Your favorite Metal Halides for Acropora Growth and Coloration

[jmichaelh7]

It will be interesting to see what they do with this. IMO there are nothing wrong with LEDs (they do grow coral) but is there a missing benefit that UV-B is providing to kill bacteria linked to STN/RTN? Who knows. Cant prove or disprove anything at this point.

The real winner is the spectrum comparison as well as temperature comparison. I would buy a 250 watt halide fixture over a Radion any day.

Yup. I’m definitely excited to see what difference I get after switching to two mh pendants from 3 xr30s.

One main difference was my acros got burned tips at just 3 hours a day 18” above the water.

I moved them to 20” and letting the calcium reactor turn on yesterday so hopefully the acclimation period continues to go well here on out

Another interesting thing is my vernado fan hasn’t turned on like it was. But I’m only at 3 hours so I’m sure that isn’t accurate to say regarding temp differences yet. When I get to 6+ hours I’ll be paying attention to the temp via Neptune

 

[Reefahholic]

Looking forward to seeing how the tank progresses.

Sorry to hear the 14k Hamiltons seem a little bland for you at the moment. Hopefully your experience ends up being positive with some time. Maybe in a month or two you'll flick off those radions and see that your corals colored up to the MH,14k spectrum.

I think it will be fine. They look good, but I was hoping for a little more pop or just a hint more color like your pics. I’m already seeing positives so I can only imagine what’s coming. I’ll let them burn in a few more weeks and we’ll do a comparison pic with the other one. Very happy about the lights though. As long as you have something to supplement a little color pop they are fantastic. I’ll keep you updated.


As you can see, mine isn’t even close to the pop in your pic.

But if I add a bit of LED it comes alive.

 

[Reefahholic]

This is an older pic of my 120.
250 watt de 14k phoenix 14" off the surface.
With no supplemental blues.
This needed no blue, imo.
I did add 2 Orphek blues later though.
Second pic is the T5's just before I hung the halides.

That looks nice and crisp. How long did you end up running the lights?

 

[X-37B]

That looks nice and crisp. How long did you end up running the lights?

From year one until I took it down at 33 months so 21 months.

 

[njreefkeeper]

I think it will be fine. They look good, but I was hoping for a little more pop or just a hint more color like your pics. I’m already seeing positives so I can only imagine what’s coming. I’ll let them burn in a few more weeks and we’ll do a comparison pic with the other one. Very happy about the lights though. As long as you have something to supplement a little color pop they are fantastic. I’ll keep you updated.


As you can see, mine isn’t even close to the pop in your pic.

But if I add a bit of LED it comes alive.

Comparing frags on rocks to large colonies reflecting their colors back isn’t apples to apples. Once those frags grow and color up the reefscape you’ll see a huge difference.

 

[Smite]

I think it will be fine. They look good, but I was hoping for a little more pop or just a hint more color like your pics. I’m already seeing positives so I can only imagine what’s coming. I’ll let them burn in a few more weeks and we’ll do a comparison pic with the other one. Very happy about the lights though. As long as you have something to supplement a little color pop they are fantastic. I’ll keep you updated.


As you can see, mine isn’t even close to the pop in your pic.

But if I add a bit of LED it comes alive.

Supplement always gives a little pop. There are two things at play and this is 100% my opinion. A oversaturated pop from LEDs compared to a more true light takes time to get used to. The big one for me is LED doesn't truly color acropora like MH. That's debatable I know, but I believe I told you about my Kessil vs Halide in the same system. It's part of what sold me 100% on MH. What looks good under LED might not look good when moved under MH. But you'll be hard pressed to find something grown under MH that doesn't look phenomenal under LED of a similar visual spectrum.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Comparing frags on rocks to large colonies reflecting their colors back isn’t apples to apples. Once those frags grow and color up the reefscape you’ll see a huge difference.

I agree and was going to say the same thing

 

[Reefahholic]

From year one until I took it down at 33 months so 21 months.

No, I meant photo period for the Halides.

 

[Reefahholic]

Comparing frags on rocks to large colonies reflecting their colors back isn’t apples to apples. Once those frags grow and color up the reefscape you’ll see a huge difference.

True that, but his color in general looks more crisp and vibrant.

 

[Reefahholic]

Supplement always gives a little pop. There are two things at play and this is 100% my opinion. A oversaturated pop from LEDs compared to a more true light takes time to get used to. The big one for me is LED doesn't truly color acropora like MH. That's debatable I know, but I believe I told you about my Kessil vs Halide in the same system. It's part of what sold me 100% on MH. What looks good under LED might not look good when moved under MH. But you'll be hard pressed to find something grown under MH that doesn't look phenomenal under LED of a similar visual spectrum.

I definitely agree. Something about that broad full spectrum lighting and coral health. Halides are the closest thing to the actual sun IMO.

 

[Reefahholic]

I agree and was going to say the same thing

Give me 1 year and check back with me at this time. Wink Wink.

 

[Reefahholic]

@PSXerholic is lurking. He’s fixing to make a move. He’s been measuring spectrum in several tanks.

 

[njreefkeeper]

True that, but his color in general looks more crisp and vibrant.

It also helps to be against a crisp black background. You have the wall painted a sky blue behind the tank…throwback to @SunnyX . A great aesthetic. I’m confident if your background was darker and more pronounced you’d have the same look. Our eyes deceive us.

