My bulbs were the problem

[maxalmon]

Some of you may have read my previous about "giving up on sps color" I just moved all my SPS colonies over to my new frag tank and what an amazing change in color. I replaced the frag tank bulbs with Phoenix 250w. I was actually just moving the sps out of the main tank to kinda get rid of them and when I placed them in the frag tank, it was incredible, my tri-color acro was almost glowing green, purple, blues, green monti was actually green......My camera is reaaly crappy and so I'll try and capture the real colors...These pics are really bad, but colors are wild....

 

[stanlalee]

so are you saying the phoenix bulbs helped you see the colors or they made the corals color up? that would suck if they were colorful the whole time and you just couldn't see it with your bulbs. what kind of bulbs were on the main tank?

 

[maxalmon]

45minutes ago they look like brown, generic sps, moved them over tot he new frag tank that has the new bulbs the color change is dramatic..... I'll be posting before and afters, 10 minutes apart....Amazing

 

[maxalmon]

Notice the pale green and aqua acro in top right corner, it looked brown with just hints of aqua, now it glows... My huge multi color acro has pinks, green, blues, it looks like a rainbow exploded...

 

[maxalmon]

last photo is the same acro that's in the top right of the 1st photo, huge diff

 

[maxalmon]

Originally Posted by Stanlalee
so are you saying the phoenix bulbs helped you see the colors or they made the corals color up? that would suck if they were colorful the whole time and you just couldn't see it with your bulbs. what kind of bulbs were on the main tank?
I hate to say this, but they were hamiltons, I never thought the bulbs would make that much of a difference.....

 

[stanlalee]

also now that they are in the frag tank are you looking at them from above now where before you were looking from the front? my SPS look very different and more colorful from a top view. If the frag tank is low that could be as much of it as the bulbs. I have a acropora valida(sp?) that has almost no green from the front view except at the base but from a top view looks almost completely green.

 

[maxalmon]

Nope....I tried everything, looking from above, below, sideways, up high, down low and my corals never looked this good, if you'll notice the pics are taken pretty much at eye level. One time I did a lookdown photo session with old tank and corals looked blah, now when they are in the frag tank they look electric........I gota get a better camera.........
.
Heres one for you, the tricolor acro, I have 2 huge colonies, one is in my frag tank and looks vibrant no matter what angle you look at it, the other tricolor acro is in the old tank and just looks brown and blah, if I take that acro and move it over to the new frag tank, it comes alive....I'm not making this up...

 

[murph145]

what bulbs did u have b4?>

 

[tx reef]

The color temperature of the bulbs is what is making your corals look better. Corals do not color up in 45 minutes.
Some sps need blue light and actinics to show their color. Before I buy sps, I pull it out of the tank and hold it under a room light bulb. If it still shows good color, I will buy it.

 

[efishnsea]

Originally Posted by TX Reef
The color temperature of the bulbs is what is making your corals look better. Corals do not color up in 45 minutes.
Some sps need blue light and actinics to show their color. Before I buy sps, I pull it out of the tank and hold it under a room light bulb. If it still shows good color, I will buy it.

It can take up to 5mths or so for an acro to acclimate, from my experience...

 

[teen]

it can take a week, it can take a month, it can take a year, or it can never happen.
i doubt the colors chnaged, more like the bulbs brought out the color. is the frag tank plumbed with the tank the frags were in before?

 

[maxalmon]

The whole point of this post was to show how much a difference the bulb makes in bringing out color, I knew it could be dramatic, but I never once thought that the bulb could bring out that much color, I wasn't trying to have people think that they colored up, that would be impossible in 10 minutes........Prior bulbs were hamiltons 14ks, now phoenix 14k's