elviraveloz
New member
Tank is looking great!
Rovster's Custom Reef Savvy build......FINALLY!!!
- Thread starter rovster
- Start date
Rogger Castells
New member
Looking better
Rogger Castells
New member
did you had a noticeable change when you added the t-5 supplementation ?
rovster
New member
If I'm being honest no. But it seems that most of my alk problems started around the time I added the T5 so it may not be a fair judge. I noticed the biggest difference when I went from 3 Radions which people thought was overkill to 4. This is my theory as to why the T5 didn't do much. I think LEDs biggest issue is coverage, so when people add T5 to a poorly covered tank they give the T5 all the credit.
That said I do notice the tank visually looks a lot brighter with the T5 on which at first I was unsure if I liked or not but it has grown on me. I will be adding 2 more T5 to the back soon to play with color combos.
The best colors this tank ever saw was when I was pure LED but the tank was stable. I'm hoping that soon it will again be stable so we can really judge again. I just got back from Disney again, and alk dipped about 0.5-0.7dkh since last Thursday, which is good and bad I guess. Last night I added some alk manually and upped my dosers a smidge. I feel like I'm getting closer to dialing it in like I had it when my tank was on cruise.
That said I do notice the tank visually looks a lot brighter with the T5 on which at first I was unsure if I liked or not but it has grown on me. I will be adding 2 more T5 to the back soon to play with color combos.
The best colors this tank ever saw was when I was pure LED but the tank was stable. I'm hoping that soon it will again be stable so we can really judge again. I just got back from Disney again, and alk dipped about 0.5-0.7dkh since last Thursday, which is good and bad I guess. Last night I added some alk manually and upped my dosers a smidge. I feel like I'm getting closer to dialing it in like I had it when my tank was on cruise.
Rogger Castells
New member
So, with the same alk dosing still dropped .5-.7, during a vacation week? what do you keep magnesium at now?
rovster
New member
I'm still in the process of dialing it in Rogger. Over the last few months I've had several alk spikes, a few from me increasing my dosers chasing bad test results, and one kalk overdose about a month ago. I had shut down my dosers completely for almost a week and now things are getting back on track. I check my out daily or every other day. Some of my corals are starting to grow again and a few that were shut down from the out problems look like they may be ready to start back up. So right now I'm just adding a little time to my dozers as I see the need. The drop in out walls away on vacation is just telling me that my tank continues to improve.
rovster
New member
Because I can
In all honestly I think theoretically there is a benefit to running to T5 alongside the LEDs . I guess the point I'm trying to make is that it is not a make a night and day difference at least to my eyes. I really do like the combination look where the tank is a little bit brighter but you still get some shimmer from the LEDs. I do want to have the capability of playing with bulb combinations and the corals alongside the back of the tank don't really get much light from the T5 as it is. I have a few stags in the back of the tank that never quite looked great so if they do with the addition of T5 then I'll have a better answer for you .
rovster
New member
I think its great. When radions are at 12K and the T5s on I LOVE the look. Nice crisp white, that really showcases those colors, and really is unforgiving on the corals that look like crap, LOL! Blues POP under the whiter lighting.
My plan is to add another B+ and Actinic, or 2 B+ and go from there. Right now I'm running a B+ and a C+. I may also swap out the C+ for a Giesemann Aquablue Azure, or just add that instead of the Actinic. I use my T5s to supplement my peak white period and fill in any gaps in spectrum, again theoretically.
rovster
New member
Not exactly. My Radion schedule starts at Deep Blue->All Blue->20K->14K->12K->10K-> and then back down. My Program is just short of 12 hours. I run the T5 4-5hrs (cant remember at the moment) during that peak period starting at the 14K mark. My goal is to eventually run them 5-6 hours. I reduced them when I had an alk spike because I was fearful I was giving them too much light. I also decreased the intensity of my Radions at the time, because I feel when corals are suffering, too much light is a bad thing, but that's another conversation.....:deadhorse1:
Rogger Castells
New member
I have been out of a tank for a while but when I had it and I saw drops like that it usually meant that my Magnesium was on the low side <1350, I usually kept it at 1450--1500 which helped greatly to stabilized the alkalinity.
I am not saying that this is your case just wondering how much you kept your Mag at?
rovster
New member
I checked it 3 weeks ago I think and it was in the 1350-1360 range. Funny you're not the first person to mention this to me. I know at above 1300 I theoretically should be fine with it, but I have considered running it higher. I do believe my alk drop has more to do with "restarting" and having to redial things in.
