FarmerTy's 215-gallon SPS Tank

dragon99 · Jul 7, 2018

I recommend Adam's writeup on using Lightroom
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/total-photographic-transparancy.329/

That has definitely helped me improve the pictures I take.

FarmerTy · Jul 7, 2018

Rakie said:
No problem! I've been really liking the new Orphek light bars. Been looking to see success using them before I can comfortably recommend them to friends.

Are you running their full color reef bars, actinic, or UV?

FarmerTy · Jul 7, 2018

dragon99 said:
I recommend Adam's writeup on using Lightroom
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/total-photographic-transparancy.329/

That has definitely helped me improve the pictures I take.

Ohhh, thanks for the link! It shows a different one on tapatalk in the preview but copying the direct address works.

I'll have to read over that one! Appreciate it Dragon99!

Rakie · Jul 7, 2018

FarmerTy said:
Are you running their full color reef bars, actinic, or UV?

Radion on my display. But at their suspiciously good price point, I'm thinking 2-3 of 24" ones would be excellent for my little frag tank. Two of the 24" models come out at 110w and $250-ish. About three times the power and spread of an AI Prime HD for $50 more.

I would probably pair a UV with the Full Spectrum if I were to be using them as primary lighting -- The Radion AB+ program comes out around 18.5k so it wouldn't be such a huge shock to corals (I hope!)

FarmerTy · Jul 7, 2018

Rakie said:
Radion on my display. But at their suspiciously good price point, I'm thinking 2-3 of 24" ones would be excellent for my little frag tank. Two of the 24" models come out at 110w and $250-ish. About three times the power and spread of an AI Prime HD for $50 more.

I would probably pair a UV with the Full Spectrum if I were to be using them as primary lighting -- The Radion AB+ program comes out around 18.5k so it wouldn't be such a huge shock to corals (I hope!)

Their uv bar intrigues me.

Peppe · Jul 7, 2018

FarmerTy said:
Here is a link to the bars I have. My one knock is they used an acrylic splash shield and the violet diodes will burn the acrylic eventually so I had to drill holes in the acrylic to let the violet light pass through.

sorry but I do not see the link ..

FarmerTy · Jul 7, 2018

Peppe said:
sorry but I do not see the link ..

Sorry, forgot to link.

https://sbreeflights.com/sbar-supplimental-lights/18-sbar-supplemental-5050-bar-lights.html

Peppe · Jul 7, 2018

FarmerTy said:
Sorry, forgot to link.

https://sbreeflights.com/sbar-supplimental-lights/18-sbar-supplemental-5050-bar-lights.html

thank you so much

Rakie · Jul 7, 2018

FarmerTy said:
Their uv bar intrigues me.

Same here, looks very promising

FarmerTy · Jul 7, 2018

Rakie said:
Same here, looks very promising

I borrowed a UV strip light from a buddy who got it from a major light manufacturer. True UV diodes, sub 400 nanometers... Not like Radion or Kessil dubbed UV which is above 400nm... That's really more violet. The look it had was very much different from your standard actinic lighting.

While most corals looked similar under regular actinics and the actinic strip with UV, there was one monti, the Cornbred Flaming Phoenix that had some amazing streaks under UV.

White light:

Regular actinics:

Actinics with true UV:

My jaw dropped! It blew my mind! [emoji50]

bubbaque · Jul 7, 2018

That looks pretty crazy!

Rakie · Jul 7, 2018

FarmerTy said:
I borrowed a UV strip light from a buddy who got it from a major light manufacturer. True UV diodes, sub 400 nanometers... Not like Radion or Kessil dubbed UV which is above 400nm... That's really more violet. The look it had was very much different from your standard actinic lighting.

My jaw dropped! It blew my mind! [emoji50]

Yep!

As you experienced though -- True UV is EXTREMELY hard on plastics. True UV diodes literally destroy themselves with the UV -- They also had the same results on your acrylic shield on your SBar. That's why manufacturers don't use true UV -- It will destroy itself with regular use within a year or so, and the fixture is typically self-destructive. Further -- It's destructive to Acrylic tanks.

UV is the coral wonder drug -- The reason we love blue lights is the pop comes from the UV, and corals benefit from the UV which is higher in blue lighting than in typical white lighting. But as we've both found, it's kind of a double edged sword. It's weakness is it's strength.

FarmerTy · Jul 7, 2018

Rakie said:
Yep!

As you experienced though -- True UV is EXTREMELY hard on plastics. True UV diodes literally destroy themselves with the UV -- They also had the same results on your acrylic shield on your SBar. That's why manufacturers don't use true UV -- It will destroy itself with regular use within a year or so, and the fixture is typically self-destructive. Further -- It's destructive to Acrylic tanks.

