lighting

[TAXMAN]

OK. I am wanting to see who has the best lighting package for me. I have 2 250w mh and 2 HO flouresent bulbs on a 660 icecap. Which is about all the room I have on my 110.

The only problem I have is slower growth " in my opinion " and the corals do not have great color. Especially most of my sps. They have color but not as much as they should.

I currently run the 2 mh with 20k xm and the HO's with 10k daylights.
mh for about 12 hours and 10k's about 8

any ideas?

Thanks

[dustint21]

Switch the MH's to a lower kelvin, maybe a 12k or 14k. This will increase your growth. Then switch the T5 or VHO 10k's to actinics. This should help make the corals "pop".

To much light can hurt your corals just as much as not having enough light. I would only run your MH's for 6 to 8 hours max. To get alittle extra veiwing time turn the actinics on 1 hour before the MH's and leave them on 1 hour after the MH's shut off. This seems to work very well for me. I get great growth and color. Also be sure and test your water. Good water quality makes a world of difference in color and growth as well. Good luck!

Dustin

[DrMark]

I do pretty much the same thing as Dustin. 8 hours of MH. 10 hours of actinics.
On my 115g I run two 250w DE HQI Phoenix 14K. They are a little bluer than other 14K, good color and growth with those. The VHO should be actinics like he said.
mark

[TAXMAN]

yea, I've been told to switch. I'll be swapping them out really soon and that is what I will do this time. Water quality is all good.

[Dee]

Does anyone in San Antonio or Austin stock the Phoenix bulbs? I want to get some, but I'm ready now and I don't want to have to order if possible. I'll be in San Antonio on Friday.

Taxman...one of those corals I held for you...the smaller of the two large colonies...one frag I kept has an irridescent (sp) green look to it. I have two or three frags from it and all three have a hugh of green, but this one piece that isn't directly under a MH has the hugh all over it rather than just a small portion. Any idea what coral it might be? You mentioned that you may be able to remember if it got some coral back LOL. It's looking nice!!!

Dena

[Gseclipse02]

the only place that i have seen carry lots of bulbs is AD give them a call and see ...

Aquarium Designs (http://maast.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42) (1 Viewing)
Aquarium Designs 15223 San Pedro Avenue San Antonio, Tx 210-495-REEF (7333) Fax: 210-495-2732

[brewercm]

I think AD had the phoenix 14K bulb when I was there one time. Another really good DE bulb is the Reeflux 12K if you can find it. Not quite as blue as the Phoenix but still puts a good blue hint to the water, especially with the actinic support.

[Dee]

This is actually not too far from where I'll be on Friday. I'll just drop in and see if they have them...thanks!
Dena


the only place that i have seen carry lots of bulbs is AD give them a call and see ...

Aquarium Designs (http://maast.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42) (1 Viewing)
Aquarium Designs 15223 San Pedro Avenue San Antonio, Tx 210-495-REEF (7333) Fax: 210-495-2732

[TAXMAN]

Taxman...one of those corals I held for you...the smaller of the two large colonies...one frag I kept has an irridescent (sp) green look to it. I have two or three frags from it and all three have a hugh of green, but this one piece that isn't directly under a MH has the hugh all over it rather than just a small portion. Any idea what coral it might be? You mentioned that you may be able to remember if it got some coral back LOL. It's looking nice!!!

Dena

That is supposed to be a Purple Staghorn. I have the larger peice that is doing the same thing. And the couple of frags that are under more direct light arent getting as much green on them. Really cool looking.

[gjuarez]

If you had mainly yellow and red sps, they would look really good under your lighting. It seems like you are depending on the 20k to get the bluish hue and the HO 10k for growth. The problem with 20k metal halide bulbs is that they loose A LOT of par. I would go with something in the 10-14k in the halide with some VHO actinics. In my humble opinion, you cant find better actinic supplimentation than VHO. Your corals are going to love it and their colors will show

[ErikH]

I have 6 39w T5s and 2 54w T5s with 2x250w HQI XM20k that run 12 + hours per day on my 75. I get great growth and color.

[aggman]

I have 6 39w T5s and 2 54w T5s with 2x250w HQI XM20k that run 12 + hours per day on my 75. I get great growth and color.

that is a lot of bulbs. do you have any pics of this setup? interested to see how you got it all together. also, what are the dimensions of your canopy?

~alex

[Dee]

I struck out at Aquarium Designs on Phoenix bulbs, but I really liked the store. I bit of hair algae on the corals, but the prices weren't too bad. I almost bought a powder blue tang, but I wasn't going straight home.

