T5's and my acropora

[JonnyD91]

I have a 50 gallon 30in wide tank. I ahve a 24in. 6 bulb tek light. When i first got my t5's I had the bulbs set up as:

Back:

03 Atinic
11k
6500k
blue+
11k
03 Atinic

Front:
____________________________________________________

Now this is the configuration:

Back:

Blue+
11k
11k
Blue+
11k
Blue+

Front:

When I first got the light fixture I ordered a purple acropora fro m drsfostersmith.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=745

when you click to enlarge the picture on the site it looks most like the one it the top left corner.

When i got the coral the color wasnt that great to begin with I have it at the top abour 8 inches fro the light mabye less. The color on it is horrible only the tips are purple and most of the rest of it is brownish. I its growing tho. it has gotten alot bigger in the 6 months ive had it. I see these look and grow great under t5's . So i figure i would change my bulbs to give a bit more intensity. That with the new configuration i have now, which alot of people use. Could it just be a bad coral for the begining? Is it not getting enough light or is it getting too much light?

other corals i have are:

torch
frogspawn
Montipora Coral, Branched
colt
finger leather
toadstool
dersera clam
LTA

all these are doing great look better than when they were in the LFS. What could be wrong with the acropora?

 

[Putawaywet]

How long has it been since you changed your bulbs over to the new configuration?

Also, keep in mind that there are a myriad of variables that contribute to the coloration of a coral. Lighting is just one key component. Other environmental conditions such as amount and type of flow, availability (and/or over abunbdance there of) of nutrients, SG, temp, etc., all factor into the equation.

Take a look at the SPS forum and do some reading on coral coloration. I think you will find some common denominators with all those tanks that contain stunningly colored acros and such.

Brett

 

[JonnyD91]

The new configuration has been up for a week as of tomorrow.

SG - 1.025
i have a maxijet900 blowing right toward it.
have to double check the calcium it may be low.

 

[mufret]

I've been running my T5 setup for right at a year now and have tried a number of different bulbs and bulb placements. I also have sort of a hybrid setup in that I have 4 of the SLS reflectors and 2 of the Icecaps. I'm also running 4 of the lamps on an IceCap 660 and 2 on a Triad. The biggest difference I've noticed with my Acros is they seem to prefer being placed under the GE bulbs. I get better growth and they also color up much quicker whenever I either change the position of the coral or change the position of the bulb. Now I don't know whether this is an effect of the higher PAR these bulbs produce or whether the corals like the more natural spectrum of these bulbs. There are many here that have taken the GE bulbs out of there setups to get a bluer light but Ive actually added another to my setup and have seen a substantial difference in the acros. I have settled on a the following order (from front to back) - ATI Blue+ (SLS), GE (IC), AquaMedic Actinic (SLS), GE (IC), ATI Blue+ (SLS), AquaMedic Actinic (SLS). This gives me an overall bluish-white lighting and enough PAR to be able to have a number of Croceas doing very well on the sand bed.

 

[Putawaywet]

A week is a little soon to be seeing changes. I give it a month at the minimum.
Brett