Touring
New member
Your right about the lower spectrum in the 400nm range. When I built my unit I had about 30 leds in the 410-460 and my corals love it. Their polyps never retract and new plugs encrust the plug in 2 weeks.
I give up trying to get colorful sps
- Thread starter barramundi
- Start date
Your right about the lower spectrum in the 400nm range. When I built my unit I had about 30 leds in the 410-460 and my corals love it. Their polyps never retract and new plugs encrust the plug in 2 weeks.
Touring
New member
Do my 410 and 420nm leds not count?
barramundi
New member
Wow that looks great I wish I could get photos like that of mine, I just use my phone to take photos, your friend has good colour on his sps.
Not much has changed since I started this thread, if anything the tips of my sps are much more brighter in colour than they was. I can see some slight change to the main body of my blues, they now seem to have a green tinge to some of them instead of being brown.
I also think that the spectrum of my lighting is not enough after all of your comments, I have only ever had blue and white and having my whites on for most of the time.
I am thinking of purchasing one of these lights and replacing it with one of my blue/white lights to see if that makes any difference to the sps colours on one side of my aquarium.
Any thoughts on this lighting fixture.
http://http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=22023472
barramundi
New member
Sorry I hope this works now
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271255122425?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271255122425?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
Moser
Active member
Last edited:
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Barramundi: I wouldnt go buying another LED unit. Yours is just fine. Look at this thread: this guy is running just Royal Blues and Whites with 3 or 4 "UV" Actinics thrown in. Look at the amazing colour of his SPS: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2252911&page=3
I would work on your water quality and feeding. By which I mean re-test everything especially NO3 and PO4, do twice weekly water changes - maybe 10% each time. And really increase feeding the fishes and corals.
Do that for 6 weeks, whilst keeping a VERY close eye on NO3 and PO4, and I bet your colours will improve.
The key here is MORE NUTRIENTS + MORE WASTE OUT.
MORE WASTE OUT = increased frequency and size of water changes. Utilise GFO and GAC use smaller amounts and change out AT least weekly. Keep NO3 under 5ppm and PO4 at or under 0.03ppm
Honestly mate, as long as you keep PO4 below 0.03ppm, I can see no harm in doing what I suggest above. I think I read you collect seawater? If that is too difficult to do maybe start making saltwater at least half the time.
I would work on your water quality and feeding. By which I mean re-test everything especially NO3 and PO4, do twice weekly water changes - maybe 10% each time. And really increase feeding the fishes and corals.
Do that for 6 weeks, whilst keeping a VERY close eye on NO3 and PO4, and I bet your colours will improve.
The key here is MORE NUTRIENTS + MORE WASTE OUT.
MORE WASTE OUT = increased frequency and size of water changes. Utilise GFO and GAC use smaller amounts and change out AT least weekly. Keep NO3 under 5ppm and PO4 at or under 0.03ppm
Honestly mate, as long as you keep PO4 below 0.03ppm, I can see no harm in doing what I suggest above. I think I read you collect seawater? If that is too difficult to do maybe start making saltwater at least half the time.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Might I add that I've been on this forum for over 10 years and the one thing I see consistently with regards to SPS tanks that have amazing colour is that those reefers always feed their tanks generously and essentially have the HIGH INPUT + HIGH OUTPUT methodology.
Look at the thread I linked above, one of his main comments is that he feeds his fishes/corals really well.
Look at the thread I linked above, one of his main comments is that he feeds his fishes/corals really well.
barramundi
New member
Wow thanks all for the comments and advice.
Well it has been 3 weeks and the only things I can see at the moment is that the new growth is more colourful than usual. I have also noticed that some have changed their main colour to a dirty green from brown, that only seems to appear on the blue sps.
I have taken on board all the advice though I am trying to change a little at a time so I can see what makes a difference. I am feeding 1 cube of marine dinner, 1/4 sheet of nori and some marine pellets spread over 3 feeds a day.
My po4 shot up to 0.12, I now have it back down to 0.06, No3 is at 5ppm, I have changed to a 10% water change every 2 weeks.
I have set my lighting to 8 hrs of blue with 5 hrs of that being blue/white, I won't add any more lighting until I am sure changing to more blue has not made a difference.
I called into see a club member who I gave frags to, to see how they had progressed from when he started with sps. I was surprised to see he had the same amount of colour and growth on them as mine, he has a similar set up to me and nearly the same routine, the only difference I could see is that he had 6 sets of my led lights above his 7ft tank plus another 2 with a different spectrum added. I did notice his polyp extension was amazing and he told me he feeds his fish heaps.
