Photoperiod for 1,000 Watt Halides

[Steve Tyree]

Actually, the main component of the efficiency issue is the algae within the coral. When exposed to the intense light of shallow water (1,000 watt halides), the algae are not very efficient. They only utilize about 30 % of the available light. Thats a lot of wasted watts. It is better to utilize strong but not intense light levels that the corals can be exposed longer too without suffering photooxidation. Algae are more efficient at utilizing lower intensities (once adapted to them). Cannot go into the 400/175 tandem issue too much, but suffice it to say that multiple kinds of bulbs can be strategically matched to provide a light quality that better matches the algal pigments absorption characteristics. This allows the aquarist to utilize less watts. So a '575' watt combo can be very powerful. Or for that matter so could a '650' watt combo and a '800' watt combo.

 

[eddie]

steve do you think running the light mover 12 hours with a 1000watt coralife bulb which is probably dim compared to a 1000watt iwasaki or 55k venture is to much on a 180 gal?
if so i guess i can put the mover on a timer to light 1 half and then the other 6 1/2 ,7 hours or watever the coral will adapt to
now thinking about it the type 1000watt bulb should have alot to do with hours needed

 

[simonh]

Interesting thoughts Steve. A few reefers here in the UK have been using a dual reflector and then using a 400w 5500k and a 250w 20k light which sit nearly together in the reflector. Apparently this design avoids a striping effect in the aquarium from mixing different bulbs but with the high PAR of the low kelvin bulbs and the high blue content of the 20k.

 

[Steve Tyree]

eddie,

I guess it depends on how you are using the track. One of my customers was moving lights front to back over a period of a few minutes. Says he was having good success with it. I take it you are sliding the light left to right. Perhaps a slow move that took 10 hours might work. What happens to corals under a 1,000 watter for more then 6 hours is they get white topped. However, you could place freshly imported colonies from shallow water right under them.

simonh,

Yeah, thats what I was referring too. The total PAR PPFD of a bulb is very missleading. Some of the bulbs with high PPFD emit about 60 % of their light within wavelengths that are not primarily used by the algae. Most of the 10,000 K spectrums I have seen emit violet and green light. Our eyes our fooled into thinking its blue. At least thats what Sanjay Joshi noted, correctly I thought.

 

[mellotang]

Simon, or anyone who knows for that matter, are these dual halide reflectors a DIY project or can you purchase them someplace? I have been thinking about trying this dual halide in one reflector.
Thanks,
Seth

 

[gas4544]

Minh,
Which 1000W lamp do you plan to use on your new cube tank?

 

[Fredfish]

Steve:
OK now I understand your efficiency comments. Didn't realize that the algae used so little of the light at higher intensities.

Do you know where the algae's efficiency starts to fall off? This would have strong implications for anyone farming coral: lower light to grow, and more intensity for "finnishing" the more colorful sps before they are sold.


Fred.

P.S. How are your cryptic environment experiments going? I am really interested in getting something similar going just cause I like to have lots of different critters in my system.

 

[Steve Tyree]

Fred,

Unfortunately with respect to growth its a very complicated issue. What makes the zoxanthellae grow well may cause the coral to not grow well. But the algae efficiency issue is more relavent to the cost of producing a coral. Less light means lower costs. Or more importantly less wasted light means less wasted costs. Maintaining corals brown and not stimulating their pigment development may not be a healthy situation for the coral or the algae for a variety of reasons.

Cryptic zones will definitily increase the diversity of the organisms kept within your reef system. Thats one of the main aspects of any kind of live rock, 'enhanced diversity'. I think
thats what the live rock pioneers have been stressing from day one.

Steve Tyree

 

[OrionN]

Minh,
Which 1000W lamp do you plan to use on your new cube tank?

I have not got that far yet. I am selling coral to LFS for credit for this tank. I got enough credit for the tank already. I got a Hydroponics ballast for the 1000 W MH. I will need to check which bulb I can use on it, then decide if I wanted to get a brand new ballast or not.

 

[Fredfish]

Steve,

As expected, your answer raises as many questions as it answers.

There must be an optimum light range for different groups of corals, but I suspect that it would require a lot of research to determine what that is.

How do the coral pigments relate to health? I thought that nobody yet knew the function of these pigments. As I understand it, the compounds involved in UV protection are clear and are in no way related to the color pigments we see in high light acros.

Fred.

 

[Steve Tyree]

Fred,

There is a happy middle ground to strive for. Quite a few captive corals that I have seen are there. They have a rich brown coloration from healthy zoox and colorful coral pigmentation. Zoox are maintained in a state of limited growth within the coral normally. When things like increased nitrate-nitrogen occur within the habitat of the coral the zoox can mutiply and slow the growth of the coral. Thats actually been documented in the scientific literature.

The stony coral book I am writing right now will have well defined lighting recommendations for specific corals. These are based on my 8 + years of experience and the scientific literature.

Concerning health benifits from colorful pigments, basic observations of the first such case has been documented within the scientific literature. Will be referenced within my book, btw.

