Steve Wright's SPS takeover

Purples generally seem to like lower level light IME. Brown out can be from two things not enough like or from too much lower Kelvin temperature light. I read an article where a coral fragger said that Geisemann 11000K bulbs caused brown out in his corals. You may have some experimenting to get it figured out.

Hope you are right on the purple coming out.

 

Thanks John

Yes I have also read accounts that when light acclimatisation for example
corals placed in lower light than they had be accustomed to, often responded by browning out, and then once adjusted to the conditions or raised in relation to light , colored up again

I genuinely believe that the aqua- japan canopy with triple lamp reflector and who knows what ballasts, even with Geisseman lamps, was just not providing anything like the light that I assumed it was doing

I don't think its a T5 issue in general
I do think that its an issue with the equipment I had

for interest sake

TEK 6 lamp canopy is available but costs 9,000 rmb or more- without any lamps
AquaJapan 6 lamp canopy with 6 x Aquajapan T5s cost me 700 rmb
OK I invested 300 rmb x 6 for the Geisseman lamps for a total of 2500
which was a major saving obviously and for my softy set up, I foresee no good reason to change from this economical brand

Steve

 

I agree on a softie/LPS tank that fixture would be sufficient. And quite economical.

 

Thank you John

update





here are images taken last Sunday of my 3 brown out SPS corals
I put these up so I can monitor process under the MH lighting

Steve

 

Ahh the brown out topic is exactly what I was looking for. I have a purple monti that has always been more brown than purple in my Red Sea 130D system. I moved it about a week ago into another 30 I had set up about 8 weeks ago with a New T5 Current Nova Extreme 6 bulb 108 watt unit. I am noticing that the growth on the edges seems to have more of a purple hue to them. I am very interested in following this to see your findings. Also not significant enough growth for me to show everyone the differences yet.

Keep us posted Steve

 

Steve,

I am curious as to how long the above pictured acropora have been in the tank?
Get them all at the same time or at different times?

I remember you posted about 7 months or so back that it's not uncommon for the acropora you get locally to have some color loss, did these pieces?

Just very curious, your lighting was more than sufficient, prior to the MH change.

Other things notable is the use of Algaefix? And carbon dosing? But with sufficient replacement of nutrition.

The corals are obviously growing and have PE, just color loss, very interesting.

 

Thank you Chris
please share your findings on how your corals progress under the new lighting
I will certain keep tracks of these 3 and the others.

Hi Cheryl

7 or 8 months for at least 2 of them around 6 months for the other one
(I only know this because some 1st images of the corals on Photobucket appear before the Children decorating tree images I took)



This one arrived mostly brown but with slight purple tips
those tips are still slightly purple, but difficult to capture on image
growth has been reasonable, it looks larger now, but its not colored up at all despite trying several different locations




This one was also with me before Dec 2010
it started with very nice bright purple tips and dark purple stems the stems faded to brown 1st, at which stage I followed Dingo's coral of the month feature which stated if the base is browning but tips are purple, then it could be inadequate flow getting to the stems of the coral
thus I introduced another wave maker, angled slightly downwards from 18 inches away in order to increase flow to this coral
its taken a few months but basically even tips went brown eventually



the last one, arrived after Christmas with purple tips and brown base ( I got it before the previous one had started to brown out, hence at that time was unaware that I would have an issue with this one
basically this one just faded to brown over the tips during last few months

it could be Algae fix marine related, but not dosed any of that for at least 6 weeks, and to be honest those corals started fading long before I added my 1st dose
in the same time period other SPS corals have done really well for me

again it could be Carbon dosing, but I do feed, add nutrients very regular, and have a range of food stuffs, discussed with Curtis, so I do not believe I am starving the corals with the 2.0 mils of Vodka I add for aesthetic reasons each day


Im beginning to feel even more certain light was my issue
I cannot capture the changes seen in the 1st week very well on my camera
but I can see purple luminescence ( did they have a hit with wake me up inside?) on the tips of 2 of these 3 corals - I messed with the blue balance in order to try and highlight the areas I am seeing this potential now



I am at present running the MH for only 5 hours per day
I am following the advice I saw written by Simon Garret (Reef Eden)
in that I am keeping a close eye on my LPS corals, who will shrink in reaction to intense lighting in order to protect themselves (SPS cannot do that, which is why its important to light acclimatise with SPS corals)

my Acans are expanding far more than they ever did under the MH lighting
but after 5 hours they start to contract, and this week that has been my signal to switch of the MH





Steve

 

Ah, see I haven't been reading enough... What can I say, it's finally nice out, been out enjoying the weather

Really, IME, the color is 3 things, bright light, lots of food and lots of nutrient export.
Basically, feeding 4-5 times per day or more, but also, dosing a mix of carbon sources, vodka and vinegar, but also, silica. Basically, I think of silica being like a carbon source, but instead of shifting the nutrients to bacteria, is shifting it to diatoms and them zooplankton. So, just a different export path, that enhances the food web and at the same time, driving nutrient levels down.

Many corals will eat bacteria, so, the carbon dosing is good for that, but not all and a mixed diet is better IMO. Then the feedings, while for the fish, will also feed the corals, lots of cyclop-eez and other small meaty foods.

Also, our tanks are plagued by metals, which other than being toxic, bind to many color pigments, especially reds and blues and deactivate them. Extra feeding helps introduce organics, which bind to the metals and lock them up, so they are not biologically available. Also, the organics are easily exported, so, they can be used to take the metals with them.

Here is a milli shortly after I first added my Anthias, and started feeding 3 times per day and dosing vinegar and silica. A month or so latter, I added vinegar into the mix and increased feedings. By the second pic, 5 times per day +. Also, notice, it's not just the color difference, the tissue is thicker and healthier. Corals can't build tissue from light, but they can derive up to 35% (bleached corals over 100%) of their energy from food and regulate zoox density if needed.

3/4/11



7/10/11


Not just lighter though, bright pigments and thick tissue

 

It's nice to have a bell-weather coral that says, "Hey, I've had enough light". I have had corals brown out on me for up to 2 or 3 months before while similar species stay just fine. I honestly don't know the reason for it but they always return for me.

M2434, what form of Silica do you use?

 

Sodium silicate:
Sodium Silicate 1 Gallon - Sodium Silicate by The Chemistry Store.com Inc

I calculate at my current rate (1.5 ml/week) this should last about 48.5 years. The key is to test and make sure you keep your system under about 2ppm, usually I keep it more like 1-1.5ish. Higher than that, you can start seeing diatoms. However, it's used so fast, if I dose Monday to bring it up to say 1 ppm, it will be undetectable again by wed/thur.
Just be careful, it has a much higher pH than kalk.

Edit: Also by the way, it helps with sponges. I have some sort of sponge that just formed in the last few months, in the back of my rocks. It's tough to see, but appears to have more total volume than a softball. Actually, there was an article in coral a few months ago, where the author suggested that the reason corals don't grow well in newly established tanks may be because there are insufficient sponges. Sponges shed cells at an extremely rapid rate and provide another food source.

I can think of a lot of reasons corals wouldn't grow well in a newly established tank, so, I'm not sure I buy that, but I do believe sponges could be another food source. Also, they help filter the water and are just are pretty cool