In my tank I have 3 x 400watt 14k Hamiltons on M59 magnetic ballast and 2 antic VHO's. In my tank my green corals are green but a few corals such as my latest addition "Valida" from liveaquaria doesn't look like it did on the internet. On the internet it looked green with purple tips. Mine now is a tanish color with purple tips. Could this be because of my lighting?
Why are my corals brown? Is it my lighting?
- Thread starter mmotown
- Start date
PUGroyale
New member
It could just need some time to adjust to the shipping and your tank. Personally I wouldn't order corals from Dr.'s F & S or LiveAquaria... they're too big and really their focus is on dry goods. I much prefer to order coral from vendors who specialize in corals, not all things reef. I did get a ORA Miami orchid frag from LiveAquaria, a friend added it to her order for me for some work I did on her lights. The frag came in solid brown and has taken a month and a half to develop any color on the tips. IMO it could not have been in very good condition when it was sent out. Good luck 
You know what I think you're right. Some of the corals I have ordered from them have died and I called to get my credit. I hate to call because I am a person of integrity and I don't want it to seem like I am trying to get a free credit and lie about the coral being dead. I think I am going to start using a frag company that sells frags...
I would say stay away from live aquaria for SPS. I have order a couple of pieces and none of them ever look like the divers den items. I will say these corals did color up after a month or so but the colors were not near what the pictues on there site are. I think it basically due to some good photo editing. Also, def. watch your po4, mine was zero so these corals came back easy.
HTH,
Ian
HTH,
Ian
acropora nut
Member
Hi MMOTOWN. The first thing I would try would be to test all your water parameters . Then if you are only dectecting Po4 I would try to remove it with a product called rowa . Make sure you go slow with the dosage because if you dont you could stress out your other corals. If your other corals seem to be ok I wouldnt change the lights yet. It is not good to change to many things at once. If you have any more questions give me a call if you still have my number.
Leopardshark
New member
Get rid of your DSB (if you even have one), but 400w radiums with HQI PFO ballasts.
You´ll thank me in 2 weeks after you do this.
I´ve tried ushios, coralvues, hamiltons 14k, xm 10k and radiums.
My corals haven´t looked better than with radiums.
BTW, I have 2 250w 14k hamis on the sides with icecap ballasts which almost match radiums, for the low light corals, but all acros are under the radiums
Marco
You´ll thank me in 2 weeks after you do this.
I´ve tried ushios, coralvues, hamiltons 14k, xm 10k and radiums.
My corals haven´t looked better than with radiums.
BTW, I have 2 250w 14k hamis on the sides with icecap ballasts which almost match radiums, for the low light corals, but all acros are under the radiums
Marco
twon8
Formally registered membe
on a magnetic ballast a hamilton 14k has a ppfd of 96.5, xm 20k has ppfd of 128
the hamilton is on this page
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2005/feature.html
xm on this one
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2004/feature2.htm
the hamilton is on this page
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2005/feature.html
xm on this one
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2004/feature2.htm
Ti
New member
Given the figures, those two bulbs are a bit similar in performance,
This excess par is a product of the extra wattage consumed,so that makes sense. Apparently on PFO the Hamilton does very well and on the taiwan HQI, they are relatively the same.
PFO
Hamilton = 140.5
XM = 98
Taiwan HQI
Hamilton = 115.3
XM = 114