 

[njreefkeeper]

I definitely agree. Something about that broad full spectrum lighting and coral health. Halides are the closest thing to the actual sun IMO.

I’ve said it quite a few times in this thread and now it seems vindicated. The lack of UV in LED’s will never rival halide’s ability to get deep, true colors in SPS until they figure out that missing link. Nobody’s arguing that LEDs can’t grow coral. They can. But time and time again I’ve taken sticks from led tanks and put them under halides and they looked like garbage; only to gain some luster months down the road. Halide also shows you if a hyped up coral is worth its price. Many fail miserably when thrown in what we know now is TRUE FULL spectrum that only halide provides. I don’t live in a funhouse with weird blue lighting and I don’t want the evolved, photosynthetic animals in my aquariums doing it either…my opinion.

And I’m going to beat a dead drum here. Sanjay has said time and again that anyone running blue heavy led schedules is growing corals slower and that all his tests have shown that corals absorb light across the entire spectrum. The only reason everyone wants you to run blue light heavy schedules is so that you’ll buy more overpriced sticks that fluoresce under them.

The proof is in the pudding. Full spectrum light time and again will raise your ph and increase alkalinity consumption…and that means noticeably more growth. Notice also that Tulio’s test showed the Radion G6 Pro on full power with all channels at 100% and it still didn’t match the output of a 250 watt halide.

 

[Reefahholic]

It also helps to be against a crisp black background. You have the wall painted a sky blue behind the tank…throwback to @SunnyX . A great aesthetic. I’m confident if your background was darker and more pronounced you’d have the same look. Our eyes deceive us.

Yeah, plus my tank just turned one year and had a ton of issues right after start up. I just now got to turn the lights back up, dose iron and other elements again, and finally got the rock to stop binding PO4. Can you believe it took 1 year for that to happen. That is a dry rock record for me. Never had one bind that long. It acted like it was going to saturate twice and then when I started coming down on the dosing it went south. This time…just out of the blue it hit its saturation point. I’m confident that this year will be a better year for growth, but I usually don’t expect too much from a dry rock tank until after the 2nd year. They are much slower vs LR tank. The Biome takes for ever to get it in gear, but the flip-side is that once it does, you’re pretty much pest and headache free. It’s just the hard road to get there.

 

[Reefahholic]

I’ve said it quite a few times in this thread and now it seems vindicated. The lack of UV in LED’s will never rival halide’s ability to get deep, true colors in SPS until they figure out that missing link. Nobody’s arguing that LEDs can’t grow coral. They can. But time and time again I’ve taken sticks from led tanks and put them under halides and they looked like garbage; only to gain some luster months down the road. Halide also shows you if a hyped up coral is worth its price. Many fail miserably when thrown in what we know now is TRUE FULL spectrum that only halide provides. I don’t live in a funhouse with weird blue lighting and I don’t want the evolved, photosynthetic animals in my aquariums doing it either…my opinion.

And I’m going to beat a dead drum here. Sanjay has said time and again that anyone running blue heavy led schedules is growing corals slower and that all his tests have shown that corals absorb light across the entire spectrum. The only reason everyone wants you to run blue light heavy schedules is so that you’ll buy more overpriced sticks that fluoresce under them.

The proof is in the pudding. Full spectrum light time and again will raise your ph and increase alkalinity consumption…and that means noticeably more growth. Notice also that Tulio’s test showed the Radion G6 Pro on full power with all channels at 100% and it still didn’t match the output of a 250 watt halide.

Well, you know what they say…WHITES to Grow…BLUES to show.

But…@CoralFragZ is striving for 455nm in his reefs and he grows massive colonies about as fast or faster than most people even some farmers. 455 is right in the middle of that blue peak. His restart from 1 year ago is already full again.

 

[Reefahholic]

@CoralFragZ what do you think. He ran Halides for years.

 

[X-37B]

No, I meant photo period for the Halides.

8hrs, lol. No need to go more.
I ran the 600 at 6 hrs and it was 24" off the surface of my 12" deep frag system.

If that was my system I would lower the lights to 14-16" over a period if time if you dont have a par meter.
400 watt lamps put out close to the same power as a 250 on m80's.

This article is a good one if you have not read it. I now have 3 minis and would buy any I can find. Funny last one was given to me, lol.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-06/review/index.php

 

[Reefahholic]

8hrs, lol. No need to go more.
I ran the 600 at 6 hrs and it was 24" off the surface of my 12" deep frag system.

If that was my system I would lower the lights to 14-16" over a period if time if you dont have a par meter.
400 watt lamps put out close to the same power as a 250 on m80's.

This article is a good one if you have not read it. I now have 3 minis and would buy any I can find. Funny last one was given to me, lol.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-06/review/index.php

I didn’t know you had a 600/G. I was thinking about the 120/G? With the 14k Phoenix.

 

[X-37B]

I didn’t know you had a 600/G. I was thinking about the 120/G? With the 14k Phoenix.

I dont, lol. I ran a Ushio 600 watt halide grow light on the 45.
Wish I had a 600g but I would need a larger house, lol.
14K phoenix and you cant go wrong.
Old 120 under 14K phoenix.

I will be setting up the 20g nano again and will be running a de150 watt 14K.
I want to see and post the halide lit tank and compair it to the 2 16hds on said system.