UV is the coral wonder drug -- The reason we love blue lights is the pop comes from the UV, and corals benefit from the UV which is higher in blue lighting than in typical white lighting. But as we've both found, it's kind of a double edged sword. It's weakness is it's strength.

That is about the best I've heard anybody sum it up. Thank you for that Rakie!

FarmerTy · Jul 7, 2018

bubbaque said:
That looks pretty crazy!

You're telling me! Gigem and I's jaws dropped when we saw that!

bubbaque · Jul 7, 2018

Rakie said:
Yep!

As you experienced though -- True UV is EXTREMELY hard on plastics. True UV diodes literally destroy themselves with the UV -- They also had the same results on your acrylic shield on your SBar. That's why manufacturers don't use true UV -- It will destroy itself with regular use within a year or so, and the fixture is typically self-destructive. Further -- It's destructive to Acrylic tanks.

UV is the coral wonder drug -- The reason we love blue lights is the pop comes from the UV, and corals benefit from the UV which is higher in blue lighting than in typical white lighting. But as we've both found, it's kind of a double edged sword. It's weakness is it's strength.

It sounds like it’s almost pointless to have UV unless you want to keep replacing them.

Rakie · Jul 7, 2018

@FarmerTy Yep. That's why I too, am interested in their Violet / UV bar from orphek. It's a little lower than Radion/AI, but potentially not so low that it's self-destructive.

@bubbaque -- Exactly. Are you willing to pay, say, $160 every year or two for obscene pop and coral health/growth? To some people, buying a new UV Bar every year could be seen as tank maintenance. If you really think about it, the 48" Orphek UV/Violet bar is $160 -- That's $13.33 per month if you get a new one every year. And it'll probably last at least two years, as they are not DEEP uv. At two years it's less than $7 a month for the most insane pop, and coral growth you can buy.

It's always more complicated than a simple yes or no. Stupid hobby lol

HolisticBear · Jul 7, 2018

FarmerTy said:
So under the tutelage of @bubbaque, I've been working on my photography game a bit more. I ordered some extension tubes for my 55mm-200mm zoom lens and began using Adobe Lightroom to edit my pictures instead of using an app on my phone. I also have been uploading my pictures directly from the laptop instead of using Tapatalk to upload and compress the pictures.

Let me know what you guys think? This is my first run at Lightroom though @bubbaque made it dummy proof because he literally showed me how he edits on video and well... monkey see, monkey do.

LOVE the photos

FarmerTy · Jul 7, 2018

HolisticBear said:
LOVE the photos

Thanks HolisticBear! I'm pretty proud of how they came out considering my newness to photography and post processing.

Peppe · Jul 8, 2018

Rakie said:
@FarmerTy Yep. That's why I too, am interested in their Violet / UV bar from orphek. It's a little lower than Radion/AI, but potentially not so low that it's self-destructive.

@bubbaque -- Exactly. Are you willing to pay, say, $160 every year or two for obscene pop and coral health/growth? To some people, buying a new UV Bar every year could be seen as tank maintenance. If you really think about it, the 48" Orphek UV/Violet bar is $160 -- That's $13.33 per month if you get a new one every year. And it'll probably last at least two years, as they are not DEEP uv. At two years it's less than $7 a month for the most insane pop, and coral growth you can buy.

It's always more complicated than a simple yes or no. Stupid hobby lol

I read your discussion with interest. I'm also interested in the ophek or bars. my tank measures 120x60x60 (cm) and is illuminated by two blue-ray gnc (italian led light).
https://www.gncitalia.it/bluray-english

I would like to add a led bar to increase the fluorescence in the reef tank and make the light more pop. according to you which model should I buy Sky blue or violet and what length? or customize a bar by inserting blue and actinic LEDs? furthermore, at what height do they mount the water from the surface so as not to damage sps corals?
This is my reef

Savo · Jul 8, 2018

FarmerTy said:
I borrowed a UV strip light from a buddy who got it from a major light manufacturer. True UV diodes, sub 400 nanometers... Not like Radion or Kessil dubbed UV which is above 400nm... That's really more violet. The look it had was very much different from your standard actinic lighting.

While most corals looked similar under regular actinics and the actinic strip with UV, there was one monti, the Cornbred Flaming Phoenix that had some amazing streaks under UV.

White light:

Regular actinics:

Actinics with true UV:

My jaw dropped! It blew my mind! [emoji50]