Hey Gang, need a little help

T

TeresaQ

New member
Hi, havent been aroung in a while. My tank is crappy, but life is good. We leave in 3 weeks for China. we are picking up our new son.
Here is my problem. I am looking for a cheap, and I mean cheap 150 to 250 mh pendent and balast to save my corals. I should not have listened to anyone and kept my old lights. I switched to t5s, and am slowly loosing everything. I want to add three pendents, , but one for now will do. maybe with at least one, i can save a few of my corals. if anyone has an old pendent laying around please let me know. Funds are low because of our adoption.
I do have a couple of things i need to get rid of, HOB refuge and a 36 inch pc light if anyone is interested.
TeresaQ
http://chinamom-ourjourney-chinaorbust.blogspot.com/
 
First off, and most importantly ...


CONGRATULATIONS!


now ... wow. I cannot believe you are loosing corals with the T-5 lighting.
I do not recall specs, and have no way to search right now... but what wattage, color MH and how old were the bulbs ... that you upgraded from, and what are the specs of the T-5's you upgraded to.

I have been running T-5's since day one, I was able to get scott (keinreis) to convert over, Try Lytell (tlytel) and quiet a few others that are not local .... and none of these people reported loss of coral, other than bleaching from the intensity of the T-5's... which often is solved by reducing the light period to acclimate the corals, or by moving affected corals lower in the tank.

I personally had to move 2 of my brains lower to avoid them from bleaching.


CHeck with mike (mduval) - he has some lights i believe he has for sale .... 250w MH ... not pendants, but i'm sure we could all get something fabed up pretty quick.


Take care,

marco
 
I went from 3 250 mh, 10k, to 16x39wtt t5. maybe they are just too far above my tank. maybe i can move them down some. just a big pain.
 
Teresa,

how far above your tank are they?
Are these bulbs overdriven? if not, thats 624w ... quiet a bit on that 150g tank.
On my 150g I had 6 x 85w bulbs that were overdriven on IC660's ... I believe they put out on average ~100w /bulb.

Back then i had my lights about 2-4" above the surface of the water on a 24" deep tank. That was too much light, too close. Now on the 265g tank, i'm running the SAME 6 bulbs combo + 2 x 54w actinics, all these are suspended about 6-8" now ... on a 30" deep tank. Much better. I have not bleached anything after 6 months.
 
I would either guess too much light, or a parameter that is not right. I would surely not say the light is too low, as if I remember you had mostly softies. I have only 4-54 t-5's over my tank with nothing but SPS corals and clams, and the colors of the corals are great, and everything is growing in freakish ways. Marco swears I am dosing steroids because my sps groth is soo rapid. I would look into all other options before blaming lights, or cut back on the lighting first and see if that helps. Last I knew you didn't have a skimmer... How often do you do water changes? Just trying to get some answers so I could maybee think of other reasons.
 
Premium Aquatics is having a sale on Giesmann 250w Pendants.
Look in the closeout section.
I picked up a Reef Optics 3 pendant w/Icecap 250w electronic ballast & a 14k Ushio for $199 a while back. Just look around and you'll find something.

You guys need to stop trying to convice her not to get MH's.
She obviously likes them more-so than T5's
 
I will admit to not keeping up on my water changes. I am fixing that. Just so busy with the adoption. I do have a skimmer, though is it too small for this tank. Its better then nothing. I guess i will get my water changes cought up, and just see what happens in the next month or so.
thanks guys.
TeresaQ
 
I find that most people are just so excited to get specimens into the tank that they bypass the most important part and keep putting it on hold and that is equipment. I'm not saying that this applies speicifically in your case but if you are admiting to having a small skimmer and not keeping up on the water quality it could degrade pretty rapidly under poor skimming. I am like concrete and feel that t-5 is great lighting but still metal halide is imo unreplaceable by anything at this point. Not saying t-5 will not work as i've seen nice tanks under t-5. I would spend the money and get a quality skimmer and keep up on the water changes before i worried aboutr lighting on a softie tank. That should do wonders right there! Goodluck Teresa and if you ever have any questions do not hesitate to call.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10530754#post10530754 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coralfarmer84
I find that most people are just so excited to get specimens into the tank that they bypass the most important part and keep putting it on hold and that is equipment. I'm not saying that this applies speicifically in your case but if you are admiting to having a small skimmer and not keeping up on the water quality it could degrade pretty rapidly under poor skimming. I am like concrete and feel that t-5 is great lighting but still metal halide is imo unreplaceable by anything at this point. Not saying t-5 will not work as i've seen nice tanks under t-5. I would spend the money and get a quality skimmer and keep up on the water changes before i worried aboutr lighting on a softie tank. That should do wonders right there! Goodluck Teresa and if you ever have any questions do not hesitate to call.
Click to expand...


this coming from a guy with a tank full of dead corals...:D
 
Water changes are overrated (unless your bioload is exceeding your biological/mechanical filtration-**liverock & a good skimmer**)

If your corals were fine before you switched to T5's then it's only obvious- Their probably not getting enough light.
Metal Halides work, period. Look at all the TOTM's and 90% are running some sort of MH. (please don't argue, you know I'm right)

T5's work also, you will get growth with T5's..yes.... as much as halides? IDK, I have yet to see a T5 lighted tank grow Corals as fast as a similar tank lighted with MH's.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10534518#post10534518 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ConcreteReefer
Water changes are overrated (unless your bioload is exceeding your biological/mechanical filtration-**liverock & a good skimmer**)
Click to expand...

i wouldn't say they are over rated, a they re-introduce trace elements that are quickly depleted in your tank depending on the livestock you have. but i do believe in having a good skimmer around that gets the job done.


