Would you crank up the lights?

[JCOLE]

probably a good place to stop, tbh.

I naturally want to blast them with light but I know that isn't best. For the last two weeks, I started dosing NO3 again to help balance out my PO4 and set a one hour time between 5:30-6:30 where I raise the intensity. PE has always been good. However, I don't know if one or both is the cause but I haven't seen PE and growth like this in a while. I swear I notice growth every day over the last two weeks! Might just bump it up a little bit during the "blast" period and see how it goes.

 

[SeaDweller]

I naturally want to blast them with light but I know that isn't best. For the last two weeks, I started dosing NO3 again to help balance out my PO4 and set a one hour time between 5:30-6:30 where I raise the intensity. PE has always been good. However, I don't know if one or both is the cause but I haven't seen PE and growth like this in a while. I swear I notice growth every day over the last two weeks! Might just bump it up a little bit during the "blast" period and see how it goes.

maybe, I'd probably leave it alone if I were you. There were times I could tell things were growing a fraction of a mm too. When you look at your tank daily, you notice.

 

[JCOLE]

maybe, I'd probably leave it alone if I were you. There were times I could tell things were growing a fraction of a mm too. When you look at your tank daily, you notice.

You are supposed to tell me to GO FOR IT! LOL. You are probably right and I should just wait it out. Also, Your signature just cracked me up about Bubbaque. haha

 

[JCOLE]

So I ended up pulling the trigger today and added some lighting. I have increased my lighting to 50% whites and 100% blues for about a month now and everything is doing well. @trido was right in that I wouldn't like the look. At 50% the light is too white. I couldn't imagine it at 100%.

I bought a 60" T5 retrofit kit to add (2) bulbs to the LEDs and they will be here next week for a new project. I went with ATI Blue+. I will have these kick on when the lights goto max 50% and turn off when ramping down. Over time I will then keep bumping whites up over time.

What do you think?

 

[SeaDweller]

So I ended up pulling the trigger today and added some lighting. I have increased my lighting to 50% whites and 100% blues for about a month now and everything is doing well. @trido was right in that I wouldn't like the look. At 50% the light is too white. I couldn't imagine it at 100%.

I bought a 60" T5 retrofit kit to add (2) bulbs to the LEDs and they will be here next week for a new project. I went with ATI Blue+. I will have these kick on when the lights goto max 50% and turn off when ramping down. Over time I will then keep bumping whites up over time.

What do you think?

I added an 8’ row of 6500k T5 and the results have been so satisfying so far. They’re hung 14” above the water where my LEDs are but the added spectrum and light to reduce shadowing is amazing. And that’s just one row.

The coloration that is restored is so satisfying too. I’m getting great pop and rendition when just blues are on.

I’m thinking of adding some more rows too, but I also upped the whites some more on my LEDs.

 

[JCOLE]

I added an 8’ row of 6500k T5 and the results have been so satisfying so far. They’re hung 14” above the water where my LEDs are but the added spectrum and light to reduce shadowing is amazing. And that’s just one row.

The coloration that is restored is so satisfying too. I’m getting great pop and rendition when just blues are on.

I’m thinking of adding some more rows too, but I also upped the whites some more on my LEDs.

Hmmm.... that sounds awesome but going the opposite direction of where I am at. I am mounting two 60" Coral+ bulbs. My goal is to add enough blue so I can increase my LED whites without it looking like a freshwater tank. However, now you have me thinking about the shadowing. That does sound awesome. If it is too blue then I will swap one of them out with a 6500k. What brand is yours?

 

[SeaDweller]

Hmmm.... that sounds awesome but going the opposite direction of where I am at. I am mounting two 60" Coral+ bulbs. My goal is to add enough blue so I can increase my LED whites without it looking like a freshwater tank. However, now you have me thinking about the shadowing. That does sound awesome. If it is too blue then I will swap one of them out with a 6500k. What brand is yours?

I’m using GE Starcoat 6500k. Just make them white and ugly when you’re not around. But who cares? For me, it’s more for the health and coloration. It is yellow-er and uglier but I’m used to that, the real treat is at night for me any way, but each of us has different prerogatives. I’m sure you’ll be happy with the b+

 

[JCOLE]

I’m using GE Starcoat 6500k. Just make them white and ugly when you’re not around. But who cares? For me, it’s more for the health and coloration. It is yellow-er and uglier but I’m used to that, the real treat is at night for me any way, but each of us has different prerogatives. I’m sure you’ll be happy with the b+

That is true and I usually have it at the brightest white when I am not around. I started working from home yesterday so I was around it during its peak and that is when I bought the t5s. This working at home might be a bad thing......to my wallet that is.

 

[JCOLE]

@SeaDweller how long did it take for your pieces to start bleaching? Luckily I haven't ran into that yet so just curious. Also, with to much par did you notice any loss of PE? All my pieces have great PE and wondering if there are signs to look for with too much PAR.

