The Ugly Duckling

[Randy]

I wanted to start a thread about how some pe's and paly's morph from what the come in looking like to the final color.Here is day one of a ugly brown with green slit mouth PE.I have it under 2 250w 10K xm's and 4 96w actinics.I have high hopes that this is a beauty in due time.

what do you think it will look like in a few weeks?

If you have any that you have photos of that have changed please post them.

 

[twon8]

imo the way to get colored up zoas is a 20k mh, i doubt anything will get really colorful under 10k, but im wrong often.

 

[Randy]

imo the way to get colored up zoas is a 20k mh, i doubt anything will get really colorful under 10k, but im wrong often.

I had 20k and 14k for 2 weeks and all my acros stoped growing.I changed back for 1 week now and I can see new tips on some acros.We will see if you are right in a few weeks.

 

[surfn]

imo the way to get colored up zoas is a 20k mh, i doubt anything will get really colorful under 10k, but im wrong often.

I had 20k and 14k for 2 weeks and all my acros stoped growing.I changed back for 1 week now and I can see new tips on some acros.We will see if you are right in a few weeks.

this is why you need to have coral specific tanks, with specific lighting for certain types of corals etc.

10k MH + VHO actinics are the absolute worst combination for trying to color up zoas IMO. only thing that could be worse is 10k AB's or 6,700k Iwasaki's.

i agree with the 20k statement from twon8, as long as the bulbs are on the right kind of ballast.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

only thing that could be worse is 10k AB's or 6,700k Iwasaki's.

Haha... I got my MH lighting used from Craigslist. They came with 8 month old AB 10k's

I was glad to switch in the 14k Hamiltons. 20k XM now.

Pain in the butt to take pics under the 20k though. White balance compensation is trickier for getting true colors.

 

[Randy]

imo the way to get colored up zoas is a 20k mh, i doubt anything will get really colorful under 10k, but im wrong often.

I had 20k and 14k for 2 weeks and all my acros stoped growing.I changed back for 1 week now and I can see new tips on some acros.We will see if you are right in a few weeks.

this is why you need to have coral specific tanks, with specific lighting for certain types of corals etc.

10k MH + VHO actinics are the absolute worst combination for trying to color up zoas IMO. only thing that could be worse is 10k AB's or 6,700k Iwasaki's.

i agree with the 20k statement from twon8, as long as the bulbs are on the right kind of ballast.

I have a zoa specific system it is 4 35 gallon tanks and a 100g sump.I have vho's on it and they have set dormant for the past 4 weeks.I us VHO's,because you can keep any zoa in it without having to acclimate them to the light.I decided to move them to my sps tank under MH to see if I can get them to change.

I guess I would have to disagree with you I have had some killer colors come out under this lighting. For example check out my orange paly's they looked brown when I had them in my zoa system.After a few months under MH they have changed into the beauty they are today.

 

[Randy]

here is a few examples of zoas that colored up into some cool looking zoa under 10K.

#1 FROM

#1 TO

#2 FROM I only kept the blue ones.

#2 TO

#3 FROM

#3 TO

 

[furforfour]

IMO color has a great deal to do with water quality. Lighting certainly does have something to do with color; however it isnt the only thing.

 

[surfn]

colored up from VHO to 10k MH?

if thats true, i would believe it. I dont like VHO b/c the colors on corals seem to have no contrast, it just looks like one blurr of color, with no distinctions from when one color ends and another begins...(hopefully that makes sense).

 

[da6d2003]

Surfn
i agree with the 20k statement from twon8, as long as the bulbs are on the right kind of ballast.[/quote]

This brings up a point I've been meaning to ask. I have a coralife aqualight pro with 150w hqi. It always seems that the bulbs kelvin color is off. 10k looks like 6700, 14k looks like 10k and 20k looks like 14k. How do I learn about balasts?

 

[Randy]

I think If I added more VHO's to my zoa tank I could color them up faster and just as good as I can under MH.The only downfall is that I would have to acclimate them to the light. 220 W is soft enough to allow me to put any zoa under it without cooking it.With ordering zoas every week or two it saves alot of time.Not all zoas change in color.I would say that about 10% will change.

 

[Randy]

I guess I will use the extra post.

Coralnutz do these get any brighter blue than in your pic http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a61/coralnutz/DSCF1859.jpg

I got around 250 polyps of them a few weeks ago and they are starting to get some color. I have them in my qt tank under pc's.I need to move them out but I'm not sure what lighting to put them under.Some of the blue zoas will lose color under high light.

 

[Randy]

I would love to update this thread with new pics of the pe frag but the Sargassum sp. has taken over the frag.I have alot of this stuff in my tank,Does anyone have such luck :roll: with any sea weed?

Here is a update pic and one other of my Sargassum sp. farm.