Bubba's SPS Journey

[hatfielj]

I have rented a par meter twice. The second time was too confirm the first numbers. In my frag tank that uses radions + t5’s I was getting roughly 350 par next to the coral in the middle. The edges I would get around 250 par with even lower in the corners.

The reason I wanted to double check was the corals would act like it was too much light when I would first add them to that tank. Even some of my corals that should have multi colors would turn one solid color, kinda like pc rainbow and red planet will do. I am still baffled by the numbers because the frag tank with an ati t5’s fixture would get 450 par in the middle and 350 par around the edges and corals wouldn’t act the same. What I loved so much about the radions though was any coral I added to that tank would turn very, very bright and would fluoresce more than the other tanks.

Thanks for that info! Looks like you're getting higher par, but I think it's because your tanks are 10" tall and you raise your tiles up off the bottom. I have mine sitting on the bottom, not sure if I want to elevate them at this point. I'll probably just leave them alone and see how it turns out. I'm really curious to see how the T5 tank differs from the LED tank. I have been thinking about adding T5s to the LED tank simply because I know that combo is so successful (from seeing your thread and others), but I'm running Orpheks, so I'm also curious to see what they can do by themselves since not too many people are running them. So far all of the frags I've placed in that tank have started growing instantly. I haven't seen a big color shift yet, but it's only been a couple of weeks for most of them.

 

[CoralWealth]

Hey Bubba, do you still have your T5s like 2 feet off your low boy frag tank?

 

[bubbaque]

Hey Bubba, do you still have your T5s like 2 feet off your low boy frag tank?

I have both the t5’s and the radions pretty high off the water.

 

[CoralWealth]

I have both the t5’s and the radions pretty high off the water.

Thanks! I have my 8 bulb T5 only like 12 inches off my low boy and I think I am blasting them with too much light based on how some of them look compared to my DT. Thats the only difference is theyre getting more par in my frag tank and ones that have multiple colors like PC Rainbow, Red Planet, etc are just blah green pretty much in my frag tank. Its all the same water so thats all I could think of.

 

[29bonsaireef]

I have both the t5’s and the radions pretty high off the water.

Wow those T5's are way up there. You're getting 450 par on the surface, or where the corals sit in that t5 tank?

 

[bubbaque]

Thanks! I have my 8 bulb T5 only like 12 inches off my low boy and I think I am blasting them with too much light based on how some of them look compared to my DT. Thats the only difference is theyre getting more par in my frag tank and ones that have multiple colors like PC Rainbow, Red Planet, etc are just blah green pretty much in my frag tank. Its all the same water so thats all I could think of.

12” off a lowboy!! You should rent a par meter and you will be blowed away with how much par you are giving them.

Wow those T5's are way up there. You're getting 450 par on the surface, or where the corals sit in that t5 tank?

That par is next to the corals. I think par starts to drop pretty fast once it hits the water but the tanks are so shallow the par doesn’t have much chance to lower.

 

[CoralWealth]

12” off a lowboy!! You should rent a par meter and you will be blowed away with how much par you are giving them.
That par is next to the corals. I think par starts to drop pretty fast once it hits the water but the tanks are so shallow the par doesn’t have much chance to lower.

Yeah I need to look into renting one online and figure that out haha.

 

[bubbaque]

Yeah I need to look into renting one online and figure that out haha.

BRS rents then out.

 

[mannyhernz]

BRS rents then out.

Really? Didnt know this.
Tank is looking splendid btw..[emoji106][emoji106]

 

[bubbaque]

Really? Didnt know this.
Tank is looking splendid btw..[emoji106][emoji106]

Its a semi new thing they started to do.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/7-da...spectrum-underwater-led-par-meter-apogee.html

 

[29bonsaireef]

That par is next to the corals. I think par starts to drop pretty fast once it hits the water but the tanks are so shallow the par doesn’t have much chance to lower.

For sure, that's still pretty wild you're getting 450 with that distance. Gotta love the ATI fixtures.

 

[Gimmy770]

I have both the t5’s and the radions pretty high off the water.

How long have you had the ATI fixtures so high on this tank? at what distance are more or less the corals from the ATI fixtures plexiglass? known advantages to having such a high ATI fixtures?

 

[bubbaque]

How long have you had the ATI fixtures so high on this tank? at what distance are more or less the corals from the ATI fixtures plexiglass? known advantages to having such a high ATI fixtures?

