Lighting

[imsqueak]

I know there is an enormous amount of info from Sanjay and others but as folks have mentioned in many of the lighting threads - you can grow great corals with bulbs that you would throw away after seeing his data. Over time I've come to think that Charles, Art and Dave are just some in our club that do really well with growth, not just survival. What are you guys running? What are the rest of us running? Me, I have Sunlight balasts (M57 is the general term I think) 250s on the outside, 400s in the middle. I've done some switching between 10k and 14k hamiltons. I dont see a heck of a lot of difference in growth but that could be contributed to other factors. So, to try to cross off one factor, I'd like to know what you are running and how you feel your growth rate is. Tank depth and light height would also be helpful for all to consider.

TIA

[cee]

I could go on and on about lighting, but don't have time right now. So, I'll just be brief and say I presently run 3 400 W XM 20k's, on 6 hour cycles, staggered by 2 hours each. I just started a "little experiment" to reduce lighting cycles to see what it does for color. Growth has never been an issue for me, if anything, I'd like to slow it down but not sacrifice color in the process.

Dave

[easttn]

I guess Dave and I are almost on the same page. I run 20K Radium, always have for the most part. My lighting cycle is down to 5 hours. Bulbs are about 7 months old and will be replaced next week. I have installed the knock off druggie reflectors Art found and it really lightened my colors, hence the time reduction, but I really do like the dispersion of light . I built all my own ballast using the M135 coil/core transformers, Hellolights P/N - Item Code: 61-40450. These are the pulse start types which overdrive the bulb. If you need heat sinks to do your own just lmk. All 3 bulbs are about 10" from the waterline and I have a 24" depth.

FWIW, I think consistency of clean water is much more important than lighting. I do not have sand anymore or any filters. Well almost, on Friday nights I use a Mag12 to blast the entire tank to suspend any detritus and get it out of the tank. Yep, I have no life in Jonesborough TN. Anyway, I hang a bag on the return line to the sump to catch all the crap, after a couple hours I remove the bag. I really try to do a 35g water change every week, total system is about 320g.

My ozone generator died two weeks ago, I can really tell that its missing, colors are off. There is something to high ORP that causes tangible coloration changes. Could be water clarity or just mega O2 in the water, dunno. RedSea was very cool, replacement on the way no questions asked.

Hope I did not add more confusion.

Charles

[reefstyle]

I have always had great growth when I was dosing calcium on reg. basis. My lights ran about 8 hrs total 6 hrs on mhs and 1 hr before the mhs plus stayed on 1hr after the mhs. I keep my calcium around 420-440 (I will be using a calcium reactor now vs dosing) water changes every week 15-20% and like charles I used a bag to grab all the crap. From who I have spoke to and read over the yrs the right calcium level with hight amount of light causes heavy growth. I guess great water conditions are my most important with the light and calcium level. Charles plus Dave have great looking tanks and a lot of knowledge on systems. I will be doing the ozone thing soon.Thanks guys for all the great replys. I read everone just to see what page you guys are on and as always a great one. dennis:D

[seased]

when you mention a bag to collect the junk - what type of bag are you referring to? Where do you buy them?

[phudeb]

Dave do you need any other lighting to supplement the XM 20K's? I'm due for new bulbs and was debating on which one. I do have VHO actinics for supplement.

[RCS]

when you mention a bag to collect the junk - what type of bag are you referring to?

I normally use the bags for filtration media to collect junk. They tie right on and are reusable.

[reefstyle]

filter bags. They attach to your sump on the drain section.They have them at championlighting.com. dennis

[imsqueak]

filter socks, micron bags, such as this: marine depot (http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=EA1351)

I believe I over use them but I still have crud coming out of my rocks and I probably over feed my fish. I have 4 that I switch out. 1st I use with a vaccum line (1.5" pool vaccum hose arh, arh, arh) just before water changes when I blow all my rocks off with a power head. 2nd I use on the over flows' discharge lines during the cleaning. Those two are spent by the end of the water change. 3rd goes on the overflows for 2 days and 4th goes on the overflows for next 2-4 days (until water is flowing over them vs thru them). Bad thing is, I have hardly any pod population - demonstrated by a zero catch ratio in over 2-3 months in the socks.

[cee]

M59 ballasts here in a junction box (I think the total cost was less than $60 each). Metal halide is my only form of lighting. Lights about 10" off water surface and tank is 18" deep. Reflectors are modified spider reflectors with parabolic end caps. Again, a Home Depot light tube allowed me to make this mod. No filter bags (don't believe in mechanical filtration except for strainers on intakes), but I do siphon deitritus out of the sump and crushed coral substrate every other week with my 10% water change. 3 Ocean Runner needle wheel impeller recirculating skimmer design of my own design, 30" tall w/ 6" reaction chamber running 50 mg/hr of ozone on one of the air intakes.

BTW, I like to DIY equipment, because that's where I get the greatest satisfaction. Plus, it frees up more cash for livestock, which I can't build. About the only commercial products I use are bulbs, pumps, and my MRC Ca reactor (which I upgraded to 3 chambers). Oh, and my Sea Swirls and SQWD, but they didn't cost me any extra :-)

Dave

[imsqueak]

OK, lets say that I think I'm running too long of a light cycle and bleaching (12-13 hrs). How do you know if it's too long or not enough? For me, 12-13 hrs with 2 half hour breaks in the cycle seems obviously on the long side but what about others that might not have good results with 10? (which is what I used to run) How do you know if you should change to 8 or 12 hrs? And, how long do you wait before you decide that you went the wrong way? And in my case how should I decrease it? 0.5 or 1 hr per week, 2 weeks, month?

I could make a relative guess of 1 hr/week from what I've read on RC but I'm not skeered to ask newbie questions.... I am still a newbie compared to most members in the club.

[easttn]

I run 4.5 hours a day, just changed bulbs today. May back it down to 3.5. The replacement Red Sea ozonizeer also arrived and my ORP is down to 127, heading back to 380-400 beforethe w/e.

[cee]

127? No way that can be right, Charles. Did you just hook up the ORP probe, 'cause it can take up to 1 day to stabilize?

Dave

[easttn]

Probably true, I had just cleaned the probe about two hours before, this morning its at 197. Low but rising.