Bubblewood
Active Member
Ok... Looking for some input, ideas with you T5 users.
So many of you have seen my Savvy tank. It has been up and running now for several months with mostly SPS. Growth has been great, polyp extension has been great also. Color has been been great for the past few months but has has been steadily declining in colors. Red planet is no longer "red" it's pink. Yellow corals are now washed out. I would say almost 75% have lost color. Color is still there just washed out.
So here's the info I can provide:
Water parameters are all within check.
Alk 8.5
Cal 450
Mag 1400
Pho 0
Nitrates 1
Ph day 8.10 / night 7.9
Lighting is a 48" (8) 54 watt bulb ATI fixture. The fixture is 8" off the water. My PAR readings are at upper 400's on the top and mid 300's on the sand bed. The tank is 20" deep.
Bulb layout front to back WAS....B+, P+, B+, C+, P+, B+, B+, B+
This is the current layout as of a few days ago.
Front / Back again
B+, C+, A, 6500K, B+, A, B+, P+
My atin come on first at 8:00am. The balance comes on at 9:30 till 7:30pm.
So my question is do I have "too much light" causing the washed out colors or not giving enough "day" white light? With the help of a good friend of mine I have changed to the current layout. I'm getting close to pulling out some of the corals and putting them back into my 240 tank. To see the colors come back under the MH.
So I'm hoping someone out there has came across this issue. I'm hoping that I'm simply not providing the "best bulb combo" and not bleaching out my corals.
Thanks!
Joe
So many of you have seen my Savvy tank. It has been up and running now for several months with mostly SPS. Growth has been great, polyp extension has been great also. Color has been been great for the past few months but has has been steadily declining in colors. Red planet is no longer "red" it's pink. Yellow corals are now washed out. I would say almost 75% have lost color. Color is still there just washed out.
So here's the info I can provide:
Water parameters are all within check.
Alk 8.5
Cal 450
Mag 1400
Pho 0
Nitrates 1
Ph day 8.10 / night 7.9
Lighting is a 48" (8) 54 watt bulb ATI fixture. The fixture is 8" off the water. My PAR readings are at upper 400's on the top and mid 300's on the sand bed. The tank is 20" deep.
Bulb layout front to back WAS....B+, P+, B+, C+, P+, B+, B+, B+
This is the current layout as of a few days ago.
Front / Back again
B+, C+, A, 6500K, B+, A, B+, P+
My atin come on first at 8:00am. The balance comes on at 9:30 till 7:30pm.
So my question is do I have "too much light" causing the washed out colors or not giving enough "day" white light? With the help of a good friend of mine I have changed to the current layout. I'm getting close to pulling out some of the corals and putting them back into my 240 tank. To see the colors come back under the MH.
So I'm hoping someone out there has came across this issue. I'm hoping that I'm simply not providing the "best bulb combo" and not bleaching out my corals.
Thanks!
Joe
