MONTI and 20K LIGHTING?

gregghia

gregghia

Member
I have a beautiful piece of monti under 10K light now for well over 6 months and it was doing well. I changed the lighting from 10K to 20K bluer bulbs. All other corals are doing well but the monti is or has lost alot of its color. Its turning white but its does not look like its dying. Am I killing it or is it loosing color from this spectrum bulb? Please help I don't want to lose this coral!
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
shouldnt be losing color because of the spectrum...you probably shocked it with such a large jump in spectrum but typically the 20k spectrum gives you more color and 10k gives you more growth....but the sudden jump from 10k to 20k is quite a bit of difference...hopefully it will rebound and gain its color back
 
sharkbait9

sharkbait9

Active Member
I have to agree, if you changed k in one shot you prob just shocked it.
I made the same mistakes when i was playing with bulbs. When i settled on the 14k my montis colored up again and really have not slowed down on growth like the 20 k did to them.
 
teen

teen

Active Member
it could just be the drop in PAR. 20ks normally put out less PAR values than 10k.
i dont know how you would acclimate to less intense lighting?
 
hypertek99

hypertek99

Member
Originally Posted by teen
it could just be the drop in PAR. 20ks normally put out less PAR values than 10k.
i dont know how you would acclimate to less intense lighting?
Depends on the bulb you use. Some 20K's have more or just as much par as 10k. My 20K reefoptics is much brighter than my coralvue 12k and also more par.
 
teen

teen

Active Member
for the most part, a 10k bulb will have a higher PAR value than a 20k.
and everybody knows the CV 12k have terrible PAR ratings.
 
gregghia

gregghia

Member
Well to be consistent I have a Current fixture. Of course had 10K Current bulbs and went to 20K Current bulbs. The odd thing all the other corals in the tank look outstanding, I couldn't be happier.
My calcium did drop down to 240. I am in the process of raising to proper level. Don't know if this is a bigger factor then the light or maybe the two in conjunction??
 
sharkbait9

sharkbait9

Active Member
Originally Posted by gregghia
Well to be consistent I have a Current fixture. Of course had 10K Current bulbs and went to 20K Current bulbs. The odd thing all the other corals in the tank look outstanding, I couldn't be happier.
My calcium did drop down to 240. I am in the process of raising to proper level. Don't know if this is a bigger factor then the light or maybe the two in conjunction??
I don't think your k rate dropped your ca levels. The two problems together definitely have an affect on your monti, they are calcium junkies.
Next time you buy bulbs go for 14k nice clean white light that help your coral glow better while still getting a good growth rate.
20 k slows the growth rate down to a crawl and that sux when certain coral are slow growers to begin with
 
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