Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[DiscusHeckel]

Weird, huh? Just purple and blue has a whole special look of its own. It may be a coincidence but the corals are developing new color at a very rapid rate. I'm taking lots of pictures so I can hopefully demonstrate it.

Hi mate,

This combination is well known and has been promoted quite a long time ago by TropTrea in the mother of all T5-related threads. Furthermore, Pacific Sun recently made a similar recommendation based on their own brand of tubes for good pigmentation of corals, i.e. 2 X Pigment INT and 4 X Crystal Blue. Although purple + and Pigment INT are not the same tubes they are fairly similar. Pacific Sun emphasised in the same thread that this combination was likely to slow down coral growth.

It will be interesting to see how your corals' growth will be affected, and whether or not you will concur with Pacific Sun's prediction on coral growth. As for me, growth and coloration are like the two sides of a coin. One without the other does not go down well with me. In this context, for me the blue + and coral + combination has been the best compromise so far for both coloration and growth.

:beer:

 

[mhucasey]

Hi mate,

This combination is well known and has been promoted quite a long time ago by TropTrea in the mother of all T5-related threads. Furthermore, Pacific Sun recently made a similar recommendation based on their own brand of tubes for good pigmentation of corals, i.e. 2 X Pigment INT and 4 X Crystal Blue. Although purple + and Pigment INT are not the same tubes they are fairly similar. Pacific Sun emphasised in the same thread that this combination was likely to slow down coral growth.

It will be interesting to see how your corals' growth will be affected, and whether or not you will concur with Pacific Sun's prediction on coral growth. As for me, growth and coloration are like the two sides of a coin. One without the other does not go down well with me. In this context, for me the blue + and coral + combination has been the best compromise so far for both coloration and growth.

:beer:

I have been aware of the combo for a couple of years as it used to be listed in the recommended combos for ReefGeek(RIP:sad2 as the "20K" look. Wow, thats a term that has been abused a whole lot:headwally:

I didn't realize that Dennis had recommended it. I searched for threads where only blue and purple are used and I pretty much came up empty everywhere. I figured it was a "looks only" combo for amping up fluorescence. In the proper balance though,its not as blue as it might seem, and the reds and greens are well represented. To my eyes, adding even one white bulb changes the tone quite a bit.

The blue bulbs are really blue and green bulbs, and the purple bulbs are really red, green, and blue bulbs. The ratio doesn't change much to make them look way different to the eye though. The spectrum for Purple and the spectrum for White are pretty much the same with different peak intensities:

Maybe more oomph between 580 and 620 in the white bulb, which is Yellow, basically, and an extra peak about 490(Cyan). If I had used four ABS instead of three Fiji purple, I would probably have just about the same amount of power in the red spectrum but more Yellow. The consensus is yellow is useless for Photosynthesis, so why would the purple/blue combo color up better than ABS/Blue? Does the yellow irritate in some way that causes the coral to not promote pigmentation? The PAR is high under both setups. I don't see why the growth would be slower and so far I haven't seen any slowdown(the opposite, in fact) but what I have seen is darker growth tips. Always something to learn in this hobby

 

[markalot]

Have you messed around at this spectrum simulator site?

http://spectra.1023world.net/

T5 bulbs can be selected from the Items button at the top right side.

3 blue+, 3 coral+ is almost identical to 4 blue+ and 2 purple+ except for less green light.

4 blue, 2 purple

3 blue, 3 coral

 

[mhucasey]

Have you messed around at this spectrum simulator site?

http://spectra.1023world.net/

T5 bulbs can be selected from the Items button at the top right side.

3 blue+, 3 coral+ is almost identical to 4 blue+ and 2 purple+ except for less green light.

4 blue, 2 purple

3 blue, 3 coral

Ive been looking for something like that!!! Very cool and very handy. I assume the higher the number the better? I use bothe Blue plus and Superblues and 4 Fiji purples, which grades out to a score of 68. I don't know what all that means as far as growth, but Im loving the color and the corals seem to like it too

Compared to Radium:

 

[Reefvet]

Oh one other thing I forgot - I started dosing Acropower about 8 -10 days ago. 7 doses of 2.2 ML each during light hours each day. A little Cyano developed in a couple of spots in the lowest flow areas but no algae bloom

May I ask why you choose to dose during the day only ?

 

[mhucasey]

May I ask why you choose to dose during the day only ?

When it first came out there was a big thread about using it, effects, techniques, etc. One of the reccomendations from the thread(maybe from the mfg) was that it should be dosed during light hours as corals uptake and use of amino was during these hours. After dark the corals wouldn't take up amino as well.

That may be complete bunk, I really don't have as clear of a memory of who presented what in the thread. The bottle only recommends a weekly dose but I'm pretty sure Sprung stated that breaking it up into smaller doses was preferable. If you have more/better information please let me know.

I will be switching the amino acids over to Salifert when the Acropower runs out, simply based on the recommendation Joe made. Everything in my system is very stable as far as nutrient import and export, lighting, flow, pH, etc, so Im curious to see if i have his luck with eliminating a few small patches of Cyano that cropped up about the time I started dosing Acropower.

 

[rburns24]

-
Do you know if Salifert AA's can be diluted and dosed? I'm also thinking
of switching to Salifert from Acro Power.
-

 

[mhucasey]

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Do you know if Salifert AA's can be diluted and dosed? I'm also thinking
of switching to Salifert from Acro Power.
-

I would assume so, just use DI water and a sanitized container. I would make enough for a week or so of dosing and clean the container each refill.

