Some corals thriving under new light switch... some not.

[salty_trout]

I always wanted a metal halide fixture since I started the hobby. Finally decided to get one from everything I read. I originally was running two maxspect Ethereal LEDs on my 75g. I recently added a 40B to the system for a frag tank. This was the perfect time to get a halide fixture. Went with a cheap option based on reviews (Odyssea),and 2 20K 250W ushio bulbs, (probably switching to 21k Gieseman bc these simply are not blue enough). The 4 T5s in the fixture are ATI: coral +, purple +, actinic, aquablue special. I didn't need anything but the actinic come to find out... fortunately yesterday I ordered 4 Gieseman super actinic bulbs from brs. Now for the coral part. All of my mille and tenuis seem to be doing fine, WD is very light in color but never has grown so fast. Monti are all happy, including the caps, crazy T, kungpao etc. Some sticks tho as well as my purple rim cap, ORA tort, SC OP, and Green Planet didn't care for the lights much at all. Ended up moving those to the frag and they are now doing fine. What should I do? Should I continue this venture with halides? Or should I abandon and save up for a new LED? My aim for the reef is high end sps in time. All parameters are fine. Chasing for nitrates as always, detectable phosphates, pH sits bw 8.2-8.5, calcium at 420ppm, haven't checked my Magnesium in 2 weeks but its always at around 1300ppm. I use kalk in my ATO. the light is hanging 20 inch above water ( I raised it everytime I noticed bleaching/color loss). If a coral is getting stringy at the top and polyps recede, lights are too bright right? ​

 

[Bpb]

I always wanted a metal halide fixture since I started the hobby. Finally decided to get one from everything I read. I originally was running two maxspect Ethereal LEDs on my 75g. I recently added a 40B to the system for a frag tank. This was the perfect time to get a halide fixture. Went with a cheap option based on reviews (Odyssea),and 2 20K 250W ushio bulbs, (probably switching to 21k Gieseman bc these simply are not blue enough). The 4 T5s in the fixture are ATI: coral +, purple +, actinic, aquablue special. I didn't need anything but the actinic come to find out... fortunately yesterday I ordered 4 Gieseman super actinic bulbs from brs. Now for the coral part. All of my mille and tenuis seem to be doing fine, WD is very light in color but never has grown so fast. Monti are all happy, including the caps, crazy T, kungpao etc. Some sticks tho as well as my purple rim cap, ORA tort, SC OP, and Green Planet didn't care for the lights much at all. Ended up moving those to the frag and they are now doing fine. What should I do? Should I continue this venture with halides? Or should I abandon and save up for a new LED? My aim for the reef is high end sps in time. All parameters are fine. Chasing for nitrates as always, detectable phosphates, pH sits bw 8.2-8.5, calcium at 420ppm, haven't checked my Magnesium in 2 weeks but its always at around 1300ppm. I use kalk in my ATO. the light is hanging 20 inch above water ( I raised it everytime I noticed bleaching/color loss). If a coral is getting stringy at the top and polyps recede, lights are too bright right? ​

I think you should measure par

 

[jda]

How long has it been - perhaps not long enough? ORA Tort, Green Planet and SC OP should thrive under MH, so I would look elsewhere for your issues.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

500 watts of Metal Halide light plus 4 T5HOs is a lot of light. But unfortunately, the only real way to tell is to measure the PAR. You can either get a PAR meter (most of us that are into SPS have them), or rent one from BRS for $50. Alternatively, if you live in an area with an active reef club, you might ask one of the members if you can borrow one.

 

[salty_trout]

500 watts of Metal Halide light plus 4 T5HOs is a lot of light. But unfortunately, the only real way to tell is to measure the PAR. You can either get a PAR meter (most of us that are into SPS have them), or rent one from BRS for $50. Alternatively, if you live in an area with an active reef club, you might ask one of the members if you can borrow one.

true. ill just save up.

 

[salty_trout]

why did i buy this light lol

 

[Bpb]

why did i buy this light lol

I think you’ll find your par to not be quite what you expect. Reflectors are everything. The reflectors in the oddysea unit are pretty small so you may not be obliterating your tank with light white like you expect

 

[salty_trout]

I think you’ll find your par to not be quite what you expect. Reflectors are everything. The reflectors in the oddysea unit are pretty small so you may not be obliterating your tank with light white like you expect

im sure ill be surprised. All other corals are doing fantastic. walt disney in just led vs halide, t5, and a dash of led. Also a really nice indo mille from Obscura Reefs.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Wow your lights are really high, or mine are really low. I too run 2 250w mh on my 75g. Nearly all my corals come from LED tanks. Some adjust fine and others have a major color shift pale out for a while then slowly darken back up over a few weeks. Some corals just do better with light changes than others do.

 

[jda]

That might have significantly lower amount of light than you think. I run my Halides about 6-7" off of the water and I am using real m80 ballasts (more output than Odyssea) and have better reflectors.

 

[salty_trout]

Im slowly lowering it. Just taking the acclimation slow. Dont want any more damage than the 3 corals i had. I ran my maxspects at 100% except the whites i ran at 20% and kept at 5 inch above the water. My corals right now are growing more polyps noticeably it seems. The gieseman super actincs will be here tuesday. Hopefully they are nice and give me some more color. After seeing how well these do I will most likely save up for a reefbrite fixture in the coming months with a single end for radium bulbs. I really just want a halide fixture with no leds on it bc those new orphek strips looks amzing. Unless anyone has a better reccomendation or input

 

[jda]

The daylight part of the Halides is what will give you more color. It can take a few months. Then, you use blue to illuminate it, if you need to. Once most people see what a good MH bulb can do to color coral, they don't care for the RB/Windex look anymore.

In short, daylight for real/true color and blue to illuminate that color.