purplereef
Active member
Ed was nice enough to come over with a PAR meter and figure out what my par levels were. Wow what an eye opener for me!
Top down shots
- Thread starter Big E
- Start date
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Ed is running 2x Blue+ and 2x Coral+ 54w T5's on an Icecap ballast if I remember correctly.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Ed, how many lbs of Liverock did you have in your sump and display all this time? (Ie before any recent changes).
PS, would love to see updated shots of the TDF and BC Angels Blood.
Thanks.
purplereef
Active member
It was a bad shock for me. I was starving my sps of light. I ended up lowering my light one inch and putting on a Reefbright led strip onto the front of my pendent. I think I went from what was it Ed 190 to around 250 to 300 with the led on? I have already noticed an improvement in the Pink Panther and it has only been two days since the change.
I am running a all T5 6 bulb 48" Sunpower over my tank now.
I am running a all T5 6 bulb 48" Sunpower over my tank now.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Ah, thanks for that.
Big E
Premium Member
1. 40Br tank with sand bottom using WP25 and korallia 750 for water movement- Check
2. 20L sump is running a fuge (chaeto) and an oversized SWC BMK 150 skimmer
You should probably see where you're at nutrient wise PO4 and NO3.
If your in these ranges don't mess with anything. PO4- .03-.12 NO3- .10-2.0.
Those ranges aren't sent in stone, you just want to be in the ballpark
3. My lighting is a DIY Cree LED setup using 16RB and 8 cool white. I have added 2 39W T5's to the oustside of the fixtures. I was planning on running 2 coral + bulbs
If you have dimming capabilities run your whites at 20% or less than whatever you set your blues at. It's going to probably look too blue to you and that's where the coral+ bulbs will come in. They'll give you back the white look and also add some 420nm. They'll also smooth out the overall spectrum across your tank.
Are you using any optics? How high above the tank are the LEDs?
4. weekly water changes and I don't test water parameters
Check on water changes.................testing needs to be done to trouble shoot. Most times with experience you don't need to test as your eyes can tell you what's off, but testing can support what you see or what you need to change.
5. I have no coralline algae or any aglae for that matter.
Check your Mg levels for the coraline. It may also be your par level is too high.
No algae could be good or bad, that's why I say above to check your levels.
6. I have tried many different miracle additives and not much luck except less $
Yup......waste of money..........what's your fish load?
I was considering removing the chaeto and begin vinegar dosing.
What are your thoughts and advice for me going forward?
How do you determine the vinegar dose amount?
Vinegar is just another way (bacterial) of doing what your skimmer and chaeto are already doing. It's an export tool, nothing more or less. It's not going to give you better colors any more than any other export tool.
I'd hold off on that right now till you get more anwsers.
2. 20L sump is running a fuge (chaeto) and an oversized SWC BMK 150 skimmer
You should probably see where you're at nutrient wise PO4 and NO3.
If your in these ranges don't mess with anything. PO4- .03-.12 NO3- .10-2.0.
Those ranges aren't sent in stone, you just want to be in the ballpark
3. My lighting is a DIY Cree LED setup using 16RB and 8 cool white. I have added 2 39W T5's to the oustside of the fixtures. I was planning on running 2 coral + bulbs
If you have dimming capabilities run your whites at 20% or less than whatever you set your blues at. It's going to probably look too blue to you and that's where the coral+ bulbs will come in. They'll give you back the white look and also add some 420nm. They'll also smooth out the overall spectrum across your tank.
Are you using any optics? How high above the tank are the LEDs?
4. weekly water changes and I don't test water parameters
Check on water changes.................testing needs to be done to trouble shoot. Most times with experience you don't need to test as your eyes can tell you what's off, but testing can support what you see or what you need to change.
5. I have no coralline algae or any aglae for that matter.
Check your Mg levels for the coraline. It may also be your par level is too high.
No algae could be good or bad, that's why I say above to check your levels.
6. I have tried many different miracle additives and not much luck except less $
Yup......waste of money..........what's your fish load?
I was considering removing the chaeto and begin vinegar dosing.
What are your thoughts and advice for me going forward?
How do you determine the vinegar dose amount?
Vinegar is just another way (bacterial) of doing what your skimmer and chaeto are already doing. It's an export tool, nothing more or less. It's not going to give you better colors any more than any other export tool.
I'd hold off on that right now till you get more anwsers.
Big E
Premium Member
I was at Dan's about 4 weeks after his light change and his chalices, ubber shrooms, ect. look fantastic................best I"ve ever seen.
His acros looked like crap, so I knew his par levels had to be low.
Fast forward to this week and the acros looked worse........LPS the same. The par levels at most of the acros, 120 type range. Near the bottom of the tank it was like 75-80.
We moved most of the acros to center them under the bulbs, raised a few, and also lowered the fixture. That got most all the acros to the 200-250 range.
The LEDs added another 50-60.
