Slow growth under T5s

[jerl77]

it takes time trust me

 

[homegrowncichlid]

I have a similar setup except using the 5 bulb aquatinics on a 65 gall tank (24" deep so I think it's 4" taller then a 75gal). I've the the same bulb configuration, except I dropped an actinic (blue plus) from yours JARRETT. Since I've been using Wavepoint bulbs, I'll list their equivalent;

3 x actinic 460
1 x 10K
1 x purple 420

I've been running this for the past two bulb cycle changes (9 months per cycle and I'm 4 months into the current one) and noticed slow (almost none) growth on some corals (i.e. blue/green ricordia (die out of orange ones), blue tort, blue tenius, pink prostata and a pink/blue tipped milli) whereas other LPS (ie frogspwan, hammer, chalace) and SPS (ie pavona, orange digiata, purple digitata, bird of paradise, green birdsnest, rainbow birdsnest) grew at the same continuous rate.

Their placements vary from high (3" from the top (digitatas) to very low (22" down ricordia)

As far as I can tell, the only major difference from before was switching one on the 10Ks to a 460 actinic, as listed below;

2 x 460
2 x 10K
1 x 420

I've had a long discussion on a couple of other threads regarding PAR and PUR and bulb setups, and found these 2 links which sums it all up. Based on the authors recommendations for 5 bulb setups, I switched one 10K to 460, to try it out.

http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarse...s/&PHPSESSID=947114d83ebd43d27855241857aa7f39

From addition readings, (which is why I've decided to use an extra actinic instead of a 10K) I've now realized that though 460 has 100% PUR compared to a full spectrum such as 10K about 85%, The 10K has higher overall PAR than the 460s.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/3/review

Therefore, according to my calculations, I thought I'd be maximizing my PUR output by using as many actinics as I can. Unfortunately, (probably due to the extra depth of my tank and light penetration variables which was not talked about in the 2 links I've read) though the tank was really blue, the actual brightness was diminished and the PAR went down, as now evident from my coral growth rates.

SO to sum up, after these bulbs get changed out in a few more months, I'm switching back to using an extra 10K and dropping out the cosmetic purple 420 (which have almost no PAR or PUR) to;

3 x 460
2 x 10K

This is to maximize both PAR and PUR for a couple of bulb cycles, get the corals to reach higher, closer to the light (but not look so colorful or vibrant druing this time) then switch back to the orgininal setup where they can be pretty and develop their colors again.

3 x 460
1 x 10K
1 x anything 420, purple whatever the hot enhancement color is.

 

[rideit6578]

it takes some time man and obviously what works for some people wont work for others. patience, and maybe add a something grows a little quicker too like ponape so you can compare the growth all around.

 

[junior ibanez]

and btw my photo period is as follows

12:00PM 2 blue plus bulbs turn on
1:00PM all bulbs are on
9:00PM 4 bulbs turn off
10:00pm all bulbs off, moonlights on

You got to understand that "zooxanthella" is an algae that lives in the tissue of most corals, which in turns provides food to the coral but in order for this to happen they need light, you said @ 12:00 2 blue comes on and by 1:00 all bulbs are on so technically speaking, the full light spectrum begins @ 1:00 and by 9:00 all are off. That's a total of 8 hours which in nature corals get roughly 12 or so hours of lighting. I would increase the lighting period by a couple of more hours to see how the corals react.

 

[garys reef]

Go with leds

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