching to LEDs from either halides or T5. I'm using the MaxSpect Razor over my system and found that both my favias and chalices took a hit initially from the increased PAR. They have been under the light for 8 months now and their color has come back fully. I moved them to shaded areas and if they're not in the shade, they're in indirect lighting (ie, not directly under the LED).

FWIW, I've been very impressed with the Razor and have a truly mixed reef. In our local club, we have a guy with the AI Sol blues over his 150 cube and he has spectacular results with chalices in the sandbed. He runs them at fairly low levels. I'm not a big fan of the SOLs, but his chalices look great. The Radions are really nice fixtures, but you'll need to go really slowly on ramping them up - they are PAR monsters.

I'll try to get some pics up from my system soon. Honestly, my experience is that you can keep any coral under LEDs with excellent results. There may be an initial negative reaction (as with any light change), but the corals will photo adapt. Finally, all LEDs are not created equal. Do your research and buy from a reputable manufacturer.
 
I have a blue chalice that is growing great with excellent colors. I only have LED's on my tanks. If anything the colors have gotten better. I'm out of town but I'll snap some shots for you when I get back. LED's are great because they pay for themselves in under 2 years through energy savings and bulb replacements.
Brent
 
bump. any one else have some pics of their chalices under Metal halide or LED's.. looking to upgrade my lights to one of the 2 but i am doing my homework first! ;)
 
I would just stick with t5 with a led stunner strip or 2 for shimmer. I ran 250w 20k radium's for 2 years and went back to T5 with ATI bulbs and couldn't be happier my chalice's, rainbow Acans are loving it and acros look better then ever. Just my 2 cents.
 
Maybe someone here can help me...

I won a JF My Miami at an event a couple of months ago.

Its a 20h frag tank that has 2 AI sol Blues running over it.
SG 1.025, Alk 8.9, Ca 500, Mg 1450, NO3 0, PO4 0.02 all tests are salifert except phosphorus which is Hannu ULR.


I'm not sure what is causing it but I am greatly distressed that my 4 eye JF My Miami is turning into $5 green chalice frag...

Shortly after being placed in the tank sorry I know its not good quality but the green rim has already started to go. the eyes/mouths are still orange although you can't really tell in this picture.

JFMyMiami3_zps828160d9.png


Everything has been fairly stable other than an incident with Kalk in ATO a little over a month ago...ATO dumped a bunch of Kalk rasing Ph to 9.5 before I caught it.

I don't know if its the AI Sol Blue's lack of spectrum, the intensity (15%W, 5% Blue, 65%RB) frags are actually under another frag rack with SPS growing, or just my luck...


Now... sigh.... $5 chalice...
IMG_3731_zpsbe431cc0.jpg



So my question is how do I get the correct colors back or is it even possible.
 
Do you dose strontium? Chalices need that as a supplement. Besides that I say its the lighting, but I am a MH with PC actinics.
 
Any folks with great chalice color under 20k metal halide bulbs??

I recently read that the WWC tanks were having problems with their chalices under MH so they switched to t5/led.. I am now second guessing my new build where I planned on using a geisemann spectra 250 MH with 4 t5s.. Are there any tricks to chalice under MH or should I scrap my plan and go with the proven king of lights for chalices-T5...

Again pics help and make this thread more interesting. Thanks
 
Reef or Die said:
Any folks with great chalice color under 20k metal halide bulbs??

I recently read that the WWC tanks were having problems with their chalices under MH so they switched to t5/led.. I am now second guessing my new build where I planned on using a geisemann spectra 250 MH with 4 t5s.. Are there any tricks to chalice under MH or should I scrap my plan and go with the proven king of lights for chalices-T5...

Again pics help and make this thread more interesting. Thanks
Click to expand...

Once I get to work I will post the pics of my huge bubble gum chalice under 20k 250 mh. I have kept both of my chalices directly under MH with no issues.

nevermind I posted them here:


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=6878
 
What is the highest and lowest par level people have success with chalices? MH or T5's

I have one chalice near sand bead that seems to have bleached and the others around it are just fine. Par is only around 110 at bottom
 
A couple of chalices under mh (250'watt 20k radiums) and 4 t5's (80 watt) taken last month. I think all lights, mh or t5 or LEDs are good, and combinations may likely be better.





 
The right placement and LED's have worked well for me and a pic is below on a 3g that I got 8 months ago as a plug of about 8 eyes, now nearly 20 this picture is about 2 months old and the growth would be very evident if a new pic was posted. I have two mini colonies of pink boobies doing well so have not seen color as an issue with my leds. The one thing I have noticed though is some zoas were not happy and I lost most of my GOWs that are coming back now. You may find the chalices changing color though, sometimes for the better and others for the worse. I AM GUESSING that it may be a result of them adapting to the lighting and discovery had a recent show that suggested the corals have the strange colors that become evident under artificial lights, especially black lights and blues, possibly from their natural sunscreen. The color changes usually show up several weeks later or even months in my tank. My cotton candy chalice seemed to hate my tank regardless of its spot, recently it changed colors for the better and is growing out incredibly from a piece I was about to give away.
pink boobies
tyree bubble gum now much larger

and this nice watermelon

my ignition chalice is doing really well and that is more red than pink but I have a wild berry (red or pink and blue) that is doing well along with an several others if that helps. pink floyd chalice
 
The 3g first pic above is a champ in growth and my Jason Fox My Miami (not pictured)from the reefaplza show is also growing out really nicely. PM your number if you want a specific pic of any chalice I mentioned. I opted for LEDS over energy and heat concerns, my SDGE bill is 300-400 a month with my home office and koi pond/tank already and didn't need halides and a chiller added to it. My pics are just off my phone so don't worry about any lighting editing to make them appear better. Hope this helps to confuse you further on your choice but leds can push out some nice chalice colors
 
Thanks for contributing guys!! Your chalices look great under LEDs and do not look washed out or discolored. This is the type of proof that i was looking for.
I have always been very skeptical about LEDs ability to hold proper colors. Looks like I was wrong!
 
@frankyrivera.. ditto on sps under leds, mine are doing well, including hawkins echinata, shades of fall, forest fire monti, mystic sunset, and the jack o lantern lepto is growing very well but had to be moved further down. Nice pics by the way
 
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