Coloring up - PAR or higher K?

[Burchoid]

Ok. I have my 75G with 2 X MH 250W 14K Hamilton bulbs running on a mag ballast and 110W supplimental actinic VHOS, but I still have a coral or two that either lost some color during shipping, or never was a good color to begin with.

Either way, I see two opposing ideas out there for coloring up your corals real good. Some people say to get a higher PAR rated lamp which means you have to sacrifice to a lower kelvin bulb or get a higher wattage setup.

Others say you need a high kelvin rated bulb to acheive good colors (lower PAR).

So which is it?? Short of upgrading the wattage on my system, whats the best thing to do to get some colors to come back in some of my corals? All my water params are in check.

According to http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm the bulbs I have now have a PAR rating of 214, a far cry from the PAR rating of the mighty XM 10K at a whopping 600.

Would tripling my PAR rating be enough to offset the change to a less-blue bulb?

[redwinger]

IMO par and kelvin rating only add a small piece to the puzzle. Some corals can take months to color up but I also believe that minimal nutrients have just as much or more to do with how a coral holds its color. Your colors will "pop" more under a higher K bulb but if you have a abundance of nutrients in the tank they won't reach there full potential. Par to put into lehmans terms is the lower the par the slower the growth. Higer the par the faster the coral will grow.

[JnS]

if we are reffering to RM corals, they will not look the same under 14k with actnics as they do in their pics under 20k with actnics.

but like redwinger said shipping stress can make corals take a long time to color up.

[Superman]

What is your lighting period for your halides?

[Jeremiah]

Agree with redwinger 100% on this one. I would just be patient, your lighting setup should be pretty rockin if everything else is in order.

[Burchoid]

I've slowly been been increasing it, its now at 12 hours actinics, 10 hours halides, which I know is a lot, but I don't have any algae problems. My sump/fuge lighting is on for 13 hours overlapping with the actinics to stabilize the tanks PH and other params. Nothing is bleaching out and most the corals are happy as could be! The polyps on some of my corals I have noticed REALLY colored up lately, but the base on the one that is supposed to be blue/white is still pink, and the mili I have that is supposed to be blue is still pink, and the other acro that is supposed to be blue and neon green is neon green and pink/light blue.


I am having touble bringing out the blues in my corals I guess. I just realized this. Is this just a coincidence? All the greens and fuscias and oranges all pop like mad, but no blue. HMmmMmmMmmM....

[redwinger]

I have reduced my photoperiod to 6 hours actinic and 5 hours halide and have had good growth and better coloring. It can take months. I have had one coral for about 3 months and it is just starting to color up. Some will color up in a week but others can take longer.

[Burchoid]

Sheesh 6 hours and 5 hours? Thats not to close to an actual reef, not that our tanks are, but you would think the closer to actual reef conditions the better, and most reefs get at least a good 10 hours of sunlight don't they? I would slowly back my photo period back down, but I would like to know why first.

[redwinger]

Your right as the corals only see about 1 hr of direct overhead sunlight in the ocean. So I am still running them to long. Corals IME seem to lighten with longer photoperiod and deepen in color with shorter photoperiods.

[Jeremiah]

Actually that is probably closer to the reef then you would think. I don't know all the numbers but when sunlight is hitting the water an certain angles it bounces off and doesn't penetrate very deep. So in reality it's not that long during the day that the sun is up at a high enough angle to really penetrate.

[redwinger]

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...ht=photoperiod check this link out burchoid, it will explain it in depth.

[Burchoid]

Originally Posted by redwinger

Your right as the corals only see about 1 hr of direct overhead sunlight in the ocean. So I am still running them to long. Corals IME seem to lighten with longer photoperiod and deepen in color with shorter photoperiods.

Oh, comon, you know the corals get more than 1 hour of intenst light Any light at less than a 45 degree angle to the water should be fairly intense, especially in the tropics. If I do the math, based on 12 hours of daylight, that leaves us with 6 hours of good intense sunlight! hah! I see why a smaller photoperiod may be more accurate...

I will take your advice and slowly back the photoperiod back down closer to 6 or 7 hours...

[David Grigor]

Redwinger summed it up pretty good.

PAR is one measuring tool but doesn't tell the whole story. For example: A bulb can be high par concentrating more in the yellow red color sprectrum yet will not get the same results as one concentrating a little more in the higher spectrum.

I too am starting to realise that there is more to it than just the bulbs. While I'm not a zeovite ( and never will ) however, I am finding alot of what they say to be true ( just don't believe in their method ), low nutrients can play almost as much of a role as the lighting.

I have been getting pretty good results with T5 Flourescent lighting with barebottom, 10% Twice weekly water changes, and heaving skimming on a 58g. I personally wouldn't have believed since I have been a 400W MH user for many years.

[redwinger]

Dave haven't seen you for a while hows little Ann Marie doing?

[Skipponator]

Sp redwinger, your actinics are ony for 6 hours, is this before any MH, and then how long after the MH does you actinics stay on? Your leaving them on while the mH is on also? Could you post your lighting times for us? I've been trying a different lighting schedule and so far things are looking oretty good (they were before), just curious on what an "optimal" setting "could" be. I have noticed with my XM 10k that the coloration and growth has really boosted since switching from Ushio/ Giesemann.