TFP's Wave Reef

[audiocontrol]

A while back, this tank was totally astounding. But they changed their bulbs to XM 20k's and most of the corals bleached out or died altogether. Here are some recent photos of the tank and some corals that made it and did not.

 

 

 

A little excessive?

 

 

Here is a nice acro, but notice how the GSP on the back wall is nearly dead (been closed for over a month) and the green montipora capricornis has been bleached...

 

 

Finally, here WAS a nice tricolor acropora. green with blue tips. Now I couldn't even tell if it still had polyps on it. I absolutly loved this coral and envied it...

 

[reefinnewb]

That wave tank used to look amazing. I was just down last weekend but was in a hurry and never took the time to look at the tanks.

 

Where are you from audio?

[andre]

That sucks that happenned. What were the previous bulbs?

[proraptor2]

Just goes to show the only good xm bulb is their 10K....That green acro was awesome!

[Headless_donkey]

The exact same thing happened to me. I went from a coralife 20K to an XM20k and my candy cane has still not recovered. My green slimer even turned bright red. I went on the reccomendation of my LFS which is normally very good, but I will be making my own lighting decision from now on. I hope you can recover. I would suggest yanking those bulbs and trying something you trust.

[crrichey]

I'm confused, what exactly is wrong with the bulb?

[proraptor2]

Im not really sure whats wrong with the bulb other than the crappy PAR rating...

[ODOG]

I haven't used XM 10k's, but do my shopping at TFP as it's my LFS. Last January I bought a 15k HQI bulb to replace my 14K EVC. My tank showed side effects right away and within a week the bulb was changing color every 10 seconds blue/white/yello, blue/white/yellow. So I took it back and exchanged it for the 20k....This one took about 2 months to start the color changing, but it did and all my SPS withered away. The funny thing is these bulbs were like $20 more than the ones I was using. You get what you pay for I guess, lol. IN my case I got royally ******. It's ashame about that tank though it was the nicest display they have thre IMO. The zoas in that tank were incredible too, very large polyps and they hade encrusting gorgonian and gsp totally over the back glass.

[scarf_ace1981]

xm 20k is garbage. 10k xm has the best RAR. that's horrible what happened

[crrichey]

The PAR output is half of what the 10K is, however it is higher than the 15K. The 20K is around 55 PPFD.

[mvite]

I never noticed that tank before---maybe the rudeness from the workers distracted me!

 

TFP is a bunch of rude a-holes. Except for the couple hot chicks in the Fish Department and one nice girl at the registers.

 

I just was finalizing a trade that included a 20K XM bulb for my zoa tank---maybe I shouldn't?

[reefinnewb]

wow mvite i have never had any rudeness problems with anyone before. I get a little rude when they follow me like a puppy around the store. I have had nothing but great experiences from them. And your right the fish chicks are cute.

[mvite]

Yo all! Happy Holidays!

 

I just wanted to pass on a story.

 

First off, I just stopped by TFP and got great service! I picked up all kindsa pet goodies.

 

I passed on the story of this thread to the guy who helped me get these AWESOME BLUE ACANTHASTREA and he looked at me like I was crazy. I asked if their WAVE tank had recovered since the lighting change incident. He said he never heard that there were ANY problems with that tank, let alone ones where there were losses. Hmmmph?????? He admittedly wasn't a mananger or anything but he said that he knows the manager who cares for that tank and there haven't been any problems to his knowledge over the past year--at least.

 

I glanced at the tank from the registers--but couldn't tell from there. I was in a hurry as I live in Pittsburgh and work in Philly---it was a detour and I wanted dinner!!!!

[reefinnewb]

Glad to hear you got great service and gave them another chance. Thats weird about the tank and the guy not knowing. I'm probably running down there sometime next week and ill take my camera and get a good new pic of it. Let everyone know the status.

[ODOG]

I go about every week. I can tell you it looks like the tank is recovering, but it is still noticeable that there was some type of problem. The briareum that was covering the back wall still looks as if it is peeling away from the wall. A few of the SPS still are bleached/dead. The zoas though that were very full look pretty good again.

[mattyice]

that could explain the bleaching of most of the LR in my 90G bowfront, im switching them out to 14,000K after Christmas, the thing is though that my branching hammer has opened up to twice its normal size since i put in those bulbs and no other corals are effected, they are just bleaching the rock

[reefinnewb]

What size tank is that? I never thought to ask. The giant display one is nice also and it is what i said GIANT!!

[ODOG]

Reef, I'm guessing the wavy one is about 75. The giant one is 700.

 

Matty, I doubt that is why your liverock is bleaching. Check your calcium and alk. I think a 20k bulb would actually promote coralline growth as i find mine always does better in darker areas. What kind of bulb did you have before the XM 20k? Is it 250 watt. I don't XM has the same problem in the other watt bulbs. The 250 seems to be the worst with 15k being a little worse than the 20k

[mattyice]

the bulbs are 175W XM 20K's i got rid of them though as i upgrade the 90G bowfront to a 125 and i went with 3 hamilton 175W 14K bulbs