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T5s and SPS?


lagunastudio

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I suggest 2 x ATI blue +, 1 x ATI aquablue special and 1 x fiji purple.

 

3 blue + are windex look with less growth. It's way too blue. The Aquablue special bring some nicer colors, not so bluish.

 

Getting a good growth out of SPS is not only a matter of light and you seem to have enough light since that monti with purple rim has a strong purple hue. With not enough light you would not have that purple rim.

 

10ppm of nitrates is too high and that could impair the growth of your SPS. The maturity of the tank also play a role. In the coral magasine in the article called "Anorexic reef" they mention that an aquarium that is less than a year old is not well establish enough with zooplankton to produce a very good growth in SPS.

 

Feeding your SPS with zooplankton will help them grow well.

 

 

with proper bulbs you wont need supplementation.

if you're running a 4 bulb i would suggest ATI 3 blue+ and 1 purple + if youre looking for a 20k look.

the blue+ give off great par and the purple+ is a full spectrum bulb so you get the nice reds to pop.

 

nice purple rim cap btw

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lagunastudio

This is all great info thanks people. One question with my 30" 31 watt bulbs I'm getting more wattage per gallon. Would it be worth it to change the fixture to fit 24" then get lower wattage? Are the 24" ATI bulbs at 24 watts each going to be better than the 31 watt coralife?

 

Yeah I've been feeding all of the corals with reef freenzy, waiting for reef cleaners to get more filter formula and also going to buy some pods from him to. I will add I got my live rock from a local reefer and he had it in his tank for 4 years. It is very high quality rock and is growing corals in many places. All of the corals I have seem to be doing good and show signs of growth. Most have held their color aside from the pink bird's nest. That has gone from a violet pink to orange red which is expected in lower lighting. The cat's paw has some browning but it is still very pink. My nitrates are a little high at 10, I agree but I do water changes every week and am starting a new feeding plan of every other day - corals every 4 days.

 

I'm wondering if my nitrates might have something to do with these big turbo snails I have, I have 5 and they s**t all over the place, it would be a full time job cleaning their mess. I put one in my refugium because it was mowing over corals. I woke up yesterday morning to find my refugium over flowing, the snail climed into the drain box and got himself trapped in the drain pipe and everything was spilling on the floor. I almost threw the snail in my backyard but ended up dropping it back in the display to mow over more coral.

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I think the bulbs in the 30" lunar aqualite are 30" 31 watt. I'll probably just go with this for several months and confirm I'm not getting any growth. I haven't had the corals long enough to tell now. I bought my first sps about a month ago and am already seeing some growth. I'm guessing acclimation will slow the growth a bit and after a few months growth will start picking up. I can't afford to drop 6-700 on one of those ATI fixtures right now.

 

Check classifieds

There were a couple of ati fixtures for around $300 and they were 6 bulb fixtures if I remember correctly

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metrokat, do you think this has helped your tank? how many strips did you add?

 

I have one panorama PRO and 2 stunner strips, the strips are purely for color.

The LED is certainly helping my SPS which is at the top, plus it gives my tank that shimmer.

 

I am considering adding 1 more PRO.

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disaster999

this was my tank with all t5ho lighting. on a 30" high tank. im running 7 bulbs with reflectors. the bulbs are 39W 3ft long bulbs. my tank is 40" long.

DSC_9782.JPG

 

with that said, yes t5 lights is more than enough to keep SPS. but like others have said, there are other factors that affect the growth of your sps. how mature is your tank, how stable are your parameters, are the water parameters do you have enough flow, how clean is your water.

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with that said, yes t5 lights is more than enough to keep SPS. but like others have said, there are other factors that affect the growth of your sps. how mature is your tank, how stable are your parameters, are the water parameters do you have enough flow, how clean is your water.

 

+1 You mentioned that you nitrates are at 10 which is very high if your keeping sps. Your nitrates should be at 0.High nitrates cause browning in SPS. You didnt mention your phosphate levels but they should be at 0 as well.Anything higher will promote nuisance algae and stunt SPS growth.

 

To answer your question earlier in the thread...A 24 watt ATI bulb(although lower in power)actually outputs more PAR than your 31 watt coralife.

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