Testing out some T5s

[Brandon McHenry]

Just looking at your parameters I'd say keep your alk down as imo you'll get better colors and growth with alk between 8-9. 10 is pretty high. I've always ran my sps between 7-9, you get burnt tips more often at 10 or higher. Nsw is between 7-8

Thats exactly what i had for the past month, 7-7.5dkh. As soon as I put the lights on, it rose to 10dkh which is why I was worried.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

So at the two week mark I definitely have some browning going on. My parameters are back in check and are stable. I have had some tissue loss on the bottoms of a few of my acros but I believe that may be due to low potassium since I am bacteria dosing and running a type of zeolite. I am looking in to getting a potassium test kit to see for sure but the symptoms are in line with a potassium deficiency. I am keeping an eye on my corals to try to determine if the brown coloration is from stress or from lack of lighting with not having enough T5s. I need to decide on whether or not I should stick it through before I drop $200 on new bulbs. Any advice, as always, would be appreciated.

 

[armyguy]

I'm still not sold on the LEDs, local LFS switched to them but there corals are kinda brown, I'll stick to my good old fashioned MH I would use a mix of T5 and MH on any deeper tank to make sure PAR levels are good on the bottom

 

[Brandon McHenry]

I'm still not sold on the LEDs, local LFS switched to them but there corals are kinda brown, I'll stick to my good old fashioned MH I would use a mix of T5 and MH on any deeper tank to make sure PAR levels are good on the bottom

As much as Id like MH I don't think I can switch to them with my wooden canopy. Plus I don't have room to put the chiller on the tank. I am looking into the ATI Sunpower if this little experiment of mine proves to work. I also have no access to a PAR meter.

 

[armyguy]

I was just working on an open canopy with t5 actinics and a brand new hamilton MH (i got for 50$) for my new big tank I'm setting up. if you keep your AC on in the summer, don't maybe need a chiller, there might be a formula for how many watts of LEDs you need for good coverage, my other LFS switched some of their tanks to high end LEDs but their 2 display tanks with MH look the best, I would run 2 T5 actinics and a MH if you are somewhat handy, cheaper than expensive combos

 

[Brandon McHenry]

I was just working on an open canopy with t5 actinics and a brand new hamilton MH (i got for 50$) for my new big tank I'm setting up. if you keep your AC on in the summer, don't maybe need a chiller, there might be a formula for how many watts of LEDs you need for good coverage, my other LFS switched some of their tanks to high end LEDs but their 2 display tanks with MH look the best, I would run 2 T5 actinics and a MH if you are somewhat handy, cheaper than expensive combos

Where did you get a MH fixture for $50? lol

 

[Brandon McHenry]

I wanted to follow up with everyone and perhaps ask another question. As I stated before some of my SPS browned out after the lighting switch. While I don't know if it was because of stress or lack of light, I am inclined to say stress since some of my acros are still looking okay. As stated before the bulbs were not brand new as they were taken from one of my older tanks and they were slightly used. My question is, with the retrofit kits that I have, 2 60inch 2 bulb Miro-4 reflectors (for a total of 4 bulbs) and 2 24inch 4 bulb wave point reflectors (total of 8 bulbs) do I have enough light to justify purchasing all new bulbs for this setup? It works out to be 512watts for a standard 150gallon tank. I just want to make sure that if I replace all of the bulbs, I will have enough output to actually keep my SPS happy and healthy.

 

[armyguy]

got it of eBay, some guy had a bunch of reef equipment he was basically giving away, the fixture is niceeeeee. How old are the light bulbs? I replace mine every 9 months or so. They might look ok to the eye but as time wears on the bulbs, they lose spectral lines critical to sps health. You should have enough output but for the price of replacing all those bulbs so often, a metal halide would accomplish with less money spent . but if you can find a good price, go for it!