T5 lighting & purples acro keeping
 

Does anyone who uses only T5 & have success with keeping very dark, rich colored purples sps? If so what bulbs are you using? Or are you able to keep that rich color with T5's & dosing some kind of supplement? Thanks.

I'm prettty happy with mine, it was a browned out stub when I got it a little over a year ago, now it has grown into a palm-sized multi branched colony with a pretty good purple colour. I will post a pic when I can get a camera going.

The lights are 8-bulb Powermodule and the bulbs are 4 ATI Blue Plus, 2 ATI Aquablue Special, 1 Giesemann Midday and 1 KZ Fiji purple.

I don't supplement other than adding sugar and having a calcium reactor and occasionally topping up Magnesium.

The coral is near the top of the tank however I don't think it needs to be this high.

IME the challenge is finding a true dark purple SPS, one of the more challenging colours to get your hands on. With over 10 years searching, I really only had 2 I would call dark purple.

Hmmm let me guess......purple monster and kevins tricolor?

I find sometimes purple SPS light less light to get that dark colour....you can try that.

purple moster yes, but I also had a wicked purple slimer for quite some time that turned out real nice and a solid purple (bought it brown, and slimey). Purple tips do not count :)

I hear the pink T5's bring out purples, red and blues...

Here are some pics of the suspects
This 1 I got about a month ago from a friend who has High No3 but had 1 250w 14k Halide over it, it was way darker
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/a...6/may15002.jpg
The 2 right in front of the Monti, 1 is a purple milli, the other a purple Acro w/Green polyps, both used to be much darker/richer purple
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/a...6/may22002.jpg
& finally this 1 was darker & richer as well.
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/a...y122011001.jpg
I just switched lights about 4 months ago to a tek 6 bulb fixture & now I'm thinking of going to a T5 halide combo. I'd prefer to stay as is but wonder if it's possible to influence the pigment with just T5 & some kind of supplement, food or mineral?
Also I just got this deep water frag from another canreefer last night & would like to keep it's color. It's color is a bit darker than the others but gives you an idea of where they started. Purple is really the only color I'm having an issue keeping. It's the 1 to the lower left.http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/a.../newpurple.jpg

Also my tank is only 36" so I'm wondering if there is a ATI 8-10 bulb in this length, but preferably a 2 X 250 halide with supplemental T5 on either side F & B for color. Thanks.

Yep, both 8 and 10 lamp fixtures are available.

http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_...dule_Fixtures/

Nice reef....Im going to suggest raising the light or lower those corals....or even feeding more.

Somethings to try anyway. I don't think its a co-incidence that you just switched lights 4 months ago either.

Thanks Man, I looked briefly the other night, but obviously not very hard. & ouch looking at those price's tells me that halide is probably the better option if I can find a good combo.