Jscwerve
10/10/2016, 06:44 PM
Not really a question, but more of an observation that I had recently.
For almost a year now I have had only two light fixtures. Cheapo Chinese black box LEDs like MarsAqua or equivalent. My tank is wide and I knew it could use some more oomph, but I didn't really worry about it for going on a year now. Corals seemed happy and lower light requiring creatures get set in the middle where it wasn't very lit up (sun coral, elegance, etc).
I added another light this last weekend finally.
Just another cheapo, but I've since upgraded all the lights to ramping, or at least built in timers in the last year. The result I'm getting so far is phenomenal. I've never seen my elegance open so far, it's the size of a dinner plate. I have a hammer that was in the sort of dim area that I've also never seen open so big and I'm going to have to move now. I'm going to have to make a bigger place for my elegance because it has now spread out to the size of a dinner plate or so and is hitting the glass. Even the xenia in my tank, that for some strange reason almost never "pulsed" in months and months, has started pulsing.
I'm only running the lights at the bare minimum. The timer one cannot be set lower (I think these don't dim below 30%), and the others are set to 25% blue and 10% white. Tank is brighter than ever before. I wish there were a way I could have acclimated them with lower light intensity, but like I said, they are cheapo lights. I've lowered the hours per day quite a bit and will lengthen it a few more minutes at a time.
So, there's a lesson learned, light is good. I just wanted to share. The lesson being learned could also very well be that everything is opening up too much because for some strange reason it's stressed and I'm going to kill several pieces. I do know that is a possibility as well. Too soon to know. I will update if something like that happens.
Hammer that never really opened. Got it for free from a reefer that was moving.
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv228/jscwerve/20161010_182840_zpsxjnahylt.jpg
Elegance that is now spread out so much its laying against the glass.
The picture doesn't do it justice, it's about 10" across.
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv228/jscwerve/20161010_182826_zpsmtpzttij.jpg
And the best I could do at a whole tank shot. Now with three lights.
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv228/jscwerve/20161008_185410_zpswxeys111.jpg
For almost a year now I have had only two light fixtures. Cheapo Chinese black box LEDs like MarsAqua or equivalent. My tank is wide and I knew it could use some more oomph, but I didn't really worry about it for going on a year now. Corals seemed happy and lower light requiring creatures get set in the middle where it wasn't very lit up (sun coral, elegance, etc).
I added another light this last weekend finally.
Just another cheapo, but I've since upgraded all the lights to ramping, or at least built in timers in the last year. The result I'm getting so far is phenomenal. I've never seen my elegance open so far, it's the size of a dinner plate. I have a hammer that was in the sort of dim area that I've also never seen open so big and I'm going to have to move now. I'm going to have to make a bigger place for my elegance because it has now spread out to the size of a dinner plate or so and is hitting the glass. Even the xenia in my tank, that for some strange reason almost never "pulsed" in months and months, has started pulsing.
I'm only running the lights at the bare minimum. The timer one cannot be set lower (I think these don't dim below 30%), and the others are set to 25% blue and 10% white. Tank is brighter than ever before. I wish there were a way I could have acclimated them with lower light intensity, but like I said, they are cheapo lights. I've lowered the hours per day quite a bit and will lengthen it a few more minutes at a time.
So, there's a lesson learned, light is good. I just wanted to share. The lesson being learned could also very well be that everything is opening up too much because for some strange reason it's stressed and I'm going to kill several pieces. I do know that is a possibility as well. Too soon to know. I will update if something like that happens.
Hammer that never really opened. Got it for free from a reefer that was moving.
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv228/jscwerve/20161010_182840_zpsxjnahylt.jpg
Elegance that is now spread out so much its laying against the glass.
The picture doesn't do it justice, it's about 10" across.
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv228/jscwerve/20161010_182826_zpsmtpzttij.jpg
And the best I could do at a whole tank shot. Now with three lights.
http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv228/jscwerve/20161008_185410_zpswxeys111.jpg