Scott07
New member
I have a 4 bulb T5 fixture running 2 blue plus, an actinic, and a purple plus. 1 blue plus and the actinic are on 12 hours a day, and the second blue plus and the people come on for 6.5 hours mid day. My tank is mostly sps. For years I've been operating under the assumption that since i only have a 4 bulb fixture... running my light cycles longer than most would compensate to a degree for the lower par, or pur, what have you.
All of my sps is happy and growing, but it's all darker than i would like. I'm not talking about a high nutrient issue browning, but for example a common bird's nest which is usually a brilliant pink and green in others tanks is a vibrant purple and green in mine. A beautiful colony of another acro I have was purple with bright pastel green growth in the store, but is now only 1 shade of purple in my tank. It is still growing.
I'm reasonably sure this is a light issue, not nutrient related, but i don't profess to be more than a somewhat experienced amateur. Phosphates test zero with my low range hanna checker. I know that's not as precise as the ulr checker. But I've always figured if I'm maintaining 0 on this checker i must at least be in an acceptable range. Nitrates test zero, or just a shade higher on an api kit.
Im leaning towards decreasing the white portion of my photo period to address my coloration. Does that make sense? The more i think about it, the easier it is to convince myself either way, more or less light duration.
All of my sps is happy and growing, but it's all darker than i would like. I'm not talking about a high nutrient issue browning, but for example a common bird's nest which is usually a brilliant pink and green in others tanks is a vibrant purple and green in mine. A beautiful colony of another acro I have was purple with bright pastel green growth in the store, but is now only 1 shade of purple in my tank. It is still growing.
I'm reasonably sure this is a light issue, not nutrient related, but i don't profess to be more than a somewhat experienced amateur. Phosphates test zero with my low range hanna checker. I know that's not as precise as the ulr checker. But I've always figured if I'm maintaining 0 on this checker i must at least be in an acceptable range. Nitrates test zero, or just a shade higher on an api kit.
Im leaning towards decreasing the white portion of my photo period to address my coloration. Does that make sense? The more i think about it, the easier it is to convince myself either way, more or less light duration.
