My opinions are expresed in big red
letter, hope you like them, is just my opinion
>
> 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.The importamt is not what you see but what your corals need 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 use the blue 400-500 nanometeres spectrum, even if they get the total of it, cause the coral don't really use it, the algae does and it is highly specialliced in that radiation, They take the full brunt of the sun, in all spectrums, all day
> long. At noon on a clear day, light measures 5000k.before they enter the water surface, but remember than you are focus in what the coral need 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? The pigments in the corals are a protecction for UV exactly as same as the melanine in the human body, but don't you ever think in placing a UV light in your sistem, it is not good
>
> 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? Cause the algae is just unther the coral tissue and when there is a lot of them you can see them, their color is brown, the coral color, is up to each one pigment, it is under the algae, so when there is a lot of algae you can't see it.
>
> 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 closeif you see a grafic of they specturm of each one you'll see than they are very diferent, the peaks of radiation I mean, 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.you have a very good reason in this point, you can keep the 5,500 or the 6,500 better but don't change the actinics so you'll have the needed blue light
>
> 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.
> Don't get crazy as long as your coral do well
> 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
> --------------------------------------------------------------
