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Coral Vue Hydros

Light suggestions


Amy

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Not happy with my Ecoxotic Eco Pico LED Fixture. The corals are not happy no matter what I do only the Rock Flower Anemone is. So before I loose the few zoas and paly's I have is there any suggestions as to something different?

 

Tank is 2 gal Pico

 

Coralife makes the MIni Aqualight T5 but have read that its not enough for corals, any thoughts on this?

 

The other suggestion was a Par30 bulb but will that be a lot different than what I currently have?

 

My fixture has: 3 strips each strip is 2 12000k white and 1 453nm Blue

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Your tank has recently been battling a bad bacterial bloom. Are you sure that the problem rests solely with the light? I don't much about the light, I'm just asking. What's going on with your corals?

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Hey Seabass, since getting rid of the problem I have had a nice clear tank with no issues at all. No cloudy water at all nice and crystal clear. So hard to say what exactly was the cause of all that but with only the 1 anemone now, 1 fancy green mushroom and 2 zoa frags I have had no issues with water quality at all.

 

The Rock Flower Anemone is doing so well, beautiful color, love this thing.

 

The Coralife T5 I phoned and asked about they said it really is only for a refuge not really geared for reef and corals. The Par 30 I am still waiting on but might be over kill in such a small tank.

 

So was it to many anemones? Many tell me yes, way to many in such a small system, was it that oyster shell? I think it was also the culprit. So everything is nice and balanced.

 

The only thing I struggle with is this light, my zoas are doing really well but their color is brown. I know the color they should be but they are not. So everything leads to lights.

 

What I am wanting to know is if I replace my center strip with an all blue and have the blue and white on the outside if this will be okay for the corals?

 

Right now it has 6 white and 3 blue and I want to make it 4 white and 5 blue to me this would balance out the color more and maybe the colors would come back in the zoas.

 

What is your thoughts?

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Thanks for that link and reply. You do not think I would be overkill in my 2 gal?

 

I have heard good things about these bulbs, will have to see where here in Canada I can get one from.

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I believe they ship to Canada :)

 

 

One other question, are all par 30 bulbs equal?

 

If not what should I be looking for.

 

 

 

Nope. Not all equal. Besides different colour spectrums and LED's used, many cheap-o eBay ones and the like can overheat easily, as they aren't built using the best materials. I personally would stick with the one jedi posted.

 

Also BoostLED is decent as well ;)

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Thank you :-)



No shipping outside the USA it says on their site.

 

Jedi, would you know or recommend any place in Canada that would have good bulbs?

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I posted it after in an edit in my previous post, but BoostLED says they ship internationally. It appears Coral Compulsion is on vacation right now, but you could always PM them here (they are Sponsors) to see if they can make an exception for you :)

 

I'm guessing it's because they carry corals as well, and don't want to confuse people. I don't see why they couldn't ship a bulb :huh:

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If you cover shipping cost I'd be happy to be the middleman for you if CC can't ship internationally. I ship often anyways so I could send it with my regular PO trip.

 

As far as suggestions, it may be worth looking at a Reefbreeders Nano-Lite or if its in your budget, a Nanobox Tide.

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Amy I'm in Alberta and coral compulsion shipped here. I got my par 30 about 4 months ago and it's great.

 

I knew it!

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Hey Seabass, since getting rid of the problem I have had a nice clear tank with no issues at all. No cloudy water at all nice and crystal clear. So hard to say what exactly was the cause of all that but with only the 1 anemone now, 1 fancy green mushroom and 2 zoa frags I have had no issues with water quality at all.

 

The Rock Flower Anemone is doing so well, beautiful color, love this thing.

 

The Coralife T5 I phoned and asked about they said it really is only for a refuge not really geared for reef and corals. The Par 30 I am still waiting on but might be over kill in such a small tank.

 

So was it to many anemones? Many tell me yes, way to many in such a small system, was it that oyster shell? I think it was also the culprit. So everything is nice and balanced.

 

The only thing I struggle with is this light, my zoas are doing really well but their color is brown. I know the color they should be but they are not. So everything leads to lights.

 

What I am wanting to know is if I replace my center strip with an all blue and have the blue and white on the outside if this will be okay for the corals?

 

Right now it has 6 white and 3 blue and I want to make it 4 white and 5 blue to me this would balance out the color more and maybe the colors would come back in the zoas.

 

What is your thoughts?