Steve Tyree

 

[Fredfish]

Steve,

Very cool! Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I am looking forward to your new book.

Fred.

 

[HiloJack]

I ran my 1000watt 12,000K at less 12 hours. The ballast had a built in timer that I set to come on at 10:00am, I would shut it off manually when I went to bed between 12:00am and 2:00am occasionally later. The other 3 400watts came on 10:30am, 11:00am and 12:00pm and went off at 8:30pm, 9:00pm and 9:30pm in same order they came on, all with a time of 10 hours each. When I first set up this lighting system the 3 400watts where 20,00K for the last 3 or 4 months I was using 6500K. I would say the lights where about 9"-10" above the water.
I fed my stones for awhile and found it useless, it just messes up the water.
P McGrew

 

[Steve Tyree]

Phillip,

Hello. Thanks for responding to this thread. When running the 1,000 watt halide, did you try to place any corals that had already been in captivity for awhile under the 1,000 watter ? I know you had great success with some of the recently imported shallow water Fiji corals, but was wondering if you experienced problems adapting corals from a normal 400 watt lighted reef to your 1,000 watt lighted super intense reef ? Also was the total wattage on your tank 2,200 watts ? Bill Schoroer had 4,600 watts over his 650, but looking back at it that was not super intense light for that size tank. What was the size of your tank and were all the bulbs more then 9 inches off the waters surface ?

Steve Tyree

 

[HiloJack]

Steve,
When I put in the 1000 watt it replaced a 400 watt 6500K, I was told if I remember correctly 20,000 more lumens then a 400 watt 6500K so I really didn't have to. I did keep a close eye on everything for the first week. Also most of my Arco I had for awhile 90% I got from you and were in excellent shape to begin with. Now here is the strange part when I would get a new Arco with out the intense color or lets say a darker color dark green, dark purple or brown I would have to acclimate them. I would put them on the bottom in my sand bed They would lighten up extremely fast to a cream or even white which means a loss of zoox but never died. It would take a week or two for the color to fully return a lighter more florescent coloration developed some times unbelievable. I'm not saying I never lost any Arco but not from my light set-up. I lost a few to my water current but that's another story.
The tank was a 55 gallon with total watts of 2200. All the bulbs where at the same level about 9" the 1000 watt was a little closer only because the size of the bulb was bigger, maybe 1/2-1". Most would say that that's way to much light, but what is the differences between a 55 gallon with one 1000 watt and a 120 gallon with one 1000 watt? Nothing that same 55 gallon of space is in the 120 gallon receiving the same amount of light or say a 10 gallon with a 400 watt and a 75 gallon. Does that make any sense? I was never really in to the scientific part of reef keeping. The do's and the don'ts and the precise measurements. I would try it, if it work go with it. What I have learned is the 3-C's Clean Water, Calcium and Current in that order with clean water being first priority then calcium, current and followed by light. Hope this makes sense I was never good at explanations.
Philip McGrew

 

[eddie]

phillip
how often did you change the 12k 1000watter?
also what is your opinion on the performance of the bulb?

 

[HiloJack]

Eddie,
I loved the bulb. I had great success using it. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to see the life of the bulb. I did have some trouble with the 400 watt 12K. I ran the 1000 watt 12K about 8 months and it still had intense life left. The only thing some might not like is the color it was a vary intense blue. Its kind of hard to describe the color It was blue but I think because it was so bright it didn't really look like a 400 watt 12K or 20K but it did made a 400 watt 12K or 20K look like a night light. I love the bluer bulbs always have and still do, some don't a matter of taste I guess. I will say that the 65K is your best bang for your buck but. I cant stand the yellow color and it is yellow so no replies telling me it isn't and that its white (please). Also the price was pretty reasonable compared to the 1000 watt 10K at the time I got it. I know there's a couple more 1000 watt 10K now, that are more reasonably priced and a 1000 watt Iwasaki 65K I would have loved to try.
P McGrew

 

[eddie]

thanks for replying
i have a 1000watt ballast and supernova hamer toned reflector
i plan to use this as the sole light source on a 180 gal seaview
the tank has a hydroponic lightmover
for my own personal taste i like the blue look
im going to order a 1000watt coralife 20k bulb from hellolights after making this post
ill post pics of it after i recieve it and someone can teach me to post a pic with a regular camera
ill switch to the 12k if this bulb dosent perform well
im glad to hear the intensity was stll good after 8 months
the main reason im buying the coralife over the 12k is about $40 differance in price

 

[eddie]

the 1000watt 65k iwasaki isnt the same as the 400dl iwasaki
i think its a cdx and isnt made for aquariums but for growing plants and it is very yellow

 

[wjgeese]

Hilojack, pics of your setup?

Hilojack, pics of your setup?

Hey Hilojack,
you have any pics of your system?
I think I remember seeing pics of it a long time ago....the wattage reminded me that it was probably you.

Thanks,
Bill