Opinions wanted.
 

So I have finished re-doing my light set up. I tossed the the MH/T5 fixture and installed 3 - 250 ( Ushio,14000K bulbs)watt pendants. Sunlight HQI pendants with Galaxie ballasts. I then tore apart my fixture and took out the T5 portions and installed them in front and behind the pendants. There is 2 80w bulbs in the front and 2 in the back. (2 pinks and 2 purples)
It really evened out the light throughout the tank and I am pretty happy about that..
But...The corals do not really "pop". I picked up some frags from Slyguy and if anyone has seen his tank, they will know his corals "pop" with color. Ever since seeing his tank I have tried everything to get the same effect. Different bulb and spectrums, types etc etc. I bought a cheap LED and loved the way it made the colors pop at night, but the corals did not do well under them and began to fade. I borrowed a friends Radion and it was nice but not the same as Halide/T5.

I was thinking of buying some cheap LEDs, just for "accent" light in order to get the Popping effect. I am also contemplating using Kessils instead of LEDs for "accent" lighting. I have only seen vids of the Kessils, but they seem to really make the colors "pop" as well..

LEDs? Kessils? Try a different combo of bulbs?

Damn you Slyguy...

kessils are LED , I use kessil a360w and colors pop like crazy and you get the best shimmer I have ever seen . SO you could buy a kessil and use 2 t5's or something like that. I was originally going to use my teklight fixture cut 2 holes in it for my kessils and run 2 t5 bulbs . But after using the kessil I'm getting good growth and really nice colors so I just stuck with the a360w

have you looking into 20k halide bulb? 14k ushio is really white.

I do know they are LED, just meant that they are not the typical "box" fixture like other LEDs.
My tank is 8 ft, so i am guessing at least three...Not sure if I would need the 360s for accent. Then again, maybe pull the halides, but it seems the jury is not out on LEDS. Some seem to be reverting back to halides.

I did try the Hamilton 20k bulbs but they were quite blue.
The 14Ks are white, but the T5s give it some blue/pink. But no real color pop...

Don't get me wrong, the corals have some nice color, just not any "wow" factor. The main concern I guess is that they are getting the proper light to grow, then color pop.

Honestly, I would look at water quality before lighting. Any coral I've bought that "popped" in another tank "pooped" in mine, whether MH, T5 or LED. Anytime they lacked the pop, it was a WQ issue that was resolved by cleaning up my water quality.

Good point, but I only use RO/DI water for changes and top off. I do water changes regularly. I was letting the Apex do daily changes, but found that did not work as well as weekly for whatever reason. I can take some tank water out in a glass and set it beside new RO/DI and there is not much difference. in color. I will say that I always have little bits of "stuff' floating around, which seems to be normal. Not microbubbles, but tiny bits of stuff.

My water dumps into filter socks, 200 and 200 microns, goes thru my skimmer, UV and ozone, then thru another 200 micron cloth, before going back to DT. Not sure if I should be doing anything else. Although Slyguys water does look more clear/clean than mine. Is that because of lighting? Does it have to do with the fact mine is a peninsula? Or as you say, just water quality. It is frustrating....

Water clarity in my tank does "change" depending on the time of day. The sun comes thru my windows and fills the room and tank as the day starts and leaves by 2 ish. At a certain time, the water looks dead clear and another shows the tiny tiny "stuff" floating around.

Just sayin...But it is not really my intention to have my coral "poop" in my tank, but rather "pop" ;P Did you ever find out why they pooped in yours?

fed too much :)

Blue led does give coral that special effect that halide/t5 won't be able to provide.

That hasn't been my experience. In fact the most light induced colors seem to be from T5

I know the aqua mars one I had made the corals PoP like crazy when the whites, yellows and reds were on.

Replace those pink and purple T5s with ATI Blue+.

I also think this is more of a water issue I run halide in garage led in house both tanks Have great colour actually at the moment slyguy is upgrading and thinking of halides to get the sps Colour I get in my garage. What are your parameters?alk cal mag phosphate nitrate.

Hahaha this thread made my night. Thanks for the kind words man. I agree with Ryan though that water conditions may have some effect on coral colouration. As he said I am currently trying Considering going with halides on my new tank because I cannot seem to set the growth and color Ryan gets!

Oh for crap sakes...Now I have to envy two tanks??!!

I am not sure how or what I can do to make my water better. I bought a magnum 350 and got my hands on some actual DE to make a diatom filter, but have not set it up yet...

My parameter are..
avg 76 degrees
Dose alk, ca and mag and use schlobster bulk
I use API and Salifert test kits.
CA is around 450
Alk is usually around 12, but went down to 9 over a few weeks, before I realized doser was jammed
Mag is 1350
Salinity is 1.025
PH was always around 8.1, but started ozone for 8 hrs a day thru skimmer and it has been avg 7.9 for a month
Ammonia is 0 or just slightly higher,
Phospates are 0 or slightly higher .015
Nitrate is 0

I use IO reef crystals
Run 2 to 3 cups of GFO
Skimmer outlet dumps into 5 or 6 cups of carbon
Skimmer is a BK 250 supermarin.
I have a 40 watt UV that goes on at night for 4 hours as well.