For as long as I can remember I have had them pretty high. I think the bottom of the fixture is around 20" off the water and the corals are probably 6-7" inches in the water. I don't think there is any advantage to running them so high besides not blasting your corals with so much par.

If you go to WWC and look at their farm their lights are probably 3' off the water. Also in videos JF has done about his grow out tanks he said his lights are about 24" off the water.

I wouldn't put your lights this high unless you run a shallow tank. My lights are only like this on my frag tanks. On my display they are 9 - 10" off the water.

Picture of WWC farm. If you look at the boards holding up the lights you can get a sense of how high those lights are, but again these are shallow tanks.

 

[TaylorJames]

Yesterday I spent 3 hours reading through this thread. Well done @bubbaque, your corals look amazing. I just received a box from BattleCorals this morning and cant find a pic of "Stuck in Stallis" anywhere. Do you have that acro, and if so could you post a pic?

 

[Billldg]

There is more than one, lol. I hide them away because nobody wants to see those.

Yes, but it would make us mortals fell better, LOL!!!

 

[Fishfinder]

Yesterday I spent 3 hours reading through this thread. Well done @bubbaque, your corals look amazing. I just received a box from BattleCorals this morning and cant find a pic of "Stuck in Stallis" anywhere. Do you have that acro, and if so could you post a pic?

Adam has been adding that one quite a bit lately

 

[WWIII]

Adam has been adding that one quite a bit lately

That name though. Hahaha

 

[Bpb]

Thanks! I have my 8 bulb T5 only like 12 inches off my low boy and I think I am blasting them with too much light based on how some of them look compared to my DT. Thats the only difference is theyre getting more par in my frag tank and ones that have multiple colors like PC Rainbow, Red Planet, etc are just blah green pretty much in my frag tank. Its all the same water so thats all I could think of.

Lower light will cause excess greening of most acropora. Higher full spectrum par will cause an equal but opposite effect with reds. It is my understanding that most corals are ill prepared to deal with red wavelengths that’s why they employ so many red chromatoprotiens to reject red light. The one major exception is shallow water acropora. This is the reason they turn red under high light and green out when under lit. They are trying to modulate the amount of red light reching the zoox. My red planet, pc rainbow, and asd rainbow Millie have all turned solid red/orange with zero contrasting colors at all receiving 400+ par

 

[CoralWealth]

Lower light will cause excess greening of most acropora. Higher full spectrum par will cause an equal but opposite effect with reds. It is my understanding that most corals are ill prepared to deal with red wavelengths that’s why they employ so many red chromatoprotiens to reject red light. The one major exception is shallow water acropora. This is the reason they turn red under high light and green out when under lit. They are trying to modulate the amount of red light reching the zoox. My red planet, pc rainbow, and asd rainbow Millie have all turned solid red/orange with zero contrasting colors at all receiving 400+ par

It could also be because I had very high phosphates which I am now bringing down as to why they are mostly green. It definitely is not because of low light though. This is under a 8 bulb t5 under like 16 inches from the bottom of the fixture. 4 blue plus, 2 actinic and 2 GE 6500k bulbs.

 

[bubbaque]

Yesterday I spent 3 hours reading through this thread. Well done @bubbaque, your corals look amazing. I just received a box from BattleCorals this morning and cant find a pic of "Stuck in Stallis" anywhere. Do you have that acro, and if so could you post a pic?

Thank you very much.

Adam has been handing that one out a lot lately. He gave me a freebie of it about 6 weeks ago and he sent me another freebie of it last week. I will take a pic of mine for you.

Lower light will cause excess greening of most acropora. Higher full spectrum par will cause an equal but opposite effect with reds. It is my understanding that most corals are ill prepared to deal with red wavelengths that’s why they employ so many red chromatoprotiens to reject red light. The one major exception is shallow water acropora. This is the reason they turn red under high light and green out when under lit. They are trying to modulate the amount of red light reching the zoox. My red planet, pc rainbow, and asd rainbow Millie have all turned solid red/orange with zero contrasting colors at all receiving 400+ par

Here is a perfect example of what I experience under high light. This first pic is TSA's pic of their fruity pebbles. I have seen this coral in their tank and also in a buddy's tank and this pic is accurate. Below their pic is a picture of mine. Mine is solid red with the red tips on the end of the branches.

Mine even with the lights so far off the tank.