T5 Lighting

[clone]

Ok so most of you know that I have been using a TEK T5 fixture.
I was running Front= blue+,blue+,blue+,procolor,blue+,aquablue special,blue+ and another blue+.
Yes i know thats alot of blue+, but i like my tanks blue. So some time last week i noticed my red planet starting to losse color, and most of my other acros/monti's. At first i figured it was my ALK, but checked all my parameters checked out fine.
So i just lowered it form the spot it was at. So its looked fine since i moved it down.

Now yesterday i noticed some of my chalices started to losse color. They're on the sand bed. I put them in some shaded areas to see if that would help.

So my fixture is at 8 inches above the water surface. should i go higher? Should I mess with the bulb combo. ( I just added a attinic+ on the 3rd bulb slot).
The tank is 20 deep.<-- im just trying to cover al of your questions before i submit.

[dipan]

Raise the fixture or swap out a couple blue+ for actinics (to reduce PAR) ...... :bigsmile:

[Crazyeyes]

Here's a site with par rating on t5 bulbs. http://tfivetesting.googlepages.com/par, enjoy.

[ReefCube]

how old are the bulbs? did you do any big changes to your tank large water change? dosing something new?

[Kristy]

How many hours a day do you run your lights? I was reading an article yesterday about how folks were getting big improvements in color, etc. by reducing their photoperiod by a couple of hours. They could see the results within a couple of weeks.

Let me know if you want me to find the link to the article...

[clone]

Raise the fixture or swap out a couple blue+ for actinics (to reduce PAR) ...... :bigsmile:

thats what im going to do,i posted in grims t5 thred on RC, and thats what he recomended i do.

[clone]

how old are the bulbs? did you do any big changes to your tank large water change? dosing something new?

the bulbs are as old as my build, i got them all brand new. As for any changes, I havent done nothing but let it run itself, and have only done 2 15 gallon water changes since its been set up.

[clone]

How many hours a day do you run your lights? I was reading an article yesterday about how folks were getting big improvements in color, etc. by reducing their photoperiod by a couple of hours. They could see the results within a couple of weeks.

Let me know if you want me to find the link to the article...

I run the actinics form 12:30 till 9:30 and day lights kick on at 1:30 to 7:30

[Squiers007]

I have been having a similar problem, so I am interested to see how switching out blubs for more blue works for you. I had to place some screen material on top of my lid because I too was getting some bleaching in my soft corals that were near the bottom. So far that has helped with no ill effects to my acro's thankfully. I just think its strange since I know of people who run 6 and 8 bulb fixtures without any bleaching problems.

[clone]

alrigth guys so what i did was replaced two bulbs.
I changed out the 2nd blue+ and put in a UV75/25
Changed out the 2nd to the last blue+ and replaced it with a actinic+.
Things are looking perrty good now.

[danny]

Hey that's perrty good news, man!