MHs, LEDs and Zoanthids.

[MUCHO REEF]

any of the above can grow zoa's, ive used mh with pc, mh with t5, t5's with several color combo's, and several led unit's. i honestly cant say one grew then better then the other
i think alot of time people want to attribute lighting higher up then what ive found personally to get best growth, which is the basic, water quality, and flow.

i know mucho has been looking for answer's on growth for years but there is so many variable's, type and condition of water where they origanally came from, whether it was someone else's tank or the ocean. do you spot feed your zoa's ? do you use any additives ? if i had the space i would love to do a side by side comparison with 1 colony of zoa's break into 5 pieces and stick each piece in a different 10g tank, just run a hob filter and use 5 types of lighting, so that it is all equal except the light

Oh, I agree 1000%, I have never had any problems growing them. I just like discussing topics that everyone can contribute to and learn from.

You are so right, there are many variables which contribute to growth and lighting is but one of them. Hey who knows, someday you might have the space to do that side by side comparison mate.:beer:

Mooch

 

[Chrisjbarry]

You would be supprised how much I do give away in free corals each month. But as far as lighting I came accross it from another member that said try this mixture. Before leds I had been running 2-250watt mH 6500k. Also running 4-pc bulbs 2 actincs and 2 10ks. Now to maintain I run drip method and test water 2-3 times a week. I use mainly BRS brand products for cal,alk, ect...

In a side note I have never heard of a tank crash from aptisa x before. I will have to look into that. I wish the wife would let me set up a second tank. Or third one the rock work in my along with corals would be so hard to move anything it would not be woth the risk. Also, the ones that grow on the glass that is exactly what ive been doing to get them out. A friend of mine has a sandless bottom and I have been helping him fill the bottom in with zoas. It is about 70% covered now an looks like a rainbow sand bed. I kind of wish I could have mine like that.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

You would be supprised how much I do give away in free corals each month.

That's great, and no, I wouldn't be surprised, but it's great that you do.:thumbsup:

But as far as lighting I came accross it from another member that said try this mixture. Before leds I had been running 2-250watt mH 6500k. Also running 4-pc bulbs 2 actincs and 2 10ks. Now to maintain I run drip method and test water 2-3 times a week. I use mainly BRS brand products for cal,alk, ect...

Cool, thanks.

In a side note I have never heard of a tank crash from aptisa x before. I will have to look into that.

But I never said you could crash your tank, I said "to possibly help to avoid a colony crash".


I wish the wife would let me set up a second tank. Or third one the rock work in my along with corals would be so hard to move anything it would not be woth the risk. Also, the ones that grow on the glass that is exactly what ive been doing to get them out. A friend of mine has a sandless bottom and I have been helping him fill the bottom in with zoas. It is about 70% covered now an looks like a rainbow sand bed. I kind of wish I could have mine like that.


LOL, I think we all wish we could have more tanks, LOL, but keep working on the wife, maybe she'll come around and good luck. And hey, just keep at it, with time, I'm sure you'll have those results you desire. I bet it would look very nice. Good luck again my friend.


Mucho

 

[jbm421]

I have had 5 different DIY led fixtures and the only thing I can say is you must have the patience for acclimation but after that everything thrived with better color. The corals retained brighter more vivid colors while using LEDs even if put under different lighting.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

I have come to the conclusion that it is personal preference basically. I do agree that patience is always a must in this hobby,

Thanks all.

Mucho Reef

 

[Shaun v]

I have a 17gallon tank. When I first started my tank, I had the Odyssea Light MHEC18 and it was great at growing algae but not much else. I don't want to discredit halides or t5's just this light was bad and probably would have worked great over a planted tank. The tank was barely hanging on and I would get some bleaching of my montipora and no visible growth from anything in my tank. A few months later, I installed a Kessil Tuna Blue 350w and I noticed a difference immediately. I started off with 25% power and gradually increased the output of the light to acclimate the corals. Within a month the bleaching on my montipora was gone and things were growing. My green star polyp grows like a weed. My waving Xenia that was on the brink of death and only two polyps is now a nice large colony. Some of my zoas have gone from one polyp to over 50 polyps in about 3 months and my Jedi mind trick and acro have finally begun to show some growth. I am really glad I went with LED. I have less evaporation, less noise, less heat, great color, and coral growth. I spent about $400 for the light and my electricity bill went down slightly and I don't have to replace bulbs. My only issue with this light so far is that it doesn't have a programmable control. When I decide to get a new tank, I will probably go with the AI sol or if Kessil has created a programmable control system by then I may stick with that. Either way, I will be staying with LEDs.

 

[Fromjeni2u]

I am quite new to all of this however I started with dimmable LEDs and everything is growing nicely and have amazing color.

 

[HelenofTroy]

i have lots of zoas and palys under a kessil a150w, all have good colors c:

 

[turbo21]

i have had a diy bridgelux led setup running over my 220 mixed reef for 18 months.

The color and growth of my z's and p's has been awesome. I have around 80 differnet morphs and they are all growing great. i have a 2:1 ratio of royal blue to cool white.

my problem has been with my sps. color is there but growth has been painfully slow. i can only attribute this to a lack of spectrum with my build. don't get me wrong, i have growth but not the growth i experienced under the old halide vho mix.

instead of scrapping the lights, i recently added in 6 36" t-5's to help out with the spectrum more than the par. Hopefully in another few weeks i will be able to update if my growth has improved.

i ma not saying that leds can't grow sps but i am thinking that with the cheaper bridgelux led's and such a narrow spectrum of light (royal blue and white) there is something missing.

i have a friend who is using cree leds and he also added in a bunch of colors (red, green, cyan, uv, warm white) and his sps growth is insane. last year at a frag swap we both bought a few of the same pieces (same size). our parameters are almost the same. he has had his frgas grow 3 times as much as my frags fwiw

 

[Friday Night]

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