Is T5 your main SPS lighting source? Length of photoperiod?

TX_Punisher · May 26, 2019

I’ve slowly been ramping up my photoperiod on my 8 bulb T5. 2 of the bulbs are ATI actinics which I run 4 hours in the morning. The other 6 bulbs (1 cp and 5bp) for 8 hours. I’m ramping up 15 minutes every week starting next week to get to 9hrs and may eventually work up to 10 hours. I also run two led strips for sunrise/sunset and stay on from 7am-9pm.

It seems some of my frags just aren’t coloring up nor growing at the rate which others are obtaining. The one question in my mind is the length of photoperiod being too short (it was 7 hours up until recently). This, I’m starting to ramp up the photoperiod.

I’m curious what others who run T5’s as their main lighting source running their main bulbs?

Pete_the_Puma · May 26, 2019

It’s really helpful to measure your PAR before starting to mess with the photoperiod.

Justfebreezeit · May 26, 2019

I run 7 hr 8 bulb, and an hour and a half before and after 2 bulb. Tank is new but growth is pretty consistent if not terribly fast.

36x24x24deep tank

Charlie’s Frags · May 26, 2019

I don’t use T5’s but my hydras deliver 350-550 to my acros for 10 hours of peak

Acrofiend · May 26, 2019

6 bulb 10 hours w/ 2 reefbrite xho 3 hours after (separately ran). I was running them at 8 hours but didn’t have much growth.

spsick · May 26, 2019

nanoreefer562 said:
6 bulb 10 hours w/ 2 reefbrite xho 3 hours after (separately ran). I was running them at 8 hours but didn’t have much growth.

You were running the RB 8 hours or the t5?

OP, I also didn’t quite understand your explanation. Are you running 2 actinics for 12 hours total and the other 6 for 8 hours? Or just the actinics for the first 4 hours then off?

I run a 6 bulb fixture with 2 bulbs 11 hours and the other 4 7 hours in the middle. I feel like I get pretty good growth on my acros but could be better.

Graffiti Spot · May 27, 2019

I think most corals get what they need in between a 6 hour period and anything more doesn’t contribute to much. That’s why I have always stayed around 6-8 hours a day with t5 or mh lighting. I have not noticed much difference in growth when messing with bulb burn time.

Big E · May 27, 2019

Intensity and spectrum go hand in hand. Looking at your bulb configuration I would consider using a couple more Coral+ bulbs instead of 5 blue+. It's hard to excite certain pigments with such a heavy slant towards the blue end.

Adding to that you have blue Reefbrites..........overall too much blue and not enough of the other spectrum. If you like the blue look......I'd at least cut down on the Reefbrites duration and only use them for viewing.

As far a duration goes, 6 hours is plenty. Focus more on intensity vs duration........let the corals growth and color guide you more than par numbers.

It's also possible your duration and intensity are fine and just a specific coral needs mounted at a different level. In most cases it's higher with acropora.

I have run 50/50 full on 8 hours for 8 years. You can see results here--

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/big-e-rimless-80g-sps.206607/page-13#post-6010440

jeremy · May 27, 2019

I run 2 blue plus from 11am-9pm
And 3 blue plus 2 purple plus and 1 giesemann tropic from 1pm-5pm.

8 bulb ATI Sunpower on a 180 gallon all sps tank.

Charlie’s Frags · May 27, 2019

Pedoconfuego said:
I think most corals get what they need in between a 6 hour period and anything more doesn’t contribute to much. That’s why I have always stayed around 6-8 hours a day with t5 or mh lighting. I have not noticed much difference in growth when messing with bulb burn time.

Six weeks ago I went from a 6 hour peak to 7.5 then 9 hrs and notice an explosion of growth and alk uptake.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/some-crazy-6-week-growth.598383/

Acrofiend · May 27, 2019

spsick said:
You were running the RB 8 hours or the t5?

I was running the t5’s for 8 hours and reefbrites for 3 hours separately.
I’m running 3 blue plus, 2 6500k and 1 actinic bulb.

Acrofiend · May 27, 2019

One thing to note also. High intensity light for shorter duration or low intensity for long duration. You just have to find your tanks needs.

29bonsaireef · May 27, 2019

Depends on the height of the fixture imo. If it's really high, you could probably get away with running 10-12hrs of light. If it's lower, I'd stay around the 7-8 range. I run my 8 bulb ATI and RBs for 8hrs with fixture at about 10" above the surface.