I suggested to run the LEDs max at 3-4 hours a day so he doesn't lose the color on the LPS. He told me that he was going to start at an hour a day.......is that where you're at Dan?
I wasn't at all suprised his par levels were low but I was amazed how little the chalices need. 100 or under is plenty for deep dark colors and combined with the bulb choice looked to be working very well.
Big E
Premium Member
I had extra rock in there because most of what was in the display was old dead coral heads I've had for years. That was back when we thought it was cool to have those white dead corals in our fish only tanks..........this was pre-reef days. I think now they call the branch form Tonga Rock:lol:
Anyways, I love the stuff because it creates more open space than a clump of rock does. but if offers less in bacterial processing. So I have maybe an extra 20 lbs. in the sump. I'll probably reduce that in half, but I may also add more actual rock to the display tank. Either way ,the change is going to be minor................. I'm looking mainly to keep my sump more open.
Here's the latest pic of the TDF I have.........it's a little browned out because I moved it to the rack it's on and lowered it's position about 5 inches. It's been a slow grower from day one for me, but I'm hoping once it bases out good it will take off.
Right now it's really browned out due to a power outage about 6 weeks ago on the coldest day in about a decade. I had a generator, but sill had temp issues which probably messed with my system balance.
Some of the acros were so brown they actually looked black:lol:
Gotta love that about acros.................pooh brown in a week and then sometimes months to get the colors back. A lot of the colors are coming around but now I'm doing the transfer to peeve them off again.
The Angels blood I lost................it just kept fading away to nothing and actually turned all green before it lost it's skin. The whole process took 8-9 months. It grew some but never really seemed happy.
I have issue/problems I have to work through just like everybody else.......some corals just don't like my tank or the unknown happens when all the other corals look fine.
That's what makes keeping them fun and challenging. It's a coral I won't try again............similar to the Aussie Echinata.........I think I killed four of those before I gave up. Even though I have 3-4 other smooth skin acros that do great, it hated my tank.
blu_devl_06
New member
I would quit with the "miracle" additives and let your water chemistry get back to ground zero. That way you know what you have and can determine from there which direction to go.
I had extra rock in there because most of what was in the display was old dead coral heads I've had for years. That was back when we thought it was cool to have those white dead corals in our fish only tanks..........this was pre-reef days. I think now they call the branch form Tonga Rock
Hey Ed,...I have a ton of this stuff on a shelf from back in the day lol. Like you said, I have some very interesting pieces. Can I still use it in my DT today? Use do the bleach bath thing when it would get a little algae on it rinse it off a few times and back in it would go., but its been out of the water for a half dozen years or better now.Thanks,---Rick
Hey Ed,...I have a ton of this stuff on a shelf from back in the day lol. Like you said, I have some very interesting pieces. Can I still use it in my DT today? Use do the bleach bath thing when it would get a little algae on it rinse it off a few times and back in it would go., but its been out of the water for a half dozen years or better now.Thanks,---Rick
I will order a test kit or borrow one.
Are you using any optics? How high above the tank are the LEDs?
I'm only using optics on the RB led's 60 degree. The fixture is about 10" above the water line.
Yup......waste of money..........what's your fish load?
I only have 3 fish, two clowns and a melanarus wrasse.
Thanks again for your help.
Are you using any optics? How high above the tank are the LEDs?
I'm only using optics on the RB led's 60 degree. The fixture is about 10" above the water line.
Yup......waste of money..........what's your fish load?
I only have 3 fish, two clowns and a melanarus wrasse.
Thanks again for your help.
Wrong height on fixture it's 6" from the water surface.
Hey Rick,
They are blinding white when you get them in the tank.
LOL.,...yeah that how mine are,... use to think that was really cool.
I have some really large interesting pieces, some blue, purple, yellow/green,and red. I use to haul it from all my different travels,...way back in the good old days when the airlines would load anything you brought to the checkin counter. lol.
Big E
Premium Member
I still see some of the white dead corals in curio shops and they charge outrageous prices. Decent sized pieces go for like 3-$400.
If I remember right that show Fish Kings had to buy one big Stylo for a mold and it was over $400. They had no choice because they were on some obscure island.
I think the most I paid was aroud 50 or so for those big 12" sized pieces.
If I remember right that show Fish Kings had to buy one big Stylo for a mold and it was over $400. They had no choice because they were on some obscure island.
I think the most I paid was aroud 50 or so for those big 12" sized pieces.
Every time that I would head down to the keys,...there was (I think) Coral Man shops all along the way(tourist traps). I would get some interesting white pieces(think they had signs that it was dreged from shipping channels?...not the pieces I was getting) some barnacles(all cleaned...real cool) and some bright red (don't know what it is buy very light in weight), then from out in Ca. in the Monterey Bay Aquarium area there was a high dollar gift shop that sold blues, purple yellow/green (not dyed) corals Every time I would do a bleach bath,...the tank would look really impressive. I ran a 300gal for over 20 years. I still have all the coral down in the basement. I'll have to see if I can find an old pic.
