Before and after Radium pics

spsphreak · 11-07-2002, 05:37 PM

Okay, Here is a before and after comparison. The first pic is 2- 250watt sakis with 2-110watt actinic VHO. The Second is 2-250watt sakis and 2-400watt radiums! The radiums are run on a blue wave, b/c we wanted more blue to supplement the sakis.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I think it is quite a bit bluer, but I like the blue, and hopefully with the radiums and sakis, I will get good growth and good coloration. Mojo, your hint about bending the reflectors worked well!!!

Scott

Jeremy1973 · 11-07-2002, 06:17 PM

wow..very beautiful. I think to much blue on some tanks doesn't look all that great, but on yours... I think it makes a lot of the colors seem a little more vibrant! Very very nice! And your tanks looks great aswell!

Bonsai · 11-07-2002, 07:02 PM

I've seen the 20K Radiums by themselves I think their too blue to benifit the corals. I like your combination and agree that the 2-250's Iwaskis & the 2 20K's looks great on your tank. Keep us posted on the coral growth & color changes.

Sam

mojoreef · 11-07-2002, 08:21 PM

Scott just wait a month and watch the colors on those SPS start to morph

Bonsai I have to dissagree my friend, I run all radiums on my tank and I think they look pretty good, and I tend to get a little growth to

Mike

spsphreak · 11-07-2002, 09:22 PM

Yeah Mojo,

I'm Ready, I'm Ready. Ready Ready Ready (singin the spongebob song) I think these radiums are great!! The only thing I haven't figured out quite yet is what lighting regimen to run. Should I run the radiums all day long, like 10 hours, and the iwasakis for midday light, like 4 hours a day, or what?

Scott

Bonsai · 11-07-2002, 09:29 PM

Mike,

blueness is a personal preference. My statement about benefiting the corals comes only after attending a presentation made by Dana Riddle. He had showed docuementation on how corals responded to different spectrums of light. The corals responed most favorable to the 65K & 10K light range. However he also stressed that intensity was very important along with good water flow throught the corals.

I guess I'm also scarred from a bad experiance with the 12K Sunburst bulb. My first Hailde bulb that I thought made my corals look great but just did not put out what my SPS needed & I lost a few nice pieces before I changed to 250W 65K with PC Actinics. I think when my 65Ks wear out I may try the 10K.

I went out to your web site and saw your tank. It looks great! I love the coral colorations you are getting. How long have they been under the 20Ks & if they were under a different light combination before have you seen a change in the new coral growth (speed & color)?

Sam

mojoreef · 11-07-2002, 11:12 PM

Hey Sam no problem buddy.Lighting is a personal preference, when you run the MH. I hear ya on the 12K's I had a set of them to once

.

with out getting to indepth, with the 20K's the vast majority of the emitted light energy from the them is photosynthetically useable by the algae. The 440 to 460 nm zone. Also the 10k ushio, being a full spectrum violet light is anoth color that the coral will use extensively. Most all other colors are not used,BUT the corals have contained with in them pigments, these pigments will filter the other colors back to the photosynthetically useable zone. So the combination of 10k and 20k lighting would be best for the growth and coloration of corals. Now here is the hitch and this is where the Iwasaki comes into play. The intencity (or lets say the power of the light to penetrate the water) is a little lacking on these bulbs, in reality the high the Kelvin you run the more intencity you loose. But with a 400 wat set up you can achieve both intencity and great coloration which makes for a good growth and healthy SPS. This is why the Iwasaki is also a good bulb. although it does not have the perfect kelvin that the 20's and 10ks do they are so intence that what they do have they drive it real well, which also makes for a great growth and coloration lighting set up.
So for me it boils down to this. If you run MH's with good intencity (as in 250' on less depth tanks and 400s in deeper tanks) it all just boils down to what look you want to have your tank have personally.

I have had the 20'ks on for about 3/4 of a year, and the coloration of the corals transformed about a month after. For me the colors are outstanding in all the ranges, the reds (like pocciapora,and so on) are a little darker, but all others are really intence. On the growth front Some corals grow faster under this lighting setup (mainly the table acros and stags) others a little slower, but as an over all statement I would say a little slower maybe 80 percent of what it used to be.

Scott I would normally say to run them at the full day level, but you have so much light over that tank I think you would be better off doing the Iwasakis for only 4 hours in the mid day. HEY ONE BIG THING TO REMEMBER. your lighting is really strong and every coral you get will not be used to this intencity. You have to be really patcient with thier acclimation. I would suggest the following. Introduce the new colonies when the lights are off, and make sure they are on the bottom (if not partially shaded) and slowly work them up in the water column over a few weeks (like 4 weeks) this is what I do and I have been fairly sucessful. I did not do this for my montis and I cooked them. so be careful.

hope it helps

Mike

Bonsai · 11-08-2002, 08:00 AM

Mike,

Thanks for the great insight.

Looking forward to seeing Scott's SPS morph.

Sam

grazhopr · 11-08-2002, 03:31 PM

Guys,

I read this article about photosynthesis and photoadaptation by Sanjay Joshi. it's fairly straight forward (wonderful for me!). it is also very helpful and very interesting.

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a.../2/default.asp

bluer light might slow down sps growth, but that's not bad at all (i think

).
and yes, it will be very interesting to see how pigmentation starts to shift.

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grazhopr · 11-08-2002, 03:34 PM

BTW, I love the blue tint in a tank.

Reedman · 11-08-2002, 04:41 PM

Man! That looks great, but your chiller must be working overtime. How bad is the heat in your tank. I have 2 250 W MH and the heat is substantial. I suspect addig 400W to a 250 W would be a lot of heat.

Either way, your tank looks great and I can attest to the health of the corals in Mike's tank that are under 20Ks. They look non the worse for the 20K lamps.

spsphreak · 11-08-2002, 04:48 PM

well, the chiller is running a good bit, but it is not really having that much of a problem. I have my chiller set to 79 degrees with a 2 degree differential, so it turns on at 81, and brings the tank down to 79. I guess I will be able to tell you how much the chiller is on when I get my electricity bill. (Yowza) I am really enjoying the combination so far though. Hope my corals are loving it too. There seems to be great polyp extension, and none are sliming, so I guess everything is going well. Now if I can just wait a month or so to see some color morphs.

Scott

Before and after Radium pics

Tank looks great