Re thinking My Lighting

[wrassie86]

Ok so i have a 120g BB tank being lit by 2 400w 14k coralvue bulbs for 5 hrs +220w vho atinnic for 12 hrs.also running a beckett skimmer wet just switched to a PM bullet 3 from a mrc mr1 with sump bag on the out put to catch anything the skimmer misses,really nothing settles in this tank it stays pretty clean.and i feed pretty heavy i think.Phos/nitrate are 0 on tests.also i run a aquamedic nitrate reductor.and have only 5 fish
first i will say i have pretty good growth and PE,My blue corals look pretty good but greens all turn to a whiteish tan over time with just a hint of green (with the exception of digita) only acros and caps wash out. Now i'm thinking that even 5hrs is to much for some of sps, but not enough for others.So i'm thinking about adding 220watts more VHO and reducing the MH even further 2-3hrs.
But i'm not sure what i should add for VHO bulbs,i was thinking about just overdriving the phillips 65k 40w bulbs from hd, ive done this before with decent results,i think they burn close to 10k and cost $6 but need to be changed every few months.or just adding a real 10k and a 50/50

Does this sound like a good plan?and a remedy to the washed out color problem?Funny thing is,is it seems my washed out corals grow the fastest.

[rutz81]

I don't think that it is the length of the photoperiod... I run my actinics from 8a.m.-8p.m., and 175W halides from 9a.m.-6p.m. I've never run 400W, but, maybe it's that mixed with the low nutrients in your BB system.

[King-Kong]

Perhaps add more fish/feed more often?

It seems with such a clean system you could take to having more bioload?

[wrassie86]

Ive been adding more fish when i can find healthy looking fish.(not much for fish stores where i live)While i mail order corals,i'm alittle skittish on fish.
I do only feed once a day.and while i think its alot it may not be.
Pinch of Tetra Marine Granules
pinch of HBH super soft frozen food alternitive with krill and some smoshed into fine particals for the corals.(this stuff will stop a skimmer dead for hrs)
pinch of regular flake food
every other day i add 1 frozen cube of plankton
every other day i add 2 cap fulls of kent marine zoo plankton.(morning and night)
I change 15g's of water every 2 weeks and clean any settled dirt in my sump(normally very little)
While it would nice to move to more VHO and take less of a hit on my ELE bill i dont want to mess up any of the animals.
One other thing is coraline alge grows very slow and i dont have much of it Despite proper levels of mag and ca.

[rutz81]

My feeding regeiment is as follows: 3 of the larger cubes daily(I get the saltwater mulipacks-brine,mysis,emerald entree, and squid). I break that up into 2 feeding sessions. I have 11 fish in my 75G. Since you have a beckett with proper pump, I would defintely try feeding more before you upgraded to different lighting. My SPS are all deep colors, purples, greens, blues, pinks; all have nice color to them; while having no algae. Not trying to brag at all, just hoping to help you find whatever you're missing in your tank to get the colors you're looking for.

Hope this helps,
Dave

[wrassie86]

Originally Posted by rutz81

My feeding regeiment is as follows: 3 of the larger cubes daily(I get the saltwater mulipacks-brine,mysis,emerald entree, and squid). I break that up into 2 feeding sessions. I have 11 fish in my 75G. Since you have a beckett with proper pump, I would defintely try feeding more before you upgraded to different lighting. My SPS are all deep colors, purples, greens, blues, pinks; all have nice color to them; while having no algae. Not trying to brag at all, just hoping to help you find whatever you're missing in your tank to get the colors you're looking for.

Hope this helps,
Dave

No brag taken

[Wiskey]

2*400W over a 120? How far off the tank? Any light readings from in the tank?

That is allot of light, have you ever thought about going with 250 and saving a bit of power? One thing you could do to see if it would help is to raise the lights up a few inches.

Whiskey

[wrassie86]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

2*400W over a 120? How far off the tank? Any light readings from in the tank?

That is allot of light, have you ever thought about going with 250 and saving a bit of power? One thing you could do to see if it would help is to raise the lights up a few inches.

Whiskey

Well when i bought all the stuff a fews years back, i had a DSB and the plan was to run 20k.the lights are 6-7 inches off the water from 5 inches about a month ago.I cant raise them any higher.
This morning i did go ahead and wire up another 220w vho ballast and installed, running 65k lights and cut the MH down to 3 hrs,but i'm not real happy with the color, so i'm gonna go ahead and order a 50/50 and a 10k bulb and see what happens.My Gut tells me the 400's coupled with the PM bullet 3 skimmer are just to much.but its been wrong before.I think the solution to my problem is simple.But what it is i dont know.
Also 250's have been thought about for awile now.If i knew for sure they would be the key,i'd get them.

[Wiskey]

That is the tuff thing, you will never be sure withough trying it. Another option is you could buy some T5's, they put out a touch more light than 4 foot VHO's FWIR, and run at half the power.

But if you do this make sure you get the good individual parabolic reflectors, without them the T5's are about worthless.

Whiskey

[REEF-DADDY]

Way too much halide! 4 hours should be enough to saturate the corals. Thats your problem look no further.

[wrassie86]

Originally Posted by REEF-DADDY

Way too much halide! 4 hours should be enough to saturate the corals. Thats your problem look no further.

Well we will see.There at 3 hrs now.with 220w 65k vho for 8 and 220w attinic for 12.I hope to see some changes in the next few weeks.

[REEF-DADDY]

Your in for a treat!

[wrassie86]

Ok alittle update.not sure if this is related to lowering the light peroid yesterday or the skimmer upgrade.But while getting the kids ready for school, i took my morning peek at the corals and found awsome PE on almost all the SPS.alot more than i usally see on some.

i do belive that REEF DADDY is right on the lighting and what ive been thinking for some time now since nothing else seems to work.I am going to stick with the 440w VHO and different colored bulbs.I might be jumping the gun here,but what to do with 400wx2 MH if there just a waste.Any suggestions for change.or just leave as be with the 3 hr peak.

[clockwork]

Reef daddy why would it be too much light ? I think its starvation IMO I had 3x250 ph14k over my 120 running 10hrs a day with awesome color. My 180 is running 5x250de 14k phx with 11hrs a day and my colors are spot on . I also run ozone and 2 skimmers each is rated for my tank or larger.

I feed 4 cubes of that formula one frozen gel stuff, 1 sheet of nori and a 1x1 of med mysiss. My tank is nutrient poor IMO

[wrassie86]

Since starting the new lighting scheme and more feeding a few months ago, i have noticed positive and negative results.Positive is the lighting has been reduced for only 6 days the green corals that looked semi bleached have alot more PE and browning with more green in the pigments.Also i think my purple/Blue corals have gotton alittle darker.
Negitive is i'm starting to see A rise in the growth of what looks like hair agea,slight green haze forming on the bottom of the tank that appears to trapping dirt.(could be from new VHO lights)Also finding more red slime algea in my sump than usal ,So can only assume P is on the rise.Or i need to change my sump light.
So at this point i'm kinda stumped between a few extra WC's (i aready do 15g every 2 weeks) or ordering in some phosban.

Any thoughts?