I have a mixed reef of SPS, zoas, softies, mushrooms and 10 fish in a 290 gal with a 125 sump

I agree with this. A couple LED's wouldn't hurt either.

This hobby has broke the wifes purse strings, so I have to make sure my story bears fruit to see. I have no issue in getting more lights, but not sure if I should get cheap ones, some kessils that I found a good deal on. Buying 3 or 4 AIs or Radions will have the wife in a fit.
I will change up the T5s first and then hopefully I can figure out if i have a water quality issue and fix it as well.

Lack of experience in saltwater tanks does not help me determine these things very well. Not even sure if I am getting good growth compared to others. I think I am....but....

your alk seems a bit high to me. probably not dangerous levels, but I usually keep mine between 9-10. Also you have to be very careful with gfo/rowaphos. when I first started using it, i added to much and it really sucked the colors out of my sps. Just a few ideas, every tank is different though so its hard to say forsure.

Hey!!! That was me, Ryan just stole it from me!! Sheesh :)

Alk is high, temp is low. You'll really slow SPS growth at 76.

P.S. It's not the lights :)

Are the corals actually colorful? To me, the word "pop" is in reference to lighting and nothing else. If the corals themselves are lacking color that's a whole different subject.

This may be part of the issue. Yes they have color. Do they have the color they should? Not sure as I am fairly knew to the hobby and have only seen a few other reefers tanks. I look at Slyguys and I think mine do not have anywhere near that color. Then I can look at some other tanks and say mine has better color. Again, is it lighting, is it me, is it water....I tend to want to agree with you that the pop may be just lighting.. In the end, I want my corals to Pop like Nicks, whether that is achieved by lights , water or both is becoming quite frustrating...


and to prove I am new...I can not even figure out how to multi quote...lol..argh...


"Aquattro Alk is high, temp is low. You'll really slow SPS growth at 76.

P.S. It's not the lights"

Ok, I will keep it around what it is now (9)or a bit lower. I was told high end was better for SPS, but You and Nick think it is high , so I will change it.

As for temp, what should I run it at? Is higher just for SPS, as I have quite a few softies etc as well.

Slyguy00 "your alk seems a bit high to me. probably not dangerous levels, but I usually keep mine between 9-10. Also you have to be very careful with gfo/rowaphos. when I first started using it, i added to much and it really sucked the colors out of my sps. Just a few ideas, every tank is different though so its hard to say forsure.
Today 05:13 PM"

The gfo has been running for about 2 months now. Hard to say if I noticed a change in coral color as it has been awhile and a month or two before that, I upgraded the tank and that did cause some stress to everything. Everything seems to have come back fully since the upgrade

I now keep my tank at 78/79. I used to keep it lower, 76/77, but read an article posted here somewhere on coral metabolism and increased mine. Growth improved. No, not limited to SPS

K, thanks. I will let it run around 78/79. It will be easier on the chiller as well. Damn thing has been running all day with this hot weather.

My temp never fluctuates off of 78 more then half a degree

In the cooler months I can maintain within a degree, but this type of weather causes it to fluctuate 2 or 3 degrees. It is 80.2 now and by morning it will be 77ish.
Halides give off alot of heat, then add in 320 watts of T5s inside a canopy and it keeps the chiller running...

If that's the case, then bump up the night temp to 79 so that you have a smaller swing. IME, it's the swing that bothers them more than the actual number. My SPS tank ran at 84F with halides and T5s and it did pretty good. Our house temperature doesn't change much from summer to winter, so that temperature was maintained all year. I had fans to keep it that "cool". :D

So bumping the temp up has helped level it off. I have it 78. It bumps up to 80.2 during the day.

I also changed the T5s to the ATI actinics that I had. Not big improvements to coral pop, but it is a nicer color overall. Should I have used the super blues?

After all the reading and info gleaned from others, I came to realize that I had not realized the simple concept of what role salt can play in a tank.

Did not realize that different brands had different parms, some made water cloudy etc etc. how it affected my dosing regiment and the fact I have never tested a fresh batch of salt for Ca, mag or alk. I just threw it in the 55 gal tank with water, check temp and salinity and was done. Boy, do I feel stupid , missing something so basic.

The salt polling thread made me aware of my ignorance.

If it goes to 80 durng the day, set it to 80 at night and see if that keeps it good. It may be that if you set it to 80 at night I goes to to 82 during the day which doesn't accomplish anything, but it's worth a try. I keep my tanks under 1 degree swing for best results.

Super Blues are much stronger - they will make a bigger difference than actinics.