 

[SeaDweller]

@SeaDweller how long did it take for your pieces to start bleaching? Luckily I haven't ran into that yet so just curious. Also, with to much par did you notice any loss of PE? All my pieces have great PE and wondering if there are signs to look for with too much PAR.

It was a few days to weeks for some, I noticed poor PE but most important was color loss.

Some exhibited Mesenterial filaments.

 

[Phildago]

Crank em up. As long as you go slow anything that happens is reversible

 

[trido]

So I ended up pulling the trigger today and added some lighting. I have increased my lighting to 50% whites and 100% blues for about a month now and everything is doing well. @trido was right in that I wouldn't like the look. At 50% the light is too white. I couldn't imagine it at 100%.

I bought a 60" T5 retrofit kit to add (2) bulbs to the LEDs and they will be here next week for a new project. I went with ATI Blue+. I will have these kick on when the lights goto max 50% and turn off when ramping down. Over time I will then keep bumping whites up over time.

What do you think?

When I ran my black boxes both channels at 100% I had changed the spectrum on them. 14-16 whites is all our eyes can handle with the channels balanced I removed all the super yellow 6500 emitters and replaced them with UV and violets to get more pop out of the corals. The new T-5s you're adding will definitely help get rid of shadowing and increase par. Like suggested above, you can ramp them to a more yellow spectrum for just a few hours a day while you're gone at work. For that matter, since they're hooked to your apex, you can create a virtual outlet and use the DOW command to only use a yellow spectrum at work and not on your weekend.

 

[JCOLE]

When I ran my black boxes both channels at 100% I had changed the spectrum on them. 14-16 whites is all our eyes can handle with the channels balanced I removed all the super yellow 6500 emitters and replaced them with UV and violets to get more pop out of the corals. The new T-5s you're adding will definitely help get rid of shadowing and increase par. Like suggested above, you can ramp them to a more yellow spectrum for just a few hours a day while you're gone at work. For that matter, since they're hooked to your apex, you can create a virtual outlet and use the DOW command to only use a yellow spectrum at work and not on your weekend.

Thank you! Did you acclimate yours slowly or did you go straight out the gate at 100%? Also, did you see any of your pieces start to bleach?

 

[trido]

I'm kind of an all or nothing reef keeper. Straight to 100%. When I ran MH, I used 400 watters along with T-5 and VHO. I've always used more light than most. My coral have never bleached. Some will pale and look stressed, but it really takes something catostrophic to bleach them. On the rare occasion in the past when I have brought home a stressed and pale maricultered colony and then put it high in the tank it takes upward of six months to regain its color. If I start it low for a month or two and then add it to the permanent high spot it usually recovers within a couple months. It really dpends on the species. REcently I picked up an aquacultered millipora and put it high in the tank. It was very pale from shipping. I cut it off the concrete base and it snapped into two peices. The piece thats highest and getting blasted is looking prettier and growing faster than the piece that is shadowed.

 

[JCOLE]

I'm kind of an all or nothing reef keeper. Straight to 100%. When I ran MH, I used 400 watters along with T-5 and VHO. I've always used more light than most. My coral have never bleached. Some will pale and look stressed, but it really takes something catostrophic to bleach them. On the rare occasion in the past when I have brought home a stressed and pale maricultered colony and then put it high in the tank it takes upward of six months to regain its color. If I start it low for a month or two and then add it to the permanent high spot it usually recovers within a couple months. It really dpends on the species. REcently I picked up an aquacultered millipora and put it high in the tank. It was very pale from shipping. I cut it off the concrete base and it snapped into two peices. The piece thats highest and getting blasted is looking prettier and growing faster than the piece that is shadowed.

I like it! I bumped the whites to 60% and blues to 100% for the last couple days and the SPS have seemed to enjoy it. I have noticed growth on every piece. I will wait a couple weeks and after the T5s go in then I will bump to 70% and so on. I need you to be my sponsor and tell me everything is going to be alright during all of this... LOL

 

[JCOLE]

Wow!! These are going to add some serious color. I gave them a test run before installation tomorrow. Two ATI Blue+ 80w bulbs

 

[Semisonyx]

Following. Sounds like we’re in the same spot. I have a 180g running 3 viparspectra, 2 6’ VHO, and 2 DIY LED stunner strips. I plan to eventually change the vho to t5 and modify my white channel. I’m at a point where I’ve cranked the lights up to 80/25% and NO2 has become the limiting factor. I have 100ish frags to colonies of SPS. I feed pellets 3x a day, 1 mysis cube, and 1 marine cuisine cube. I can’t get NO2 over 1, so I’ve turned my skimmer way down, cut out 75% of my chaeto, and started dosing 2g NaNO2 per day. SPS color and growth have started to come back. I had a few SPS start to STN, but I think that has stopped now. PO4 sits around 7-8ppb.

 

[JCOLE]

So it has been over a week and I have seen a huge different in growth and my dKh intake went up. Glad I added the T5's.

Here is a white and blues picture of one of my millis. Does it look like the tips are burning or it is finally coming into it's own. It looks good. The white tips are on the outer edge. The center still) has full color tips.