Backreefing · May 27, 2019

I have noticed at less then 10 hours of full lighting polyps extend further, especially with LPS .
I run 12/12 full intensity for 10-11

Graffiti Spot · May 27, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
Six weeks ago I went from a 6 hour peak to 7.5 then 9 hrs and notice an explosion of growth and alk uptake.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/some-crazy-6-week-growth.598383/

Pretty sure there have been tests done to prove that corals only need 6 hours of proper light and more didn’t yield more growth. With leds people run a much longer photoperiod from what I noticed, unless they have an above average amount of fixtures over the tank, and 6 hours is at the lowest end of what I have seen. Par and spectrum control growth more than burn time and if your seeing more growth from increased duration it would make me think that par or spectrum could be improved. But I am no led expert that is for sure.

Most t5 users I know run average of 8 hours and some more if they want lighter/different coloration.

Charlie’s Frags · May 27, 2019

Pedoconfuego said:
Pretty sure there have been tests done to prove that corals only need 6 hours of proper light and more didn’t yield more growth. With leds people run a much longer photoperiod from what I noticed, unless they have an above average amount of fixtures over the tank, and 6 hours is at the lowest end of what I have seen. Par and spectrum control growth more than burn time and if your seeing more growth from increased duration it would make me think that par or spectrum could be improved. But I am no led expert that is for sure.

Most t5 users I know run average of 8 hours and some more if they want lighter/different coloration.

350-600 par for 9 hrs of peak with 1.5 hour ramps

The pics in the thread shows the proof that growth increased significantly after increasing my peak hours. @bubbaque and WWC use at least 10 hours of peak. Hard to deny their success.

TX_Punisher · May 27, 2019

spsick said:
You were running the RB 8 hours or the t5?

OP, I also didn’t quite understand your explanation. Are you running 2 actinics for 12 hours total and the other 6 for 8 hours? Or just the actinics for the first 4 hours then off?

I run a 6 bulb fixture with 2 bulbs 11 hours and the other 4 7 hours in the middle. I feel like I get pretty good growth on my acros but could be better.

2 actinics for 4 hours in the am. Other 6 t5 overlap those actinics for 1.5hrs and then the actinics turn off for the day. The 6 bulbs run for 8 hours total which carry the heavy lifting lighting wise. I have a GE 6500 I could pop in there but I noticed algae growth increased with that bulb so another coral plus may be needed.

Good thoughts here. Ill move to using the leds more for viewing in the am and pm as well.

Graffiti Spot · May 27, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
350-600 par for 9 hrs of peak with 1.5 hour ramps

The pics in the thread shows the proof that growth increased significantly after increasing my peak hours. @bubbaque and WWC use at least 10 hours of peak. Hard to deny their success.

I am glad you had a nice growth spurt, I am not debating that it happened or your lights were the supplier of the growth. Just saying if your lighting is optimal then going past 6 hours won’t supply more growth. If it did people would all be running long photoperiods. I know a lot of guys that run only 5 hours of halides and have amazing growth, most of them know that adding more hours is a waste of electricity. If the lighting is not strong or not the right spectrum that the corals use then adding more time might help. Correct me if I am wrong though I haven’t read over the study I am thinking about in a decade.

Charlie’s Frags · May 27, 2019

Pedoconfuego said:
I am glad you had a nice growth spurt, I am not debating that it happened or your lights were the supplier of the growth. Just saying if your lighting is optimal then going past 6 hours won’t supply more growth. If it did people would all be running long photoperiods. I know a lot of guys that run only 5 hours of halides and have amazing growth, most of them know that adding more hours is a waste of electricity. If the lighting is not strong or not the right spectrum that the corals use then adding more time might help. Correct me if I am wrong though I haven’t read over the study I am thinking about in a decade.

No correcting from me as I have not read that or any other study on photoperiod vs growth. I’m just judging by my own experiences both in the past and recent change. I grew acros like 12 years ago with just a 250 watt metal halide on a 29 gallon biocube for 12 hours. There weren’t dimmable options back then. I remember thinking they had new obvious growth everyday. So when I got back into sps sept 2017 with leds I didn’t have the crazy fast growth with 6 hours of peak. So exactly six weeks ago I went to 7 hours of peak, then to 8, 9, and now 10 hours and I’m noticing that fast growth again. Maybe it’s a coincidence but that’s the only variable I’ve changed.