placing Acans under T-5's

[TracyZeuner]

I want to try an Acan. I have a 180 with about 560 watts of T-5's lights and would like to know if anyone else has theres under T-5's also. Do you put them in the upper third or middle or even on the sand. Do they like moderate flow or just a little? Thanks

 

[afelder]

properly acclimated they can go anywhere in the tank just slowly get them used to wherever you want them.

 

[DesertBandits]

I would be careful, I bleached mine with 4x T5s in half way up in 18" of water. I would start them low and move them up after they're acclimated. If you have any 6500k bulbs, It may cause unattractive lightening, I found their colors to be best under bluer lighting.

 

[vessxpress1]

I think you have plenty of light.

I have mine under 4x39 watt T-5s and I keep them all in the lower third. I have an orange crush echinata that I put up high in the middle that does much better there, but everything else is fine on the bottom. Some are growing a lot of new polyps and some aren't. One type I had in the top third and it just wasn't doing good at all. I moved it down, pretty much under a rock ledge, shaded, and it's incredible now. The color is much better and it fully inflates. They seem to be temperamental.

I recently got a Milwaukee Lux meter for my tank out of curiousity. With the T-5s, your strongest light is top, middle of the tank. The light may appear to be the same at the ends of the tank but the intensity drops off dramatically within the tank, from the center. The ends of the T-5s just don't put out as much light, especially as they age. So that's something else to think about when placing them.

Also when you factor in water movement at the surface and any possible surface film, it also cuts down on your light a lot as it's passing through the water.
Lux, converted to PAR at the bottom middle of my tank, with the pumps on, drops all the way down to the 90s. With 60s at the sides of the tank! That's really low. And I have a RBTA growing just fine on the very bottom far left side.

Just try different areas and see how they respond. I'd keep them in moderate to low flow. They expand much better in lower flow for me.

 

[JenDub]

What color temp are your bulbs & how many of each?

T5's work great provided that they are not all 6500k or 11000k bulbs. From my experience the best mix for lps is 3X actinic or actinic plus for every one 11000k or 6500k. Also it helps to put the white bulb all the way in the back of the fixture so the lps are getting indirect light rather than getting blasted at a 90 degree angle =)

HTH =)

 

[TracyZeuner]

This is my setup, front to back: I have 14 bulbs-2 rows of seven
Blue Plus
Super A
Fiji Purple
Super A
Blue Plus
Aqua Sun
Aqua Blue
The first Acan lord I got from my LFS told me to put it way up top and Within about 2-3 weeks it was gone, just a skeleton.Are there any tell tale signs that I would be able to see if the Acans are getting to much light or not enough?

 

[JenDub]

Could be anything from a fish to a crab to an unhealthy specimen or tank parameter issues....What is your magnesium & calcium?

You lights sound perfect for lps, I would recommend starting all new pieces in the lower half of your tank preferably in the sand bed or a few inches up for at least 2-3 weeks. Once they stabilize you can move them around to test different locations =)

 

[DesertBandits]

Lol at LFS. Under your light setup, you're going to want to stick those acans in the shade until they acclimate, and even then only keep them in the lowest 1/3 of the tank.My setup on a 50gal (18" deep) is:

Front
ATI Blueplus
Superactinic
UVL 14k
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blueplus
Back

My 2 acans are in the lower 1/3, 1 of them is even shaded, and look great & grow well too.

Also let my clarify my earlier post, yes I think even a single 6500k T5 bulb is a plague on a tank ( I have done a lot of experimenting with the GE 6500k using it in a variety of setups for a year's time; it grows corals wonderfully, but tends to mutes color & bleach corals). Now that I've switched to nothing below a 12,000k, I couldn't be happier with my coral's coloration.

 

[TracyZeuner]

Thanks for the help.
JenDub- my Ca is 450 and my Mg is 1350 and Alk is10.2
I will move any remaining pieces to the lower part of the tank.
How do you know when to lower or raise the corals?

 

[vessxpress1]

There is no science to it. After you see what they can look like and how a lot of nice ones look even on the computer, you get a feel for how they 'should' look.

If the color starts fading and/or the polyps stay retracted and tight on the skeleton for several days, it could be because of too much light. So then you can try moving them down. It will be a noticeable difference if that was the problem.

I think most people start most anything they get towards the bottom and move up as time passes or as necessary.

<a href=showthread.php?
s=&postid=11391455#post11391455 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TracyZeuner

How do you know when to lower or raise the corals?

 

[chillman]

my acans do fine under T5s in a 75 gallon tank. I keep them all on the bottom of the tank - they seem happiest there.