invalid and outdated lighting info.

For your 48x30 tank, you are right, a halide will work best for that application. You could hang T5's off the surface, but I think the reflection from the water would make it hard to see in.

As for the frag tanks, I like the GE6.5K bulb for growth, though I hear the geismann mid day bulb has even better par. The second bulb could be a Geismann Aquablue plus, which is a "crisp" white, remember the "actinic white" VHO bulb? It looks like that to me. OR, if you want more blue, the Actinic Plus bulb is very blue, and has a LOT of par for a blue bulb. (Almost as much as the GE bulb.)

Any one ever see this guys frag tank lit by t-5? it is incredible.. I hope he does not mind me posting some pics.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1215102

Poseidon said:

For your 48x30 tank, you are right, a halide will work best for that application. You could hang T5's off the surface, but I think the reflection from the water would make it hard to see in.

As for the frag tanks, I like the GE6.5K bulb for growth, though I hear the geismann mid day bulb has even better par. The second bulb could be a Geismann Aquablue plus, which is a "crisp" white, remember the "actinic white" VHO bulb? It looks like that to me. OR, if you want more blue, the Actinic Plus bulb is very blue, and has a LOT of par for a blue bulb. (Almost as much as the GE bulb.)

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For blue I prefer the ati blue plus.. Incredible par and really blue lamp, I think the geismann is pretty close, I can not find my book mark for the par on the lamps right now.. The G.E. lamps is good for growth and is a low priced lamp but really aint good for color plus the light is kind of yellow..

The frag tank above uses ati aqua blue plus and ati aqau blue special.

Dave

great thread and some great answers....WPG is very outdated now its about intensity....i agree with LED being the next wave of the future....just be patient and LED will be the new MH's..

OH MY!!!!!

Wow!

Thanks for the info. Those frag tanks are awesome. If my frag tanks looked half that good I would be more than happy. I think I will try the ati aqua blue plus and ati aqau blue special. They seem to be working great for the lucky owner of those very impressive frag tanks.

I will post pics in a few weeks when I get my little 33gal T5 driven frag tank up and running.

One lamp I really like it the ulv aqua sun... It has some red in it and really seems to help green corals color up better. I ordered a couple extra of the ati blue specials By accident so I said what the heck I will just use them instead of the aquasun and my green corals lost a little color after a few weeks. I switched back and several weeks later the colors came back... T-5 have a more narrow spectrum than halides (Actually most do not but they do have a much higher spike in a certain color range) and mixing different color lamps a little seems to help with growth and color. Red definably seems to help a few corals. Might want to try adding one aquasun. From my observations the red helps with the green pigments and a blue bulb make them really Fluoresce. But like I said I really do not like the color of the aqausun lamp.. If you are running that as your only white lamp I would not do it, it needs to be mixed with other lamps to mask the pink color.

The aquasun alone is a ugly lamp with its pink color... The prosun might be interesting to try too, i have been meaning to give it a try in one of my tanks. It has lower par. one thing about red lamps is the published par by a few people is not right because the appogee meter has a hard time reading par in the red spectrum so they are a little higher in the par department than what people are reading.

I did notice in his tank the reds and blues really pop but also a few of his greens were not as green as some I have seen. He is going for growth though. His tanks are spectacular anyway you look at it. What i find amazing is he is getting as good of color on the bottom as the top and two of the tanks are pretty deep.

Dave

Are The T5s on that frag tank overdriven ??? I keep going back and forth. Do I go with 54w or bump it up to 80 with a icecap???

Sort of funny. I started adding to this thread to defend my love for halides and know I’m buying more T5s. So if anyone says I’m not open minded you guys set um straight.

coral88 said:

Are The T5s on that frag tank overdriven ??? I keep going back and forth. Do I go with 54w or bump it up to 80 with a icecap???

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He does not. I actually do not like to do it because overdriving lamps can decrease the life and change the spectrum slighly. I think actaully cooling and good reflectors like ati have is more benificial.

Aslo he does not use a ton of lamps and they are separated pretty far. They are not tight like most fixures are.. 8 lamps. Actually this is what amazes me..


About wattage
Main tanks:
Maternity: 4 Blue Special 80W + 4 Blue Plus 80W = 640W
Nursery: 3 Blue Special 80W + 3 Blue Plus 80W = 480W
Day-care: 5 Blue Special 80W + 5 Blue Plus 80W = 800W

Support tanks:
Mangroves tank: 4 Sunpro 54W= 216W
Algae filter: 2 Sunpro 54W= 108W


Also to have a tank that good has allot more to do than with just lighting.

Im running a straight nova pro 6x54.. i dont really see a need to overdrive.
but thats just me. with the stock unit ive made my Bta's run for cover. bleached corals and closed up zoos and palys. . and my tank is 26inches high. i have nothing close to the lamp. . everything ive bought that said it required high lighting ive had to move tward the mid to bottom section of my tank. that being said.. i still miss my halides. shimmer is a hard thing to let go of. it brings soo much to the dramatics of the display. the good thing is current is doing a led suppliment to the pro to get the shimmer. for those of you that arent into the electronic geek diy deal.

I do miss the shimmer, no question. The funny thing for me, is that my Monti's really like to be up high, and they are supposedly a "low light" sps.

What I really would like to see is more research of corals and lighting using quantum meters. I have one and have been trying to locate as much info as possible that gives ranges of light readings using a meter for a variety of corals. You'd be amazed at how different a few inches of depth or from a bulb can effect the light and the difference between sunlight and tank lighting.

Poseidon said:

I do miss the shimmer, no question. The funny thing for me, is that my Monti's really like to be up high, and they are supposedly a "low light" sps.

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same deal here.. my monti's are loving the high light.. colors are great and growing like mad!!

i really feel new studies should be taken and info should be updated.. there is so much that is invalid to the times. and the way things are tested need to be up dated also. . you cant test a t5 the same way you test a mh. . you know the person testing the mh is looking for the hot spot and the t5 test is pretty much just throw it in at the same level. . that doesnt prove much.

there are too many things that are not current with the times.. the old answers just arnt working for me.

my question is what are the natural par values on reefs
i mean shouldnt we aim for that? someone should do a study on natural par values compared to par values from artificial sources

FateX8 said:

my question is what are the natural par values on reefs
i mean shouldnt we aim for that? someone should do a study on natural par values compared to par values from artificial sources

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I have actually thought about doing this but would be so hard to do. The problem is the par values change through out the day. sun rises in th east and lights mainly the east side of the coral the most and the other side is somewhat shaded and the opposite happens when the sun sets in the west. Also some of the light is reflected off the surface when the light hits the water at a angle. When the sun is at high noon not as much would be reflected but the coral is getting pounded with light mainly on the branches vasing up. you would have to have a cube with multple par meters with one on the top and 4 mounted vertically on the 4 sides. But what would this really tell us?.. Our lights never move and are mainly straight down at high noon. The other thing is corals come from different depths and with each coral you would have to be know at which depth it came from.

Plus corals are adaptable to different light conditions and the same coral can come from different depths. They can shift pigments or even possibly change pigments and they can also shift proteins around to enhance the amount of light or even to protect its self. They can even alter the type of zooxanthallae or the amount.

Dave