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10534518#post10534518 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ConcreteReefer

If your corals were fine before you switched to T5's then it's only obvious- Their probably not getting enough light.
Metal Halides work, period. Look at all the TOTM's and 90% are running some sort of MH. (please don't argue, you know I'm right)
Click to expand...
I RELLLLY have to argue on this point.
Please take a step back & re-valuate what you just wrote.
Why is it that you bash T5's everytime.

There are 2 facts that we do not know to make such a statement, and even then my guess would be that it is wrong.

she ran 3 x 250 MH's before .... we do NOT know which bulbs & color combo, on which ballasts.

Sanjar joshi has a great site where he tested the PAR & PUR values of common bulbs on common ballasts. There are others that have tested T5 bulbs & ballasts to record the PAR/PUR values.


My guess would be that the corals are getting too much light, and are fading/melting away .... however we have yet to see pictures of whats actually going on with the corals.



<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10534518#post10534518 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ConcreteReefer

T5's work also, you will get growth with T5's..yes.... as much as halides? IDK, I have yet to see a T5 lighted tank grow Corals as fast as a similar tank lighted with MH's.
Click to expand...

If you have yet to see a T5 lit tank that grows corals fast, please call up scott (keinreis) & stop by his house.
He has very fast growth rates, and doesn't dose/supplement much of anything, and does very irregular water changes (once every 3-4 months?)




I feel like i'm beating a dead horse here ... you, and Ryan (coralfarmer) both seem to be diehrd MH fans, and have your opinion made up, and thats the way it is. There is no other way to properly do it ..
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10534518#post10534518 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ConcreteReefer

If your corals were fine before you switched to T5's then it's only obvious- Their probably not getting enough light.
Metal Halides work, period. Look at all the TOTM's and 90% are running some sort of MH. (please don't argue, you know I'm right)
Click to expand...


Lets NOT forget .... this is a softie tank we are talking about ....
SOFTIES! most of them probably don't require 1/2 the light she has over this tank.....
 
Thanks for nothing guys. sorry i even posted this question. Yes I have SOFTIES, and yes they are melting, and no i dont beleive its too much light. I switched from MH because i didnt like the heat, not because i didnt like the lights, My tank was much nicer before.
I have moved some things to my 37 gal, which has a 250 mh sunpod fixture, and they are already looking better.
I will figure this out on my own, I have too much going on right now to deal with you guys. between my tank, and leaving for china, I'm done
Concretreefer, thank you for being nice.
 
Last edited:
Teresa,

if you don't mind me asking, what all do you have in your tank, wht kind of soft corals, and which ones have you lost, and are currently melting away?
 
two leathers, and most of my zoos. also mushrooms are shrinking and melting away. I am moving a lot of stuff to the 37 gal to see how it does there. dont worry about it, its just a softies tank as qouted above.
I only started this thread to see if anyone had a pendent they wanted to get rid of.
 
Teresa,

I don't believe anybody ever said this was 'JUST A SOFTIE' tank....
regular shrooms don't require excessive amounts of light.

I used to have a rock with beatiful blue shrooms ... it barey open, and i lost several polys ... once i moved the rock under an 'overhand' into a much shaded area .... the shrooms that before never opened more than 1/2" turned out to open to about 4"-5" ..if not more.


Just as an idea, since you are running many smaller bulbs, why not try turning off a few sets of the bulb to reduce the light, and see how that does.


Good Luck.
 
lets face it there is 50 ways to set=up a reef tank. whats works for me, might not work for tressa, and what the halide guys do might not work for me. this hobby is one that allows you to make alot of choices. My choice was T-5's, and they work overly well on my tank. My coral colors are super, and groth rate is out of control. My clams also are growing nice. the only thing that does poor in my tank is shrooms, unless I put them in a semi shaded area. I won't bash t-5's like you guys do, because I know they work, and have seen proof. Have you seen the proof that t-5's don't work? until you do then why bash them based on what someone posted. I am a have to see to believe guy, and I have seen the t-5's provide excellent results first hand in my tank. I know Halides could do the same thing, but my choice was to go with what I have. I am hapy my corals are happy. I just get agrevated when people say t-5's don't work, I have a tank here that is doing real well to proove otherwise. end rant... now when is our next meeting? I am close to getting my house done and might host it here.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10537319#post10537319 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ConcreteReefer
seems like we do this every 4-5 months...
Click to expand...

Indeed! The only part I'm not understanding here is how if the tank has little to no sps there should really be no problems with either metal halide or T-5 lighting... i could see if it was all acros and clams then we could debate but softies should THRIVE under either if your water temp and parameters all fall into line. Softies and LPS are even forgiving with flow issues....
 
Coralfarmer would just like to point out to wiszmaster that he appreciates T-5's as much as the next man but he also feels that metal halides are the best choice with T-5 falling into alternative lighting. WE could argue all day as you also have your mind made up that T-5 is gods gift to reeftanks ;) Lets argue about something more worthwhile like which beer tastes the best

Teresa I wish you luck with your tank and am not trying to sidetrack the thread. If you have any questions again do not hesitate to call and ask.
 
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