Going back to halide after 4+ years with LED

[mcarroll]

Probably an increase in photosynthesis. Watch and see if your ALK starts to drop.

I'm sure there's some latitude, but a boost in JUST photosynthesis should lead to nothing more than earlier (in the day) photo-saturation. Unless nutrients and flow are also increased, there should be net-neutral photosynthesis.

Again, still and interesting detail to watch....the corals don't listen to the theories outside the box!!!

 

[cilyjr]

Do you have a fan system in the canopy that might be kicking on now that wasn't before?

Good guess. I do. A 100 CFM fan that's vented outside.

 

[mcarroll]

CO2 anchors pH, so ventilation is the go to...

Any interest in a KillAWatt meter that also measures household CO2? It'll be one of my next purchases.

 

[cilyjr]

The fan is pulling air out though. Not bringing in new makeup air.

So the suggestion is a more intense photoperiod that is shorter might give an initial increase on the peak(from 8.1 to 8.2) but the valley would remain the same (7.9) correct?

 

[cilyjr]

My next purchase is a bigger generator.

 

[mcarroll]

The fan is pulling air out though. Not bringing in new makeup air.

So the suggestion is a more intense photoperiod that is shorter might give an initial increase on the peak(from 8.1 to 8.2) but the valley would remain the same (7.9) correct?

That's what it seems like would/should be the case to me, but at-most.

Corals can't use a lot of light, so (as one coping strategy) they shut down photosynthesis pretty early in the day – by 9-10am in the tropics according to some studies. So without other supports (like more flow and/or nutrients) there probably isn't a lot of room for additional photosynthesis.

One caveat is that there's no way your corals would have photo-adapted to the new light/levels yet, so maybe it's pretty hard to say how they're responding. I supposed it's actually in a state of flux...for at least a week or two I'd have to assume.

For ventilation, sucking more-polluted air out of the canopy (and out of the house) means less-pulluted air coming in from somewhere – even if it's just room air into the canopy. Your HVAC system should assure mostly fresh (less CO2 than the tank air) room air all the time.....it's the canopy that generally limits exchange by some extent.

I think that the temperature-boost kicking on the ventilator in the canopy is the difference. There's just less overall CO2 buildup than before.

I'm sure you're watching alk and Ca usage regardless, so it'll be interest if there's a corresponding trend there.

 

[mcarroll]

I wonder if you could magnify this effect by drawing some air out of the stand as well, removing even more CO2-polluted air from the tank-space?

Is the stand somewhat sealed off from the HVAC of the house too?

 

[cilyjr]

No my tank is inwall...the skimmer already pulls from outside. There is no canopy nor stand with a sump under it...picture is a better description...taken just now so lights are off and everyone is sleeping...

Front..,finished side

Back....disaster side

 

[cilyjr]

It's important to note that the peaks and valleys on the graph are staying the same just that the whole thing went up .1 almost .2

 

[mcarroll]

Good pics! Nice space!!! I'm jealous!

Is the ventilation simply the two fans in the canopy area plus the skimmer feed from outside?

Or is hot air also being removed from the canopy-area and fish-room space some other way?

Is the fish room tied into the HVAC system?

 

[cilyjr]

No there is also a 100cfm fan above the canopy that vents to the exterior of the house. A bathroom vent fan.

There is no hvac venting in that room it's on the finished side.

 

[mcarroll]

Ok...then I do think the ventilation is the main thing....sucking out some "CO2 polluted" air from the tank/fishroom space.

Air that is more-fresh/less-CO2 than this has to come from either elsewhere in the house or outside since no vacuums are being created in the house.

 

[Bdog4u2]

I believe the problem people have with led is finding the correct spectrum. they crank the blues for the look. most of your sps are shallow water and all the colors haven't been filtered out yet. I ran mh for 12 years and t5 for a few and I haven't noticed a big difference with led but I also have the newest led technology but with that said when I move to my next house I'm getting very large cube made and will be using mh mainly because have a bunch of large mh set ups about 6500 watts worth so I could probably light up a small pool

 

[USMC4Life]

I have used halide in the past and until last week I had a SBreeflight 32" wifi LED and I was extremely surprised. It out preformed the MH hands down. So now I am sold. However it's out of my reach at the moment. But to each is own and it can also be dependent on the tank and the coral.

 

[cilyjr]

Interesting detail. Looking through the Apex log I'm seeing the fans only went on 3 days out of the 6 that the halide have been up

 

[mcarroll]

Interesting.

 

[mcarroll]

I wonder what would happen if you (also) ran ventilation every day for a similar amount of time?

I wonder if there would be a similar effect if ventilation were run "off cycle" at night?

 

[cilyjr]

Maybe tomorrow I'll run it all day. Thing is my bedroom is right above the tank. More specifically the head of my bed is exactly where the vent fan is (I'm sure you see we here this is going). And though it's quiet (.7 sones) I'm a light sleeper. So 24 hrs isn't an option.

 

[427HISS]

I have yet to read all of the thread, but heres my thoughts.

My wife and I had tanks in the 90's, starting with VHO's (remember those, lol) and added halides later.
We moved onto other hobbys, like a boat, seadoo and building our 427 Shelby Cobra.

We recently just got back into the beautiful reef hobby. We bought a Chinese type LED for a 29g., don't care for it.
55g tempory tank (ya, right) with Maxspect Razors, it's ok, and a couple of Kessil 160we, again ok.

We're in the process of building a fish room with a 125g in wall mixed reef in the living room wall.

So, I bought four Kessil 360we's to hang over the 125g. I desided to try one over my wifes 29g, and we don't really care for it. It doesen't seem to have the proper amount of blue, it looks "washed out". I don't like the idea that a lot of people do, buy adding a stunner strip of blue LED's (or the like) to get what the corals and us want, for these tanks anyway. We'll see.

So, we are waiting on our T5 system that also has 6 pucks of LED's.

We're going to try the T5 hybrid, but if we end up not liking the color & coral growth, we'll go back to halides with adding T5 or LED for the actinic.

I just don't feel the LED's are quite here,.....yet. We hate the "disco affect" with most, but not all, systems.
The best, are the Kessil's. If we use them on the 125g, I'll have to add blue stunners.

We will NOT,...spend the outragious price, for the popular Radions.

I don't beleive anything grows corals as well as halides, and as healthy too.

Our biggest concern with having three to four 250w halides is the heat, and we don't want to use a chiller.

Anyway, I'm with you, we may end up going back to halides.

 

[mcarroll]

Maybe tomorrow I'll run it all day. Thing is my bedroom is right above the tank. More specifically the head of my bed is exactly where the vent fan is (I'm sure you see we here this is going). And though it's quiet (.7 sones) I'm a light sleeper. So 24 hrs isn't an option.

I just meant periodically....like if the fans are kicking on for an hour here and there through the day.....then kick them on for an hour here and there at night just to try it.

24/7 would be in interesting experiment too though! If you ran is 16 hours and cut it off for sleeping hours even that would be a ton of fresh air compared to normal. Gotta think about he amount of cold outside air you're drawing into the house at some point too I guess....this is probably something that can be taken too far.