 

It definitely isn't the light - that fixture puts out enough light for a tiny 2g tank. Everything in my 2g pico under the EcoPico is colored up nicely - whether it is acans, blastos, rics, zoas/palys, monti digi, chalices, etc. - everything has good color. If you were really concerned about light, why scrap what you already have when you can just put another 2 strips on it? If you utilize the space next to the well that holds the 3 strips, you can fit a total of 5 on the light.

 

This is 3 strips on an EcoPico run for only 8 hrs a day and it has been over the tank for almost 10 months now:

2014-07-11.jpg

Taken on a cell phone and resized using MSPaint so there are no photoshop shenannigans.

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Thanks jservedio for that reply. I really needed to hear that, I like the look of this fixture is so clean and neat.

 

So you have 5 strips on yours?

 

May I ask are all your strips the 2 white and 1 blue?

 

Also are they on full strength or dialed back?

 

Everything is growing very well just no color in the zoas and paly's. Maybe not enough nutrition in the tank for them.

 

Do you feed anything special to your tank? If you can provide me with more that would be great since you are dealing with the same size of tank as I am.

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Thanks jservedio for that reply. I really needed to hear that, I like the look of this fixture is so clean and neat.

 

So you have 5 strips on yours?

 

May I ask are all your strips the 2 white and 1 blue?

 

Also are they on full strength or dialed back?

 

Everything is growing very well just no color in the zoas and paly's. Maybe not enough nutrition in the tank for them.

 

Do you feed anything special to your tank? If you can provide me with more that would be great since you are dealing with the same size of tank as I am.

I have 3 strips on mine - 2 of the 10,000K/453nm (2 whites 1 blue) and 1 of the 453nm strips (3 blue) and that is it. They have been on full strength since day one (I don't own a dimmer). I target feed the LPS every couple of weeks when I remember.

 

I am considering adding one or two more blue only strips to add in a 2nd channel (so I can have actinic only) - but that has nothing to do with the power of the light. 3 EcoPico strips are plenty of light for a 2g pico. No need to spend another $100 on a light when the one you have is more than enough for your tank.

 

Additionally, I use that pico as a holding tank for shipped acros and have kept acros in there (albeit not as colorful as under my Radions - but this tank has tons of phosphates) for up to two months and haven't lost a single one.

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I wish I would have done my lights that way, I have all three strips the same. I would have loved to have the center strip all blue.

 

Do you think if I did that now I would be okay? I know yours is that way.

 

Only problem is if I remove the center strip it might not ever stick to anything again, or is it okay to just add one blue strip to either side of the fixture or will that be to unbalanced?

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I wish I would have done my lights that way, I have all three strips the same. I would have loved to have the center strip all blue.

 

Do you think if I did that now I would be okay? I know yours is that way.

 

Only problem is if I remove the center strip it might not ever stick to anything again, or is it okay to just add one blue strip to either side of the fixture or will that be to unbalanced?

 

Balance doesn't matter since they have no optics and a ton of spread, the light mixes evenly - my strips are set up W/B - W/B - B with blue on the far right just because I couldn't tell which was which when I got it. Don't worry about it re-sticking since they barely stick as it is. The double sided foam-tape is garbage (what do you expect for less than $20) so you will likely need to glue them down anyway. Since I have no top on my tank, the evaporation caused the strips to fall off after 6 months - I just superglued them back on semi-permanently.

 

They are also waterproof, so if they do fall off as long as the connector doesn't get submerged completely it'll be fine. I've had my strips fall in the tank and spend a weekend underwater without any problems.

 

I wish I went with 2 blue strips and 1 white-blue which is why I might add in a coupe additional blues.

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Good to know, about how you would have done it. My strips are solid on there, never have fallen off but my tank is covered as well so maybe that makes the difference.

 

So if I kept those 3 that are on there right now and just added the blue to the end would you add one blue strip or two blue strips to each end?

 

I am thinking if I add two blue strips to each end then I can set that one on a separate timer and have blues on at night for a while but then again this drives up the cost as well.

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So a blue strip is on the way had to order it from dr foster and smith I phoned ecoxotic the guy there said that no one in canada sells them anymore the fellow I bought mine from here went out of business so that's okay I have it coming that's all that matters. He even said by adding blue will be good as I have to much white on in there right now I was concerned that it's young to be on the end of the fixture he said the same as you the spread will be even not to worry so now the wait.

 

Two local reefers here said the par bulbs are overkill for pico tank of this size nothing wrong with the lights I have once the blue is on

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