My lighting

[monsinour]

I have always thought that my lighting was sub par but i needed "proof." Well, today I got my proof. I ordered some coral from an online store and when comparing the pictures, it certainly doesnt look like the same piece of coral. I have no idea what kind of lights the store uses, or what kind of camera, but here is their picture of the ricordea:

And here is the same piece in my tank.

Notice how the colors just arent anywhere near the same? So now I need to figure out what to do with my lights. I have a WavePoint 24" T5 HO 4-Lamp Aquarium Retrofit Kit with two 24 Watt Sun Wave (12K) Lamps and two 24 Watt Blue Wave (460nm Super Actinic) T5 HO Fluorescent Lamps. I have been thinking about replacing one of the 460s with a 420. But I have no idea what that will do. I have also thought about replacing one of the 12k with a 20k but again, I have no idea what that will do. I know I have a problem, but I am unsure about what to do to solve it. I was looking at getting good bulbs too, stuff like geismann or ati bulbs. Any suggestions or advice is welcome.

 

[jstdv8]

why don't you start by asking the supplier what lights they had thier coral under.
You also have to take into consideration that picture was probbaly shot in RAW format on an expensive camera and then the white ballance and stuff was adjsuted until it was as pretty as they could make it.
Other things to consider:
1.) corals look differnt in lesser or more light. My duncans are farilt tan with a green center up where i have them in my tank, but if a turbo snails happens by and knocks them down to the sand (about 12" differnece) They become a really pretty purple
2.) the coral could have lost a little of its color in shipping, sometimes it takes a few weeks for them to color up
That being said, you probably aren't getting a great variety of color out of a 4 bulb fixture unless you've got a different bulb in each one.

 

[acrylic51]

I agree I would ask what lighting your supplier runs.

 

[monsinour]

would the camera and photoshop really change the color from blue to a yellow/green? I mean, i know it can be done and I have done it before. But would a business really want to do that to "insult" their customers? I have an inclination that the lights made the difference as I have seen the difference between my lights and my LFS. That leather coral i got was blue at the LFS and white in my tank. I would bet that they had MH instead of T5HO lights. What I am asking is what can I do with the equipment i have. If i change out 1 460 for a 420, where does the color shift to, blue or yellow or white or red or? If I change out a 12k for a 20k, where does the color shift to, blue or yellow or white or red or? Would it be better to change both 460s for 420s? would it be better to change both 12ks for 20ks? the lights are in the fixture as follows
front of tank
460
12k
460
12k
back of tank
The middle of the fixture is in the middle of the tank from front to back as well as left to right. the fixture is 24" and the tank is 30" wide. More input plox!

 

[jstdv8]

Mino,
I'm not saying they changed the pic at all, but they could certainly change it a bit when they fix the color and that could impact a bit of the coral color.
You are right, its probably the lights.
And since you only have 4 lights to work with I would absolutley not put any of the same two standard lights in the same fixture unless I had no choice.
ATI and Geismann have such a selection that put out awesome Par i would lean that way if it were me.
Here's what grim Reefer the T-5 guru is reccomending for maximum PAr and pop from a 4 light fixture.
2 ATI Blue Plus 1 Aquablue and 1 ATI Purple Plus

 

[spanko]

There is also a big difference of how the coral look when the picture is taken top down, as in the seller picture, or from straight on like yours.

 

[monsinour]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///forum/thread/383308/my-lighting#post_3351548
Mino,
I'm not saying they changed the pic at all, but they could certainly change it a bit when they fix the color and that could impact a bit of the coral color.
You are right, its probably the lights.
And since you only have 4 lights to work with I would absolutley not put any of the same two standard lights in the same fixture unless I had no choice.
ATI and Geismann have such a selection that put out awesome Par i would lean that way if it were me.
Here's what grim Reefer the T-5 guru is reccomending for maximum PAr and pop from a 4 light fixture.
2 ATI Blue Plus 1 Aquablue and 1 ATI Purple Plus
so would those lights go:
ATI Blue Plus $18.95
ATI Purple Plus $19.95
ATI Blue Plus $18.95
ATI Aquablue $19.95
Or some other configuration? Gotta see how much 4 bulbs are as it might be too much to get right now. Total of $86.75 with shipping. Then again, my wife is the awesome shopper and will probably find it cheaper elsewhere. That is for the new bulbs. Old bulbs drop about $16 from the price.
edit: ok, what is the difference between the old bulbs and the new bulbs from ATI. The older bulbs are way way cheaper and might be doable this month. Need to know if it is worth it to wait and spend the extra. Like is the difference between a stick shift and an automatic or is the difference like between scarlet and red.