So...the light change for me is on hold. I ended up spending the money on a Purple Tang at Aquadome...been wanting one. Added him and a Spotted Mandarin, then tore my tank up tonight to catch my lobster again. I noticed one of my blennies was gone...and a wrasse I hadn't seen in a couple days had a chunk out of his tail. My little blue hippo is also missing today. I was wondering why I was getting cyano...and I think it was the lobster killing the fish. He's now in my sump...that was so much fun.

Dee

[OrionN]

MH bulbs are way over price. There are much cheaper bulbs out there that will do just as well an not any where near as expensive. I am always into cheaper way to keep aquarium so this is where I got all of my MH bulbs over the last several years.
I have used bulbs from here for the last several years without any problem
http://myworld.ebay.com/trust_deals/
You can get all the MH bulbs for 19.99 each with a few dollars shipping. That is a whole lot better on my pocket than 60-140 per bulb

Certainly it does not cost any more to produce a 70 W VS 1000 W. It does not cost any more to produce one spectrum of color over an other as the metal go into each of these bulb is tiny. One can argue that all the research going into these bulbs entitle the producer to charge more for the bulb they produce. However with Mass spectrometer, one can copy the amount and the composition of the gas go into these bulb very easy, thus one company can copy and produce the exact spectrum of another company's bulb very easy. I think this is what these people did. Certainly my 14000K/10000K and 20000K MH works great. Muvch better than the stock bulb that come with my Orbit MH fixture.

Just a note to let everybody know about this. I certainly have no tie whatsoever to this company other than bough about 10 bulbs from them over the last several years.

[TAXMAN]

yea, but there are other things to consider in a bulb other than spectrum. There is also the heat that a bulb creates, energy used and usefull life of the bulb. IMO you get what you pay for. I feel there are reasons that some things are cheap and the same product from another company isnt.

[OrionN]

Same ballast, the same energy goes into the bulb resulting in the same light and heat output because the the little bulb in it and the metal valor in it is the same.
Why does the sodium valor or mercury valor lights are so cheap? It is because they are not market for the reef tank. The technology is the same just the composition of the valor is different.
Normal T5 bulbs are very inexpensive (less than 1 dollar per bulb) Same as other household florescent light bulbs. The aquarium industry did not invent the technology for reef tank, these manufactures just adapted the technology for reef tank, namely adjust the composition of the chemicals to produce the correct spectrum for corals. Once this is done, people can easily copy them. I certainly use them without problem. If you are willing to pay 5 times more for the same bulb, be my guest.

[TAXMAN]

not true at all. Here is a bulb and ballast test that everyone should see. Not all bulbs or ballasts are created equally.
http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm

[OrionN]

I am not saying that all the ballasts are the same or all the various brands bulbs are equivalent. I am saying that the bulbs that I use are good and I have no problem with using them. The corals, clams and anemones are doing well and I only pay 20 dollars each for them. Maybe we should bring this to Sanjay's attention so he can test these bulbs. I have paid up to 100 dollars for these various bulbs before and see no different in using them on my tank than the bulbs I am using now. Of course a 6500K bulb and a 20000K bulbs have different spectrum. Even 20000K bulbs from various company have different spectrum. All of this depends on the composition of the metals in the glass envelope that give off this spectrum when excited by the electric current going through the glass envelope.
All I am telling you is that for someone to determine the compositon of this mixture is very easy. Once some one come up with the "ideal" composition, someone else can copy it and there is nothing the original person can do about it.
What is "ideal" is debatable. I guess that is why you have various brandd of bulbs and why Sanjay tested each of these bulbs and give us the intensity and par value of these bulbs.
For me, I use my own judgment and experienence. I am not going to spend 5 times the money I need to spend just so that I get a bulb that someone else tested the spectrum and recorded it. Most likely, when someone set out to copy the bulb, they would copy the best on the bulbs (in their opinion anyway) rather than the worst of the bulbs. If I buy one of these copy bulbs, I would likely get the bulb that somebody evaluated and consider it is the best. Is my opinion is the same as this person? The answer to this question is unknow to me, but I am willing to chance it (for 50 dollars less per bulb).
About the ballasts, there are diffeferent in various ballasts, but I only have one type and I am not going to go out and buy brand "X" ballasts because someone test and say that it is better. I may read about this and use it when I am thinking about buying my next ballast.
Just my opinion, and my experience that these bulbs are good and work well for me for a very cheap price. Even at this price, they are very expensive in compair to similar bulbs that are not market for aquarium use.

[OrionN]

not true at all. Here is a bulb and ballast test that everyone should see. Not all bulbs or ballasts are created equally.
http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm
I have the same ballasts for my tank. My ballasts certainly do not change form weeks to weeks