Faded Colors SPS

[porpoiseaquatics]

I think you're moving in the right direction.

To an earlier comment...I didn't say that LEDs were bad lights. I grew acros just fine under LEDs up to a point...switching back to MH, they grew even more. I think they get used to one or the other so it's a good idea to switch from time to time.

 

[outdrsyguy1]

be careful about lowering your lights too fast, you can really nuke stuff. Just because it doesn't have enough light doesn't mean it can take a 50% bump in light levels. I'd recommend lowering it a couple inches a week personally, or atleast keep a very close eye on things (daily).

are you saying you have 4 t5 bulbs and quantity 6 led's? That doesn't sound like enough light to me either. Based on the algae i see here or there i'd guess your nutrients are in line. So my vote is lighting but possibly trace elements.

 

[pbyrmartin]

the bulb are 2 ati Blue plus and two coral plus,
I just switch out to 3 coral plus and 1 blue plus

 

[pbyrmartin]

outdrsyguy1;1013933 wrote: be careful about lowering your lights too fast, you can really nuke stuff. Just because it doesn't have enough light doesn't mean it can take a 50% bump in light levels. I'd recommend lowering it a couple inches a week personally, or atleast keep a very close eye on things (daily).

are you saying you have 4 t5 bulbs and quantity 6 led's? That doesn't sound like enough light to me either. Based on the algae i see here or there i'd guess your nutrients are in line. So my vote is lighting but possibly trace elements.

yes 4 T5 and 7 blue Led

 

[outdrsyguy1]

Most LED lights that I've seen run 3 W LEDs, so 7 - 1W LEDs is really nothing for par in my opinion. It might make some highlights visible but I would be willing to bet it's less than 30 par with them on versus off. if it were six T5 lamps over the tank I would say you're probably good but I still think four is not enough for SPS

 

[pbyrmartin]

outdrsyguy1;1013939 wrote: Most LED lights that I've seen run 3 W LEDs, so 7 - 1W LEDs is really nothing for par in my opinion. It might make some highlights visible but I would be willing to bet it's less than 30 par with them on versus off. if it were six T5 lamps over the tank I would say you're probably good but I still think four is not enough for SPS

so droping it down to 7" off the water is that too sudden to shock the coral or it is just not enough to cause any arm

 

[outdrsyguy1]

I think I have for bulbT5 light with horrible T5 bulbs in it somewhere, let me try to pull it out and use my par meter and see what kind of difference in par I get

 

[pbyrmartin]

found this in my in the archives, use to run vho on it, you guys think it could run 2 T5 36"
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[tonymission]

Did you change out all 4 bulbs at once? Did that happen to align with the colors starting to fade?

 

[pbyrmartin]

All 4 at once
The fixture is about 3 months old
I was running a tek light 48" 8 bulb fixture but I had only 4 bulbs in it
So the Bulbs in this fixture is fairly new

 

[brandonmason]

Over my 210 I've got 3 250 watt mh and 4 rb value fixtures

 

[outdrsyguy1]

sorry bud, i went and looked and i must have thrown it away. all i have is Led lights and can't really do the same experiment on them. maybe someone else can chime in. I think there's actually a formula for distance vs power, not sure

 

[camellia]

pbyrmartin;1013940 wrote: so droping it down to 7" off the water is that too sudden to shock the coral or it is just not enough to cause any arm

It very well maybe to much at once. You could cut your light time by a 1/3 or 1/4 and increase by 30 minutes a week or move them down 2", wait two weeks and move down 2 more...

Whichever way monitor closely for bleaching.

 

[tbub1221]

pbyrmartin;1013940 wrote: so droping it down to 7" off the water is that too sudden to shock the coral or it is just not enough to cause any arm

I would back it up a little , that seems like a drastic adjustment in my opinion

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

pbyrmartin;1013953 wrote: found this in my in the archives, use to run vho on it, you guys think it could run 2 T5 36"

It tells you right on the ballast what it will run. It will run a total of 12 feet of lamps in whatever configuration so the short answer is Yes....it will run 2 x 36" T5s.

 

[pbyrmartin]

Tbub1221;1014031 wrote: I would back it up a little , that seems like a drastic adjustment in my opinion

Already did
I only went down 2 "
Yeah it wasa little drastic

 

[pbyrmartin]

porpoiseaquatics;1014035 wrote: It tells you right on the ballast what it will run. It will run a total of 12 feet of lamps in whatever configuration so the short answer is Yes....it will run 2 x 36" T5s.

Yeah I saw that after I posted