I have a 1000 ltr IBC in my garage which I can fill up anytime with NSW and since the Great Barrier Reef is off my coast line it's always quality, I do not have a problem with doing lots of water changes or the amount of NSW. My parameters are very stable, except for Po4 and No3 at the moment.
Dukester your tank is looking good mate keep it up.
Well it has been 3 weeks and the only things I can see at the moment is that the new growth is more colourful than usual. I have also noticed that some have changed their main colour to a dirty green from brown, that only seems to appear on the blue sps.
I have taken on board all the advice though I am trying to change a little at a time so I can see what makes a difference. I am feeding 1 cube of marine dinner, 1/4 sheet of nori and some marine pellets spread over 3 feeds a day.
My po4 shot up to 0.12, I now have it back down to 0.06, No3 is at 5ppm, I have changed to a 10% water change every 2 weeks.
I have set my lighting to 8 hrs of blue with 5 hrs of that being blue/white, I won't add any more lighting until I am sure changing to more blue has not made a difference.
I called into see a club member who I gave frags to, to see how they had progressed from when he started with sps. I was surprised to see he had the same amount of colour and growth on them as mine, he has a similar set up to me and nearly the same routine, the only difference I could see is that he had 6 sets of my led lights above his 7ft tank plus another 2 with a different spectrum added. I did notice his polyp extension was amazing and he told me he feeds his fish heaps.
I have a 1000 ltr IBC in my garage which I can fill up anytime with NSW and since the Great Barrier Reef is off my coast line it's always quality, I do not have a problem with doing lots of water changes or the amount of NSW. My parameters are very stable, except for Po4 and No3 at the moment.
Dukester your tank is looking good mate keep it up.
Ptyochromis
New member
make sure you rinse the frozen food. I defrost in a cup of ro and put it in a cup with a coffee filter and run ro/di over it a few times. Every few days I dry it out a little (after rinsing) and add selcon before putting it in.
I have tried some of the frozen food blends, they seem like the dirtiest things ever. I always got a po4 spike after using them. I now just have an assortment of frozen and freeze dried and haven't had the nutrient spikes I got with the blends. I feed my corals frozen rootifers, zooplan (sometimes hydrated in selcon) and d'capped brine shrimp eggs.
I have tried some of the frozen food blends, they seem like the dirtiest things ever. I always got a po4 spike after using them. I now just have an assortment of frozen and freeze dried and haven't had the nutrient spikes I got with the blends. I feed my corals frozen rootifers, zooplan (sometimes hydrated in selcon) and d'capped brine shrimp eggs.
barramundi
New member
This is something I will try, I don't usually rinse my frozen food. I have never had any problems with Po4 they have always been 0 on hanna, though I have never fed my tank as much as i am doing now.
Just done another 10% water change today so I will keep to this schedule for another 2 weeks and hope I will see some more improvement in my colouring.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Those are good signs!
Colour change from brown to greeny brown is good; lots of SPS start to turn greenish before changing to their true colour.
It will be a long road, but I feel that your going on the right path, so keep going and keep us updated.
barramundi
New member
After doing a 10% water change with NSW 4 days ago I just did some tests to see were my No3 and Po4 is at. To my surprise No3 is at 10ppm (salifert) and Po4 is at 0.09ppm (hanna), now it is obvious to me that I am well over feeding so should I cut down from 3 feeds a day to 2 or cut down the amount at each feed. At this rate I will doing 20% water changes every 5 days, I have just put in new rowaphos last week and my refugium is growing great guns so I am surprised at my levels.
I am getting 1200 ltrs of NSW tomorrow and was thinking should I do a 50% water change while I'm at it to get my levels down again.
I must admit I can see a change, a green on the base of my SSC now and though I'm not sure as I see it every day but a bluish/ green-brownish colour to some of my blue colonies. The colour on some of the tips is amazing I wish it would cover the whole of the colony.
I am getting 1200 ltrs of NSW tomorrow and was thinking should I do a 50% water change while I'm at it to get my levels down again.
I must admit I can see a change, a green on the base of my SSC now and though I'm not sure as I see it every day but a bluish/ green-brownish colour to some of my blue colonies. The colour on some of the tips is amazing I wish it would cover the whole of the colony.
barramundi
New member
Just taken a few photos, best I can do with my phone just to show the colour change to the corals.
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