4,100k 315w ceramic metal halide for coral growth

[Lousybreed]

What lights are you running on your DT

I run Radiums2x 250w, 4 T-5, and two reefbrite xho blue strips. A true hybrid!!!!

 

[Lousybreed]

Spectrum on the 10000k actually looks pretty good.

Yeah it does, but it’s not a true CMH so it doesn’t come with any of the benefits of CMH. But yeah it’s a decent spectrum!

 

[Loverman Smith]

I run Radiums2x 250w, 4 T-5, and two reefbrite xho blue strips. A true hybrid!!!!

WOW ! Thank you ! Do you use the T- 5 's to fill in or for more blue , or maybe the radions are on only 4 hours a day or something ? Do you get good shimmer from the radions alone ? Why do you use the reef brites ? Again , thanks ! & I really appreciate all the info.

 

[Bpb]

WOW ! Thank you ! Do you use the T- 5 's to fill in or for more blue , or maybe the radions are on only 4 hours a day or something ? Do you get good shimmer from the radions alone ? Why do you use the reef brites ? Again , thanks ! & I really appreciate all the info.

Just pointing out he used Radium metal halide bulbs. Not Radion led panels.

 

[Lousybreed]

WOW ! Thank you ! Do you use the T- 5 's to fill in or for more blue , or maybe the radions are on only 4 hours a day or something ? Do you get good shimmer from the radions alone ? Why do you use the reef brites ? Again , thanks ! & I really appreciate all the info.

Yeah I use the metal halide bulbs Radiums......and the T-5 are an equal mix of a KZ coral full spectrum and ATI blue plus bulb

 

[uglyman]

What about these globes https://stealth-garden.com/collections/hortivision/products/hortivision-315w-10k-finishing-lampe

 

[Kayvon]

@Lousybreed

Have you got any more thoughts or experience on this subject? I found this thread quite interesting.

 

[Lousybreed]

I never bought one because I am waiting for PEL lights. They are more 6,000k but they are several years off of prime time. You can buy them now but they are not as efficient as CMH yet.

 

[Jposch]

Going on 2 weeks with 150w CMH/CDM bulbs. Very yellow/orange, but I don't mind. Par is up about 50% or so compared to 14k MH. Same ballasts and all, but these bulbs are discontinued.

 

[Jposch]

1 acro was added to appease the masses.

 

[Jposch]

Not that anyone cares, i swapped back because of some issues that i though were too much light, but i now beleive to be low nutrients, so will run them again. They did run slightly cooler, and testing the par, there was about a 50% increase over 14,000k standard bulbs.

 

[biecacka]

Any pictures for us as well?


corey

 

[Lousybreed]

Not that anyone cares, i swapped back because of some issues that i though were too much light, but i now beleive to be low nutrients, so will run them again. They did run slightly cooler, and testing the par, there was about a 50% increase over 14,000k standard bulbs.

What!!!! dang that is impressive

 

[ReeferSamster]

Ok so Adam from battlecorals talks about how much he loves 6500k metal halides. So it got me thinking.

Hmm. Thats interesting. I would assume a lot of the flourescent pigmentation in battlecoral's stock are from blue, near UV and UV lighting.

Can you foster the colors of crazy acro colors from 6500k lighting? Not arguing against which spectrum "grows" acro faster. But what "promotes" those colors. I want to learn exactly how to promote those colors using specific wavelengths of light.

 

[biecacka]

Maybe its the 6500k for "xx" hours a day for the growth then blue for the colors and pictures? I have no clue


corey

 

[Bpb]

Hmm. Thats interesting. I would assume a lot of the flourescent pigmentation in battlecoral's stock are from blue, near UV and UV lighting.

Can you foster the colors of crazy acro colors from 6500k lighting? Not arguing against which spectrum "grows" acro faster. But what "promotes" those colors. I want to learn exactly how to promote those colors using specific wavelengths of light.

Lower kelvin, more full spectrum light will develop a wider array of colors. Most sps with the capable genetics will shift to display stronger yellow, orange and red fluorescent colors when provided with blue only light. You will not see these same colors when illuminated by lower kelvin light. They're there, just being muted by the reflective colors also present with whiter light. Another fun discovery many will find, is blue sps corals can REALLY have slamming color under lower kelvin light. A healthy Oregon Tort acro can look absolutely amazing under lower kelvin white light.

Chronic exposure to blue only or excessively blue heavy light can grow corals just fine, but you may find colors shifting toward the green flurescent end in many sps. There's no hard rule though. Some species actually display more multicolor properties under long term low-par blue heavy light. There's no one stop fix all for color unfortunately. You can't really say 6500k light is "better" for color development. Just different.

A couple more examples. The classic ORA Red Planet acro will turn solid red under higher par low kelvin light. Put it in lower par blue heavy light and it will develop the two tone green base with red tips. Similar results will be seen in the Vivid's Confetti acro. High light low kelvin = closer to solid pink. Low light heavy blue long term will give it more of the green to pink gradient. Just depends on what you're going for. Multi color acros make for great macro images. Solid colors look alot better from across the room.

 

[Jposch]

Hmm. Thats interesting. I would assume a lot of the flourescent pigmentation in battlecoral's stock are from blue, near UV and UV lighting.

Can you foster the colors of crazy acro colors from 6500k lighting? Not arguing against which spectrum "grows" acro faster. But what "promotes" those colors. I want to learn exactly how to promote those colors using specific wavelengths of light.

Yes. Nutrients dictate color the most. Also, 5600k halides put ogf just as much near uv and actual uv-A

 

[PeterErc]

Any more updates? Was looking into CMH and this thread nailed it

Thanks all

 

[Jposch]

Any more updates? Was looking into CMH and this thread nailed it

Thanks all

TLDR: the low K halide is an efficient way to supplement highly efficient blue leds. Not great as a standalone light.
Been running one for 3 years about now. Well, 2nd bulb. The first one actually didn't have a high output reduction, tbh. Once the new bulb burned in, they were about the same. The level of blue in insufficient, and you need to supplement near Watt for watt with 420-470nm blue leds. The 315w bulb is a bit of a *******. The PAR output is very high, so for any lower light coral, don't bother. Acropora and high light coral only. The blue, mainly the 450nm is what triggers calcification, so if you have a light deficient in the blue, such as this bulb, you may bot get the best growth. When trying to correct the spectrum with blue leds, you can push the total light intensity so high as to cause many types of coral to hit photoinihibition. And not grow. They won't bleach an die but just shut down, and go into a protection mode which takes away from growth. I cannot get encruating coral to actually encrust. They tend to mound up, as if in search of more light. The coral host, which is what controls calcification and growth foem only responds to that blue range of light, so while the zooxanthellae are getting loads of usable light, the host reacts as if it is in too deep of water and needs to grow upward.