Please need advice!

ladylinn

ladylinn

Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 288
Not sure of right lighting

[hr]
Ok, so I have my tank for almost 4yrs and now im starting to do simple a reef. I have a 144 oceanic half circle. Aside from the fish i have a couple of mushrooms, star polyps, xenias and tongue coral. My problem is I have 2-36watt t5, powerglo and marine-glow. Along with that is also a 30w marine glo-a36w power glo hood light. Im not sure what should be used for day and nite. Also for some reason the in anywhich combination, the tank doesnt look vibrant. It looks washed out. Whats wrong?
Also I just put more live rock along with new t5 and I have what I think is high phosphate cause some rocks are turnin brown. What can cause this.. Thanxs
 
ladylinn

ladylinn

Member
So here is a shot of my tank. Can someone please tell me whats missing? and or lightin...also its been 2weeks since I got muchrooms ans star polyp and zoos. They r all open except star polyps???
 
garick

garick

Member
You said you just started the tank?
How long has this tank been running as a reef? how is this rock you added cycled or uncycled?
You say that's a 144 gallon tank? what is its dimensions? t5's are not really enough to penetrate a deep tank to suit certain corals, hence the need for metal halide fixtures/bulbs.
Also I don't see any powerheads to move your water around? Do you have good water flow? waterflow is very important in a reef tank. VERY.
Brown could be diatoms if your tank is going through its cycle process. If your coraline is turning brownit could be phosphates, low alk and CA but first I think the pro's can help better knowing a few things.
How long has this tank been up as a reef.
How big is this tank,
lighting,
water movement
skimmer?
etc..
 
ladylinn

ladylinn

Member
Hi, my tank has been set up for 4years with fish only. All info I wrote before. Its a semi-circle so the powerheads are in the corners that you cant see. Anyway the brown seems to be fading cause I cut down on lightin time but because Im new at startin a reef Im unsure of how long they should b on . Thanxs
 
coralreefer

coralreefer

Active Member
do you have actinic bulbs? those make all of the colors more vibrant. also +1 on the flow. on my first reef I made the mistake of slacking off on buying good powerheads: result, a lot of slime and diatoms
 
ladylinn

ladylinn

Member
yes I do have blue actinic lights. its just i think it just doent give a nice color to tank I getting better viewing and nice color when I use a flashlight!
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
I believe that you light fixture is not of the intensity you want to get to. More a freshwater fish type fixture with Th HO bulbs rather than the T5 VHO's used in reef keeping. (also if you powerglows are 30 watt bulbs, but no matter).
The lighting configuration you have is okay for a fish only, or a few low light requiring coral but not much else than that. If you are going to get into some more higher end coral I would suggest a lighting upgrade here. If you are not then perhaps there are some other bulb combination's that may give you some more vibrancy.
The turning brown thing is most likely diatoms. They feed off of silicates that come in with rock and sand, and you may have introduced some with the new rocks. However if you have a reading of phosphate on a test kit then yes you do have a concern there also.
 
ladylinn

ladylinn

Member
thanxs. I will not be doin high end corals.. I only have a tongur coralsome muchrooms polyps..so in combination with the t-5, what would u recommend
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Yeah only she can do that, the picture is so big it causes the scroll bar at the bottom. She needs to delete that picture and put up a smaller one or none at all.
ladylinn, so I am guessing you have a couple of fixtures on the top of the tank correct? The tank is like 57" long correct? I think the bulbs you have are 36" correct? Do you want to spend a few bucks on a new fixture or just utilize what you have and try for some different bulb combos?
 
bulldog123

bulldog123

Member
Trying to read this will make a man go insane.
I have 2 250mh, 2 48" t-5s, and 2 24" t-5 retro and dont care for the amount of lighting.
 
ladylinn

ladylinn

Member
yep I just got the t-5.. So along with the hood fixtures power glo, marine glo nothing looks attractive. did I make a mistake with the t-5 or what can I add
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
I would try to replace the bulbs in the T5 fixture.
1 - Giesemann T5 Lamps 11,000k
1 - Giesemann T5 Lamp actinic plus at 450 nm
Bulbs are about $20.00 each.
I believe these bulbs will be a direct replacement in your fixture but make sure with your supplier before purchasing them.
 
garick

garick

Member
The biggest issue with using actinics or anything over like 12k in color range is that you get an immense amount of blue. Blue will help bring out a corals health but for humans the visual look doesn't appeal to everyone. 10k's will be white, 6500k's will be really white. Try throwing in some 10k's or some 6500's to bring out the "Balanced" coloration.
Also with the depth of your tank, you need strong lighting to really penetrate the water to reach everything and if you are adding in more live rock and some corals your tank may throw a tempt cycle. Which will cause diatoms/algae to appear that did not before (along with your lighting being stronger now which will make it grow as well).
Test your water and post your stats. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, Gravity, alk, ca. So we can better understand where your system is at.
 
small triggers

small triggers

Active Member
you say high end corals???? are you meaning LPS, SPS???
if so , not only will you need a different light spectrum but you will need stronger lights,,,(more PAR or easier to figure out more Watts) somewhere in the 4+ watts per gallon for some of the acros and other 'high end' sps....
the tank is 144,, gallons im assuming? how deep is it? being a half circle you may want to get 2 seperate fixtures to cover enough of the tank...
Good Luck!!!
 
jam1e

jam1e

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bulldog123
http:///forum/post/3209759
How do you shrink the thread? I just got this same tank but its to much effort to read the entire thread.

hold down the "ctrl" button and scroll your mouse wheel down.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top