Would you consider this to be good growth?

[reefmutt]

Wiskey, what length are your t5 bulbs?
Mark, you are running 5 foot bulbs, and 6 of them.. At 80 watts, they produce very significant light output.
I THINK whiskey has 4 four footers...
Like DavidinGA said. Levels look low but results look good..

I'm kind of on the fence, but if it were me, I'd add two more tubes...

 

[markalot]

Wiskey, what length are your t5 bulbs?
Mark, you are running 5 foot bulbs, and 6 of them.. At 80 watts, they produce very significant light output.
I THINK whiskey has 4 four footers...
Like DavidinGA said. Levels look low but results look good..

I'm kind of on the fence, but if it were me, I'd add two more tubes...

The LED strips help as well, each adds about 50 PAR, one in front and one in back. I should add I run 3 Blue+ and 3 Coral+ bulbs.

I would say, with LED on, he's getting 350 up top and 200 on the sandbed given a correction for the under reporting of LED blue lighting. Is that too much of an adjustment?

 

[Wiskey]

I'm no expert on par readings...
Do I see 4 t5 tubes and the LEDs?
I'm not sure what type and strength the LEDs they are but I would be inclined to add another 2 t5 bulbs to keep sps happy..

That is correct, 4 T5's and some LED's. The LED's were just added this weekend.

The LED's make up for about 3/4 of one T5 tube according to my readings, so figure 4.75 T5 tubes

Your not happy with the PAR readings either I see.

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

The numbers say you need more light.

The pictures say you are fine.

Lol

My thoughts exactly, this is why I'm so confused :worried:

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

IMO you are getting good growth, no changes needed.

So I can offer some comparison, hopefully this helps. My slimer at the moment is growing at a rate I thought was impossible.

6.5 KH (it's been chronically low for a month now as I bump up dosing)
400 Ca
.02 - .1 PO4 (I've got a leeching issue)
2 - 4 NO3

It's getting 400 to 450 PAR under a 6 bulb T5 unit supplemented with BML 20K LED strips. I've grown it under less with good results as well.

Slimer coming in from the left.

5/25

6/18

It's a big colony now, and all my staghorn types are growing fast now that I've gotten PO4 under control, but the slimer is annoyingly fast. Make sure you place it where you won't have to trim every month. If PO4 rises, in my experience, color stays good but growth slows down a lot and tips are more tan than white.

That is some serious growth Mark! I went and read your thread to catch up on your system a little bit. You've come a long way since your ALK incident way back! Your coral looks great!

The Green slimer has that whole side of the tank for it's own if it wants it That's why I kept the scape low over there.

I wonder if the Slimer is just growing fast because it's a fast grower, and it would go even faster (like yours) with more light?

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

Wiskey, what length are your t5 bulbs?
Mark, you are running 5 foot bulbs, and 6 of them.. At 80 watts, they produce very significant light output.
I THINK whiskey has 4 four footers...
Like DavidinGA said. Levels look low but results look good..

I'm kind of on the fence, but if it were me, I'd add two more tubes...

You are correct, they are the 4 foot 54W T5's. I could easily add 2 more, I have the ballast (backup just in case) I have the bulbs, all I really need are end caps and reflectors.

I'm sure that Tek is still selling them, they had the best retro out there when I bought this.

I'm still on the fence too, but people usually have at least 6 of these, if not 8 over a tank my size.

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

The LED strips help as well, each adds about 50 PAR, one in front and one in back. I should add I run 3 Blue+ and 3 Coral+ bulbs.

I would say, with LED on, he's getting 350 up top and 200 on the sandbed given a correction for the under reporting of LED blue lighting. Is that too much of an adjustment?

With the LED's, I'm running 2 whites for every 1 blue, and I only have 4 blues total, so I might not get very much from that correction.

I have 2 Blue+ 1 Coral+ and one Purple+

Thank you,
Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

One point in favor of more light is that I don't have growth tips, even on the Slimer - it's deep green all the way up to the end of the growth. That could mean that it's not growing at it's potential.

Maybe I should give Tek a call and see how much their Reflectors and End Caps are.

Whiskey

 

[reefmutt]

first, please take my advice with a grain of salt because even though i do run a couple of AI Prime leds, i don't use them for the benefit of the corals, per se, its more for dawn and dusk lighting. i much prefer t5 and mh over leds for sps- just my personal preference...

It's clear that you are on the low end of just fine for lighting. Especially considering that sps keeping is your goal. I don't think that can be argued..
So, adding two more bulbs certainly won't hurt your tank at all and may even benefit things..
It's only going to cost you more money to run them..
If i were going to add two more bulbs to your existing combo, i think i would add a pure actinic and an aqua blue special...

 

[Wiskey]

first, please take my advice with a grain of salt because even though i do run a couple of AI Prime leds, i don't use them for the benefit of the corals, per se, its more for dawn and dusk lighting. i much prefer t5 and mh over leds for sps- just my personal preference...

It's clear that you are on the low end of just fine for lighting. Especially considering that sps keeping is your goal. I don't think that can be argued..
So, adding two more bulbs certainly won't hurt your tank at all and may even benefit things..
It's only going to cost you more money to run them..
If i were going to add two more bulbs to your existing combo, i think i would add a pure actinic and an aqua blue special...

I have a pure atinic and coral+ bulb that are both brand new sitting in my garage for playing with bulb combos.

I have hit 2 snags though. I can't find the Tek T5 retros anywhere new,.. it's as if they dissapeared. Also room in the canopy is very tight, after measuring tonight I can say that if I have room for 2 more T5's then it's just barely. That means the 7W nightlights would have to go (I really like them) and the LED's would have to go.

I also lack room to mount another ballast because these things are so long, but that I could work around if needed.

It seems like people are not really sure about LED and SPS, but adding more LED might work out better for me space wise though I would prefer 2 more T5's.

I guess there is another question,.. how much PAR does the average successful SPS tank have?

Whiskey

 

[reefmutt]

Although you'll find more awesome sps tanks lit by t5 or mh, there are also several amazing tanks with LEDs over them.
It would seem that good stable water conditions will make the corals happy and healthy above all else.
Go with what you can make work and give it more time.
You're really already in the ball park here so patience may be what you really need....unfortunately, it's often the thing in shortest supply- usually is in my case, anyways

 

[Wiskey]

I'm a little afraid of pure LED's too. It seems some are good, some are bad, some people have success, others don't etc. But I've read nearly 100% success with using LED and some other type of light weather it be T5 or MH so I feel confident in that model.

Alright,.. I've done some research and here is were I'm at. Please comment if anyone disagrees with any of these general statements.

1. Generally people with SPS tanks have around 300-350 PAR at the top. Some as low as 200, others as high as 600, but regardless of lighting type people tend to around 300-350.

2. Photo inhibition on some SPS corals can start as low as 200 PAR, for most it's around 300.

3. For some corals maximum pigmentation requires as much as 700 par.

4. Maxima clams do not photo inhibit even at 700 PAR.

Action Plan:
Based on these results and the limitations of my setup here is what I will do:

I have 12 LED's now, with my current driver I can have 20. That should bring my PAR to 350 at the top and over 200 at the bottom.

Based on the reflective property of water at 50 plus degrees, running 80 degree optics should make my LED's more efficant and cover the whole tank at 4 inch water depth. I will experiment with this and real life readings with optics on and off.

With my PAR at the 350 range at the top I should be in a perfect spot for good growth, I will evaluate color after a couple months at that level.

Any comments? Whatever you are thinking I would love to hear it.
Whiskey

 

[reefmutt]

That's more research and planning than many do..
You are in the range.
Try it out.
Sounds good to me...