Acan Lovers - What Lights Are You Using?

spero · May 10, 2012

My acans (all lps quite frankly) did not like pure LED's. Color, size and growth have been much better under T5's.

aherre07 · May 10, 2012

Rockadile said:
cant see any color other then windex blue.

its cool best i could get with my cam on my phone.

wrasseluver · May 10, 2012

I started under t5 but wasn't happy. I then made a DIY LEDs with blue, white, and royal blue. I wasn't happy with the color so I switched to radion and couldn't be happier with the color of my acans.

kodiak · May 10, 2012

After seeing all my rainbow acans change to orange and blue under all LEDs for a year, I recently changed to T5 and all the colors are coming back nicely. My acans did grow well under all LEDs though. I can't believe I waited a year before switching to T5's. You live and you learn.

Blake11rebel · May 10, 2012

thanks kodiak, Im glad someone else has had the same results as me.

Scoly · May 10, 2012

I have found that any scan I have had that had red in it, changed to orange under LEDs.

Blake11rebel · May 10, 2012

I wonder what spectrim the LEDs need to add to keep the acans from changing? violet maybe, the people Ive heard added reds werent happy with the results either.

Z-man · May 10, 2012

I have two tanks with acans. One is the Outer Orbit 3 x 150 MH (phoenix 14K) with power compacts, the other tank has the Nova t5's running one white, one blue and 2 purple. I really like the look of the t5's better than the MH, but do a very good job in their growth.

Another point in the MH tank, I have them slightly shaded, but more than half way up in the tank.

jstlsn · May 11, 2012

I have always had T-5s on my tank. My Acans still look nice but don't have the color range they had when purchased. Someone suggested it was the color spectrum of my bulbs. So, I have ordered some new bulbs and we will see if that helps. I have been using the same bulb combination for 4 1/2 years so it is about time for a change anyway.

gmoney243 · May 11, 2012

My acans look better under my diy led. I had ati t5 3x blue+ 1 kz fiji purple. They are still red and blue but I get some nice yellow and oranges in centers now. Had leds for 5 months.

Also my chalices didn't look good and bleached but are comming back now that I've turned the leds down. Don't run your leds at 100% if they are and you have color problems try 90% and see what happens over nxt month or so.

Sent from my Vortex using Tapatalk 2

Blake11rebel · May 11, 2012

I wish my fixture was dimmable! I very slowly acclimated my corals but the reds went orange. All of my other corals have nice color and I get alot of growth from my chalices and acans.

STL · May 11, 2012

I've got a fairly large red lord acan colony that started with a single polyp frag and grew out in a small tank under a 70 watt metal halide over about a year and a half's time.

When I moved it to my new 180G tank with 3 Radions, it slowly lost its red color and turned orange - otherwise healthy looking, just discolored. I tried putting it in the shade for a few days, but it wouldn't open and looked rather annoyed. So I moved it back to the bottom of the tank, in the light and, recently, started feeding Reef Chili. It's turning red again!

So, not sure if it just took 6 months to adapt to the Radions or if the Reef Chili was the savior, but I'm relieved!

I'll add that I did slowly dial the Radions up from about 45% to 90% over the course of many weeks, but it may have been too fast for these guys. Or maybe they just needed some chili?

All Delight · May 11, 2012

I did use MH for nearly 5 years, then I switched to T5's. I was absolutely floored by the colors that were popping out of my acans. I immediately felt that I was robbed by MH in those 5 years. Here's a comparison of the color differences.

These pictures were taken the same day.
Under MH

Under T5

Another comparison. Not taken the same day, but same acan.
Under T5

Under MH

thewackyreefer · May 11, 2012

Wow, great responses guys! Looks like the mix between T5 users and LED users is pretty equal.

Anyone want to come over and help me figure out what's going on with my tank?!?! I've got beer!

reefknight · May 11, 2012

Another T5 user here, 10x54w ATI. Run an array of lamps; Blue+ x5, Aqua Special x2, KZ New Gen, KZ Fiji Pink and an actinic. Two lamps on/off for dawn/ dusk simulation and the rest for 5hrs.

I am able to maintain original colors and have good polyp extension. But so so growth. Need to feed more often.

All Delight · May 11, 2012

luvmyacans said:
Wow, great responses guys! Looks like the mix between T5 users and LED users is pretty equal.

Anyone want to come over and help me figure out what's going on with my tank?!?! I've got beer!

What kind of problems you having? I like beer. :bigsmile:

thewackyreefer · May 11, 2012

All Delight said:
What kind of problems you having? I like beer. :bigsmile:

Well, not sure if you've seen my growout thread...but I've lost 40+ acan frags/colonies in the past few months.

corals1dennis · May 11, 2012

I have many rainbow acan colonies.My 360 display tank had metal halide to start with.the halide would turn them all red or orange unless shaded.I then switched to leds 2 to 1 blue to white ratio.Under these they did ok but still seemed to turn red or orange unless shade.Also the leds reeked havok with my lps and bleached many of them.And even too strong for some of my sps believe it or not.I now run all blue t5 ati bubs in a ati fixture.My acans are loving them and fully rainbowing.Also all of my rainbow plates,lobos and symphyllia's as well as favia are looking better than ever.So i say T 5 hands down.

jtgordon20 · May 11, 2012

Is there a way at all for LEDs to work with Acans? I have a biocube 14 so T-5s wouldn't work and I want to try LEDs here when I can, get rid of the mh heat.