 

[jstdv8]

i think it goes
Blue+
purple plus
aquablue
blue +
so you use your blue plus where your actinics were (I think)
Maybe your configuration is right if your actinics are in the 1 and 3 slots

 

[jstdv8]

Quote:
Originally Posted by spanko http:///forum/thread/383308/my-lighting#post_3351553
There is also a big difference of how the coral look when the picture is taken top down, as in the seller picture, or from straight on like yours.
good point spanko!
mino take a look at that thing up by the surface without looking through the glass!

 

[monsinour]

Here it is from the top, not through the glass cover, through ~21" of water.

 

[jstdv8]

not as different as i would have thought considering clams go from blue to purple and stuff.
sure has alot of yellow in it compared to no yellow in the picture.

 

[monsinour]

So, its $16 cheaper for the old bulbs, anyone know the difference between new and old design?
I need some kind of "yea, do it" or "its worth it and you wont regret it" as far as spending the $87 for new lights. I am having a hard time rationalizing the $87 for light bulbs into a fixture that came with lightbulbs that I spent $150 on.
Oh yea, my wife needs more reasurance than I do as she controls the spending on the tank.
the more and more I think about this, the more and more I am thinking I should have gone with MH instead of T5HO. Too late now.

 

[jstdv8]

MH bulbs arent cheap eaither for the good ones and you only get one color at a time.
the new bulbs are only 20 bucks, i don't know abything about the old ones.
But yeah, x4 is 80 bucks plus shipping.

 

[monsinour]

SO I guess that is the difference between MH and T5s. Just got word from the online store, this is what they said they had for lighting:
"I am using 250w radium bulbs (20,000k) in lumen brite reflectors."
And I would bet anything that is why the ricordea is blue in their picture and yellow in ours. Anyone want to agree with me? Still up in the air about replacement bulbs as of now. Wife suggested to wait until we need to replace our t5HO bulbs in september when they have been in use for 12 months.

 

[jstdv8]

I woudnt be surprised if that coral changes color a bit and colors back up towards what you paid for.
That being said, you will get better coloring with differnet bulbs.
The ones Grim reefer suggests that I posted for you will give you somethinga round a 15k according to him.

 

[monsinour]

Was doing some googling and found this
http://reefbuilders.com/2009/03/25/ati-aqua-science-t5-lighting-bulbs/
Its an old comparison of ATI vs Geismann lights. In the comments it states that one of the testers worked for or was related to someone at geismann. But still, it seemed like a fair comparison. Both sets of lights were on the same tank and had the same coral growing in it. The results showed better growth in coral under geismann but a more blue color under ati. Since my wife is all about the blue, ati still seems like the choice to me, but i would like some other input. Comments?

 

[jstdv8]

hard to say, some people mix and match thier bulbs with geismann and ATI and now I think phillips or one of the big name regualr light manufactureres has come up with some good bulbs for our tanks.
its most important that they stay alive and that you get the color you are looking fro imo.
Unless you are growing coral for resale or soemthing its more about the color you like than it is about the crowth of the coral as long as both are healthy.
I get pretty good growth out of alot of corals with my current USA bulbs 3x10k and 3x actinic, but I don't get the color i want so i'm switching them out.

 

[monsinour]

Wife and I talked about growing coral for sale and if/when we do, it will be under hailides and not primarily T5s. Since ATI put more blue out there, I think it would be a safe bet to get them. Now the question becomes, how long will the wave points I have last?

 

[jstdv8]

hard part is that thye will continue to actually operate for years and years. its not like a regualr light bulb where we wait for them to actually go out before we replace. We repalce because thy start losing the ability to put out proper illumination.
So about once a year to year and a half is a good rule it seems

 

[monsinour]

I went ahead and ordered the ATI lights from a LFS that put out one heck of a deal on them. I am getting the $19 bulbs for $16 and the $20 bulbs for $17. Its almost like buy 3 get one free. The bulbs should be in next week and I can make the long drive out to get them. I think we will also make a visit to my father-in-law while we are out there since its close to the LFS. I might not be saving all that much considering the gas we will use to go and get them, but this way I get to see a LFS that I normally wouldnt have seen. I will be posting before and after shots to get a good comparison of the tank.
As far as swapping out the bulbs. What is the suggestions? replace the "white" bulbs first or start with the antinics?