Mhucasey's SPS obsession

Under a similar bulb combination ?

If there's a coral that's sensitive to spectrum and PUR as much as PAR it's Red Planet.

Yes, pretty similar. Its a tad more blue now but the same types of bulbs are in play. I tweaked the mix a lot back then without the color of the red planet changing much, but that may be because the changes were pretty subtle from mix to mix. I generally like a fairly neutral white look, I'm picky about reds looking brown and yellows looking green. That tends to keep me away from too many white bulbs or too many blues.
 
I think I'm finally seeing the green I was looking for:

Red%20planet%20090115_zpsts0gszre.jpg
 
I can see it too Matt but why the hell do you guys want it to turn green when it looks awesome just red :spin3:
 
I found the brand of potassium kit u been useing ....finally getting close to the end of your thread :) if u ever want some large pieces of ssc Matt I'm local sorta and have 5 diff types and big colony's .... It's hard to find reefers with nice stuff we seem few and far anyway your welcome to grab a big chunk or we can swap whatever
 
Yes, pretty similar. Its a tad more blue now but the same types of bulbs are in play....

Then I'll be very interested to hear what the PAR reading is.

The latest photo looks great. Much closer to what I think is it's natural coloration!
 
I like the AquaPink better than the Purple Plus as well. There is something about the red that the Purple Plus and Coral plus put out that I have never liked. The Fiji Purple and Aquapink are similar, at least to my eye. The hammers are pretty light in the picture for sure.

Good Morning Mhucasey...

As promised here are the pics so you an see the difference with only changing the Aquapink and the Super Actinic.
 

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:dance::dance:

That's a perfect specimen :) Now I have to go get a red planet frag to grow :/ You're doing an amazing job on this tank.

Thanks Rich, the tank is finally getting dialed in! This red planet started with a frag, it isn't the fastest grower in the world, so you will need patience. But being patient is hard:(
 
I found the brand of potassium kit u been useing ....finally getting close to the end of your thread :) if u ever want some large pieces of ssc Matt I'm local sorta and have 5 diff types and big colony's .... It's hard to find reefers with nice stuff we seem few and far anyway your welcome to grab a big chunk or we can swap whatever

Hi Brent, im impressed that you are working through my ramblings:). Where are you at in SoCal?
 
I can see it too Matt but why the hell do you guys want it to turn green when it looks awesome just red :spin3:

For the first time in the 3 years or more since I had my Red Planet frag (now two large colonies), I can see a GREEN base! IME the green has more to do with nutrients than light intensity.

Both my colonies are still in the same location and have the same light intensity, but since I increased food input to a crazy level, any new growth now has red and green.

Andrew, whilst all red looks awesome, red with a green base looks mega awesome. :D
 
Matt...that red planet looks great !!!

Mine has the red and green but during the day it do not have that level of polyp extencion. Yours also have several tall branches. Mine is growing more like a plate with short branches. The 2 biggest were the starting frags.

Could be mine isn't a red planet ?

Zoom this picture. It is at the right of the green
20150828_145339_zpsv8kyylx3.jpg


It is under T5, but mine are in a hood so no way I change the distance of them.
Daniel
 
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Ok, I have the PAR meter, detailed mapping to follow, but here are some advanced numbers:
12 t5 bulbs, 12 inches above water line. Tank is 16" tall. 7 blue, 3 white, 2 purple.
Red planet: 270-285
Bottom:250-300 over almost the whole floor.
The majority of the corals are at 300-420.
Below each panel the corals are at about 400 par halfway down.
Lowest par value for any coral I tested was 200. I'm interested in seeing what the values were whe the lights were 6" above the water....
...and I picked up a vermiculite leopard wrasse:)
 
Those sound like pretty ideal light levels for good color and growth.

At 6" above the tank you should have had roughly twice that according to the Inverse Square Law. Though that's referencing a point light source and T5s are a diffuse light source.
 
I'm pretty excited that the light levels match the expectation. The Red planet may be a good indicator - I took several more readings and quite a few were at 300 right at the RP. When I do the mapping I'll see how height the level was at 6-7 inches AWL, that was producing a very red coral.
There is a dramatic drop off of light near the ends of the bulbs that will be good to quantify. I knew the levels would drop, just not the sharp dive a few inches past the ends.
 
I know t5 and led are very different animals when it comes to lighting, but, I have found fairly similar that raising the lights higher have given better results (as well as actually reducing intensity). I have found this a very interesting test and right now seems your hitting some real good numbers.
 
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