Metal halide SPS growth rate

[djf91]

I have bleached many Acros and other SPS in my current frag tank. Tank is only 8 inches deep and frags are right at the surface and lit by a 250 watt Radium. It can make for some very deep, rich colors for those corals that can handle it.. most eventually acclimate to to the light but will appear light in color on the side facing up.

I almost killed a new Maxima clam I put in this frag tank. It just could not handle this light having come from a supplier using dim LEDs. I placed it on the bottom of a standard 75 gallon that is also lit by 250 watt Radium’s and it’s doing great now. Will eventually move it to the main display under 400 watt radium’s on HPS ballasts.

 

[A. grandis]

Amen. were you born and raised there? Not sure my skill level is high enough to surf pipeline, then mix in the crowd and the reef and i’d live to just watch it from shore.

I grew up idolizing all those guys since i was 10 years old! Do you know any of the pros?

I started surfing in Barra, Rio, Brazil, in high school. Lots of long barrels when swell was right!!! I live here since '95. Nah, I know some of them, and we see them around, but I don't even watch contests since I was 17... I just get in the water...

 

[A. grandis]

I have bleached many Acros and other SPS in my current frag tank. Tank is only 8 inches deep and frags are right at the surface and lit by a 250 watt Radium. It can make for some very deep, rich colors for those corals that can handle it.. most eventually acclimate to to the light but will appear light in color on the side facing up.

I almost killed a new Maxima clam I put in this frag tank. It just could not handle this light having come from a supplier using dim LEDs. I placed it on the bottom of a standard 75 gallon that is also lit by 250 watt Radium’s and it’s doing great now. Will eventually move it to the main display under 400 watt radium’s on HPS ballasts.

Some of the corals will take years to "morph" back from LEDs to halides, or even from LEDs to T5s. The longer a coral is under LEDs, the greater the adaptation period will be for the colony to show signs of the regular growth of the species. I think the best way is to set up a T5 only tank and start there, then transfer to the halide system. The T5 system acts as a quarantine/adaptation system. Even though, bleaching is directly related to intensity exposure, so common sense is very important using T5s too. Imperative to know the light the corals was before getting it under the new light. Some Acros will need to be bigger fragments in order to adapt. Also, the place the frag was cut from the colony can be crucial for adaptation. For example, the white tips of a table Acro under LEDs, where the growth actions is more active, will do way better in the adaptation period than from the middle where it could show more relative stagnant growth. We can notice that when a bigger than normal table frag shows the growth of the white tips thicker than the rest of the colony when place under halides. A very good example is with A. milepora. The active growth receives the new energy way better than the rest. Most Acros will be somehow, or extremely, deformed under LEDs to the point we can't know the species at all. Some of those Acros look like a completely different species and are called that species they look like when under LEDs. That is the genetics of each polyp/area. It's all about adaptation and a huge amount of patience. It's the new "science" we have to put up with nowadays acquiring new corals or clams to be placed under halides or T5s. They WILL change! Do you have some examples there?

 

[A. grandis]

One thing... When we see some of the corals in nature... the white corals, or the white tipped corals are the hardest to reproduce the same color pattern in the aquariums... Most white tipped Acros, for example, remain white only with proper light. That is so important to me when I know the species and see the same white tips and overall colony structure and pigmentation in captivity. It's like the challenge! How serious are you about that? I mean.. halides are the only ones that will keep those corals as they were under the sun in my experiences... That is a beautiful thing!!! Zoanthids also will only produce those extra pigments under halides. I call those the 3rd pigments. There is not a chance to get them even under T5s. I've tried everything under T5s only to achieve those pigments for more than a decade. Don't get me wrong, the zoas were amazing, though! But some of the white and peach pigmentation in some of the species can be produced only under halides. I love that!!!! It's just like having the reef at home. But only if you actually care about those things and know how they should be... Another crazy thing is to have systems in the full sun!! Here at the Aquarium we had couple of them. Breathtaking!!! Some of the other systems had partial sunlight and 1000W/ 400W halides all together. Another level! Back in the day we had a large number of very special Acros in the Aquarium. Everything changes...

Does anyone here noticed the changes in pigmentation of Acros from LEDs to halides after 1 or 2 years after the change? Please share.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

this is making me want to go halide. I’d like to get my hands on a Geisman fixture.

I would worry about the transition from LED

 

[A. grandis]

this is making me want to go halide. I’d like to get my hands on a Geisman fixture.

I would worry about the transition from LED

Just go slow with the adaptation and anyone can do it. Observe, change accordingly and that's it. Giesemann you can get only from their company in Germany, as far as I know. Just contact them and ask how much. Don't forget to tell them were you are so they can make the ballast accordingly to your needs. It's not cheap, but again, you will get a light fixture for the rest of your life and you will have the potential to grow corals the very best you can. You b=can also search and find used Giesemann Spectra fixtures!!!! That is the best, cause they do last forever.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Just go slow with the adaptation and anyone can do it. Observe, change accordingly and that's it. Giesemann you can get only from their company in Germany, as far as I know. Just contact them and ask how much. Don't forget to tell them were you are so they can make the ballast accordingly to your needs. It's not cheap, but again, you will get a light fixture for the rest of your life and you will have the potential to grow corals the very best you can. You b=can also search and find used Giesemann Spectra fixtures!!!! That is the best, cause they do last forever.

yea someone here was selling one. I remember how well my sps did many years ago with a MH. I will say that an ATI sunpower also produced incredible growth for me. I would go with MH if i had to make a choice