Hi. I switched from 10k to 55k due to the higher par rating of the 55k. I
had 2 10k and was not happy with the colors I was getting from my corals. I
went to a fellow hobbyists house to get some frags and was amazed at the
colors he was getting out of his corals. He was running 55k with actinic
supplement. After talking to him, he too had used 10k, and after he tried
55k, said he would never switch back to 10k. He said his corals were, for
the most part, brown in color when they should have been purple, yellow etc.
He said he switched to 55k and over a couple of months his corals really
colored up. So, I switched one of my 10ks to 55k, and he was right. The
purple tipped acro I had which had purple about .25 inched down each branch
totally colored up, and the purple now runs about .75 inched down each
branch (this is after about a month). The overall colors increased with
most of my corals (except for the ones I have been talking about). I don't
think I will ever use 10k again. Not only that, but personally, I like the
look of the tank better with the 55k. Also, instead of using 4 actinics to
supplement I use 2 actinic and 2 50/50s (VHO). I may try 65k MHs on my next
bulb purchase.
The stylo... I had/have the feeling it may be getting too much light. That
may be part of the reason it is not extending the polyps on the tips of the
coral. It is all the way to the right of the tank, mid way up under the MH
so it is not getting a direct MH blast, but it is getting a fair amount of
light. I did not dip it, nor was it dipped by the LFS.
The tank is a 70 gallon tank with 15 gallons of water in a 30 gallon sump
and 15 gallons of water in a 20 gallon refugium. I would say there is
probably 70-80 gallons of water in circulation. I change 20 gallons of water
each week. I currently use Sea Chem Reef Buffer to keep my pH and Alk up,
and use Sea Lab Calcium Blocks to keep my calcium up. It is skimmed with a
Red Sea Classic Berlin which is powered by an Iwaki 100 RLT that runs the
skimmer, chiller, sea swirl and 2 other return outlets (bad ass pump). The
tank has been running for 1 year, 1 month. I don't have any significant
algae problems. I do have some bubble algae growth. The refugium is packed
with caluerpa. I dose weekly with iodine. I run carbon 24-7. The lighting
period is VHOs on at 10 am, MHs on at 11 - MHs off at 9 pm and VHOs off at
10. So VHOs are on for 12 hours a day and MHs are on for 10. I have a Mag 24
that I use for a surge pump (when it is working) that is on a random current
timer.
Bulbs were due for replacement. 10K MH is about 9 months (will be replaced
with a new 55k next week), 55k is new, and I just put 2 new actinics in
(VHOs were about 9 months old) and will putting 2 new 50/50s in soon.
One thought I had, was that I have never tested for phosphates, nor have I
run any type of phosphate removing resins. I have read that phosphates can
cause growth problems in SPS.
Other SPS corals are:
FRAGS (all captive raised 2nd and 3rd generation):
Green Acro
Green Hynophora
Merulina
Purple tipped Acro (long branched species)
Pinkish/purplish table top species of acro
Pink Poccilopora (really colored up under 55k)
Yellow Poccilopora
Purple tipped acro (short and stubby species)
Clay red acro
COLONIES (wild collected except dark red acro)
Purple Tipped Montipora
Brown table top acro
Purple tipped table top acro
Yellow Syylophora
Dark red acro
OTHER
Pectinia
Frogspawn (2)
Hammer
Torch
Pagoda Cup
Open Brain
T. maxima
T. crocea (2)
I think that's all of em.
So, after the information overload, any thoughts on what I am doing wrong or
what may be causing problems?
Thanks for your help!
Shane C.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2001 7:07 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Help with SPS
Why did you switch from 10KK to 5,500K bulbs? Have you been reading
Iwasaki
propaganda? Yellow Stylo are not high light demanding. Your VHO
lighting
alone is more than enough for this coral. What size is your tank?
Did you dip
the coral before placing it in your tank and did your LFS dip the
coral
before putting it in a holding tank? Your chemistry seems very good.
The
white spot could be from trauma to the animal not infection. Keep a
close eye
on your other corals. What other SPS are you keeping? You should see
around
1cm vertical and/or lateral growth (encrusting) per month. Some grow
much
faster than others. Are these captive raised frags we are talkin'
about?
Also, what are your photo periods for MH and VHO? Is your system
'mature'
....do you have algae problems?
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