freddie40
New member
Recently I have lost 11 clams. I have tried to analyze what could have been the cause and the best scenario I can come up with is my choice of T5 bulbs.
In February I decided that I wanted to try and mimic a 20K MH spectrum with my T5s. So, I put in 5 Blue+ (3 overdriven) and 1 Pro Color (overdriven). I really liked the color and the par was impressive. Within 2 months the clams started dying, many within a short time period. I figure that the spectrum of the blue + is missing colors above 500nm and that the Pro Color does not have enough par to make up for this. Clams are shallow water creatures (less than 10 meters) and the choice of bulbs that I had were more for deeper water creatures. To make things worse my nitrates are very low, futher starving the clams.
My LPS loved the choice of bulbs (Really love it), and the colors of my SPS were good, but there was just not enough good light for the clams on my sandbed.
As for choice of bulb colors, Dana Riddle in this aricle writes that ATI AquaBlue is the color of the Ocean at a depth of 10 meters.
Going with this theory I have changed my lighting to this. From front to back Blue+, AquaBlue, Pro Color, AquaSun, AquaBlue and Blue+ (All bulbs are made by ATI). The Blue+ bulbs are my Dusk to dawn and are balanced out by the Aquasun during the day. The Pro Color was used because the LPS seem to react better to this bulb. The color is probably about a 15k look and is close to what the AquaBlue look like, so lets say reasonably close to what the ocean looks like at 10 meters. The AquaSun was chosen to balance out the Blue+ plus to give more par of the SPS in the back of the tank.
It has only been a week since I made this switch so I don't have any real conclusions. My only purpose of this thread is to warn others about using the color combo that probably harmed my clams.
Dave
In February I decided that I wanted to try and mimic a 20K MH spectrum with my T5s. So, I put in 5 Blue+ (3 overdriven) and 1 Pro Color (overdriven). I really liked the color and the par was impressive. Within 2 months the clams started dying, many within a short time period. I figure that the spectrum of the blue + is missing colors above 500nm and that the Pro Color does not have enough par to make up for this. Clams are shallow water creatures (less than 10 meters) and the choice of bulbs that I had were more for deeper water creatures. To make things worse my nitrates are very low, futher starving the clams.
My LPS loved the choice of bulbs (Really love it), and the colors of my SPS were good, but there was just not enough good light for the clams on my sandbed.
As for choice of bulb colors, Dana Riddle in this aricle writes that ATI AquaBlue is the color of the Ocean at a depth of 10 meters.
Going with this theory I have changed my lighting to this. From front to back Blue+, AquaBlue, Pro Color, AquaSun, AquaBlue and Blue+ (All bulbs are made by ATI). The Blue+ bulbs are my Dusk to dawn and are balanced out by the Aquasun during the day. The Pro Color was used because the LPS seem to react better to this bulb. The color is probably about a 15k look and is close to what the AquaBlue look like, so lets say reasonably close to what the ocean looks like at 10 meters. The AquaSun was chosen to balance out the Blue+ plus to give more par of the SPS in the back of the tank.
It has only been a week since I made this switch so I don't have any real conclusions. My only purpose of this thread is to warn others about using the color combo that probably harmed my clams.
Dave