 

[rburns24]

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Thanks. I'm getting it tomorrow. Should be interesting to see the difference, if any.
-

 

[Reefvet]

When it first came out there was a big thread about using it, effects, techniques, etc. One of the reccomendations from the thread(maybe from the mfg) was that it should be dosed during light hours as corals uptake and use of amino was during these hours. After dark the corals wouldn't take up amino as well.

The vast consensus based on research is that corals are synthesising their own AAs and that it is a constant process. In fact Salifert references an early paper on this reaserch as a basis for their forumlation.

A lot of research has been done in the nearly 30 years since that paper was published. I'd put good money on Salifert having updated that formula as a result.

I will be switching the amino acids over to Salifert when the Acropower runs out, simply based on the recommendation Joe made. Everything in my system is very stable as far as nutrient import and export, lighting, flow, pH, etc, so Im curious to see if i have his luck with eliminating a few small patches of Cyano that cropped up about the time I started dosing Acropower.

The Salifert product works very well and I'm sure you'll be happy with the results. There are significant differences between it and Acropower. Read each of the bottles a couple of times and then give some thought to the Cyano outbreaks some experienced. The answer is right there on the bottle.

Given your system and obsessive husbandry I'm sure you'll have great success with either supplement.

 

[mhucasey]

The vast consensus based on research is that corals are synthesising their own AAs and that it is a constant process. In fact Salifert references an early paper on this reaserch as a basis for their forumlation.

A lot of research has been done in the nearly 30 years since that paper was published. I'd put good money on Salifert having updated that formula as a result.



The Salifert product works very well and I'm sure you'll be happy with the results. There are significant differences between it and Acropower. Read each of the bottles a couple of times and then give some thought to the Cyano outbreaks some experienced. The answer is right there on the bottle.

Given your system and obsessive husbandry I'm sure you'll have great success with either supplement.

Thanks for the info. Maybe Ill spread the dose out even more. I'm pretty happy to give Salifert a try.

 

[mhucasey]

Color continues to develop nicely:

 

[mhucasey]

I switched over to the Salifert AAs last night, I'll go with 6 doses of 2 ML each per day, evenly spread out per the suggestion of ReefVet.

I have a lovely orange torch coral in the Flubber tank that has been looking poorly, and after closer examination I found eggs all over the skeleleton. I found that these guys can get flatworms:mad2:

I pulled it and dipped it and about 10 big flatworms came off. I carefully scraped and scrubbed the eggs off and glued it to a clean rock, then put it in the SPS tank where the yellow Coris wrasse can catch anything I missed. Hours later it already looks way better!

 

[joshky]

I switched over to the Salifert AAs last night, I'll go with 6 doses of 2 ML each per day, evenly spread out per the suggestion of ReefVet.

I have a lovely orange torch coral in the Flubber tank that has been looking poorly, and after closer examination I found eggs all over the skeleleton. I found that these guys can get flatworms:mad2:

I pulled it and dipped it and about 10 big flatworms came off. I carefully scraped and scrubbed the eggs off and glued it to a clean rock, then put it in the SPS tank where the yellow Coris wrasse can catch anything I missed. Hours later it already looks way better!

Good thing you caught the FWs on your torch, hopefully it'll have a nice recovery. Are you planning on dipping it anymore?

Also I have to say there are some great colors in those acro pics above.

 

[mhucasey]

Good thing you caught the FWs on your torch, hopefully it'll have a nice recovery. Are you planning on dipping it anymore?

Also I have to say there are some great colors in those acro pics above.

It seems to be doing well, I'll re-dip if I see any regression. Flatworms on something other than SPS is new for me.

 

[reefmutt]

great looking corals, Matt!
love the first one..
I've been dosing some aminos, as well but with n at around 1-3ppm and p around .03, I'm not sure I'm really doing the corals any good..
I've always considered aminos as a supplement for corals in a true ulns.. maybe I'm incorrect..
I'm considering stopping because I'm not sure I'm really seeing any benefits..
How do you know any color improvements are from the aminos and not from your ongoing lighting experiment?
Do sps really need supplemental aminos?? I mean, aren't they making their own?
I guess this question is directed at reefvet as much as you, Matt..

 

[nemodan]

Very nice pictures and coral color. Matt I am learning a lot from this thread. Very interesting all the discussion about the lights and wave lengths.

Cheers
Daniel

 

[mhucasey]

great looking corals, Matt!
love the first one..
I've been dosing some aminos, as well but with n at around 1-3ppm and p around .03, I'm not sure I'm really doing the corals any good..
I've always considered aminos as a supplement for corals in a true ulns.. maybe I'm incorrect..
I'm considering stopping because I'm not sure I'm really seeing any benefits..
How do you know any color improvements are from the aminos and not from your ongoing lighting experiment?
Do sps really need supplemental aminos?? I mean, aren't they making their own?
I guess this question is directed at reefvet as much as you, Matt..

I don't think that the aminos are the cause of the color change, I'm pretty sure I didn't state that but I may have given you that impression by accident. If I had to pin the color change on anything, it would be reducing the light intensity to try to keep the corals between 200 and 400PAR. Perhaps the slightly bluer spectrum sped it up as well.

I dose the aminos for growth, specifically I started with acropower because it was a source of specific aminos that specifically appeared to accelerate growth. Acropower is cheap and there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that it works, now I'm giving Salifert a try, apparently they were the first in this field. Proving any of these work is expensive and difficult so it hasn't been done yet as far as I know.

 

[mhucasey]

Very nice pictures and coral color. Matt I am learning a lot from this thread. Very interesting all the discussion about the lights and wave lengths.

Cheers
Daniel

Thanks very much, I always hope to further the discussion

 

[Pife]

I am thinking of giving t5s a try. I think your experiments pushed me over the edge. I like how you can customize the look to what you like. Your tank is looking great keep it up.