Walter,
Thanks for all the info. You have my system correctly, except of one thing.
I actually have 4 VHO bulbs (instead of 2) over the tank. My combo goes
2-175 watt 55k mhs (used to be 10ks), 2 - 50/50 VHOs and 2 - O3 VHOs. A
total of 734 watts, or a little over 10 watts per gallon. Without my MHS on,
the tank is extremely blue. With them on, it balances nicely and is a tiny
bit yellow, which I like. You points are well taken and much appreciated,
however I do have a couple of thoughts/questions...
I understand that the corals use mostly a the blue light for photosynthesis,
but what about the corals that are on the reef crest only a foot or so under
the water? They take the full brunt of the sun, in all spectrums, all day
long. At noon on a clear day, light measures 5000k. Maybe it is just due to
the intensity of the light that causes these corals to have such color.? Do
you think maybe they have the colors they do because of UV radiation?
If I had too much blue before, which was causing too much xooanthellea (sp)
to be produced in my corals, why wouldn't that cause more color? Why would
it be brown instead of colored?
Do you think I accomplished the same thing by switching the 10ks to 55ks
that I would have by switching my actinics to full spectrums? I mean, the
full spectrums would have close to the same spectral "band" that the 55ks
have wouldn't they? If so, then I actually come out ahead of the game
because now I am paying 50 bucks for a MH bulb instead of 100 bucks and am
paying the same for my VHOs, so I save $$ each time I replace my bulbs, 100
bucks every time I switch my MHs in fact.
Don't get me wrong, please. I totally appreciate your detailed information
and you have excellent points. I have never really been able to get the
lighting thing down on my reef, and am still not sure. I am just asking the
questions above to continue to learn and make better decisions.
Anyone have any thoughts on any of the info/questions???
TIA,
Shane C.
-----Original Message-----
From: Weidmann Walter [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 8:02 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Help with SPS
BEFORE YOU READ THIS, IT IS JUST MY OPINION DUE TO A RESERCH.
Shane, at the begining of the discution you wrote that you have
problems
with your corals colors.
I have being doing a serch on that and this is wath I found.
You have 2-175 watts MH and about 200 watts of actinic light, if I
don't
have a bad memory you sicht the 10,000 K MH for a 5,500 K. You
said that
it was cause you wanted to have a higher PAR and so to increase the
color of
your corals.
This is waht I found:
PAR is the photosythesis active radiation (400-700 nanometers), and
you
where right the 5,500 have a higher one than the 10,000, but that is
not the
entire thing to look for, remember that your corals only use the
blue
spectrum of that light and that is the light between 400 and 500
nanometers,
that means that the portion of the PAR between 500 and 700 is not
used at
all, so even if you have a higher PAR with the 5,500 you have a lot
less of
400-500 nanometer light than with the 10,000. That is why is better
to have
a 10,000 than a 5,500.(besides the color)
Now you may be asking why you have better colors now than before,
that is
cause you used to have too much blue light in your tank, I don't
mean that
it is bud, but as you have a lot of it the zooxanthellae grow in
your corals
in great amounts and so the coral turn brownish as the color of the
algae.
They were brown but very healtly.
So the solution to the problem that you had was to decrease the
amount of
400-500 light. By changing the MH to 5,500 you did it and that is
why your
corals have been coloring up, or let say than they have lost some
algae and
now you can see the real color of it. The other solution coudl have
been to
change your actnic light to 50/50, just to take them out or to use
full
spectrum ones.
So you found a soluton to your problem but now I red than you
changed the
actinicts to 50/50, so watch out, you may be loosing to much blue
lights.
IMHO the ideal solution was to leave the 10,000 and to change the
actinics
to 50/50 or full spectrum. In this way you decrease the blue light
and at
the same time have a nicer color in your tank.
Any way you dont have to change the MH but just take this info and
find your
way.
Hope this helps you all
Walter
PD: if you have caulerpa in your sump, for them is better the 5,500
k cause
they use that spectrum.
________________________________________
LEAVING THE LIST
================
To stop receiving messages you will need to send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a command to remove you from the list.
The list manager controls who belongs to the list.
For example:
--------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Doe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: <not needed>
UNSUBSCRIBE
--------------------------------------------------------------
________________________________________
LEAVING THE LIST
================
To stop receiving messages you will need to send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a command to remove you from the list. The list
manager controls who belongs to the list.
For example:
--------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Doe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: <not needed>
UNSUBSCRIBE
--------------------------------------------------------------
