Are My Lights Doing Their Job?

kirkplunkett

Member
Market
Messages
129
Reaction score
0
I've got a Corallife 36" T5 fixture... It came with two Sea World 39W 12000K T5 HO and two Sea World 39W Actinic T5 HO. My water parameters are spot on and have been for several weeks now. BUT... My corals don't seem to grow like they should. Every thing is thriving and looks great, it's just not growing... I've even got a tiny little patch of GSP that hasn't spread AT ALL.

Does anyone know about this brand name of lights? (Sea World... Really???)

<u>Parameters</u>:
Sg: 1.025
pH: 8.2 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 2 ppm
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm
Alkalinity: 9.8 dkH
Calcium: 380 ppm
Magnesium: 1280 ppm
Temp: 79F

<u>Corals</u>:
1 colony of Red Ricordea (2")
1 colony of Blue Ricordea (1")
4 colonies of Multi-Colored Ricordea (>1/2")
1 patch of GSP (1 1/2" x 1/2" strip)
1 colony of Green Palythoas
1 Kenya Tree (3 1/2" tall)
1 head of Frogspawn (about the size of a ping pong ball)
2 tiny Red Mushrooms (smaller than a dime)
Just Added this Weekend:
1 colony of Candy Cane Coral with 12 Heads (possibly has several small Mushrooms on it's stalks)
1 colony of Bubble Coral (size of a tennis ball)

Lights are on for 8 hours daily and I do a 20% water change every Tuesday using RO/DI and Red Sea Coral Pro salt mix.
 
Get some ati lamps. They make all the difference.


Ricordea and lps are slower growing.

What are the tank dimensions.
 
Thanks DawgFace... Still getting the hang of this.

JohnIII, it a 30 Gallon Long (36"L x 14"H x 12"W).

ATI, huh? I'll look into that. I was wondering if it just came with crappy lights. And then I noticed the name... I'm still laughing about that. Sea World?!?!?!
 
check bulk reef supply you can git ati bulbs for around 20 each i like there aqua blue special bulbs
also ge makes the best par day bulb
 
So... I'm looking at these T5 ATI bulbs, and was wondering.

I've got four bulb slots. Two for day light, and two for actinic light.

What would you guys suggest for the setup? i.e. 1 Blue Plus/1 Purple Plus in actinic and 2 daylight?

Suggestions?
 
kirkplunkett;795197 wrote: So... I'm looking at these T5 ATI bulbs, and was wondering.

I've got four bulb slots. Two for day light, and two for actinic light.

What would you guys suggest for the setup? i.e. 1 Blue Plus/1 Purple Plus in actinic and 2 daylight?

Suggestions?

2 blue+ and 2 coral+
That is if you prefer a bluer tank.
2 blue+ and 2 aquablue specials for a little bit less blue
 
"Several weeks" is not a long time at all...

Take a pic once a week and compare after 3 or 4 months.
 
or a year

also, IMO forget the actinics...

4 lamps
1 GE 6500K
2 ATI Blue +
1 ATI Blue Special

Edit: the reason I say that about actinics is... an ATI actinic will have a par around 130 and a Blue + will be around 330... IF I remember right... been a while since I've reviewed the numbers.

b
 
I ended up going with 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI AquaBlue Special, and 1 ATI Coral Plus. The colors in my corals look totally different... I'll actually have the opportunity to check them out for a while when I get home from work tonight.

I waited until after the light cycle was done for the day yesterday, and changed them last night... I turned them on for a few minutes to see the difference. The cool thing is, I actually saw things I've never noticed in the tank before.
 
It looks great... I painted the back of the Aquarium blue a little while ago, but I like the colors they put off.

My other DT has a black back with a Kessil A350... The shimmer is AMAZING. But I like have the variety too.
 
That is the same i got set up on my sps tank. I did see a lot more growth. It was 2 blue plus,2 aqua sp. When i changed out aqua sp to a coral plus.Wow. The sps took off. Im going to try 2 blue plus and 2 coral plus. Seen a tank full of sps with these bulbs, the color was great.
 
Back
Top