No growth with T5

[reefslugs]

Not see much growth with SPS on my T5's. My tank is a 200g. Measures 84x2
48x24. I am running a 12 bulb Tech light fixture. Six bulbs on each side. Currently running this bulb combo.

FRONT
B+
C+
B+
P+
C+
B+
BACK

Do you think if I went with a more whiter bulb, I would get more growth? Maybe switching out the two C+ with two aqua blue specials?

I used to run MH with 2x250w Radiums and 2x110 VHO actinic. SPS growth was fast. I swear my birds-nest grew a half inch a week, with this setup.

[reefmutt]

How old is your system?
You have a nice set up.
Mixed reef? What other types of corals?
And height of light fixture and lighting duration as well as nutrient levels..
I'm asking all of these questions because it is virtually impossible that your problem is your lighting..
It is hard to go wrong with your lighting and your bulb combo is fine. Imo...

[ClownNut]

Tek light sucks, only have half the output compare to ati. The fixture heat up too much and Kill the bulbs. You can put some new t5 in one side do a par read compare to the one have been running let's say a week. You will find your 1 week bulb almost lost half of the output.

[reefmutt]

Tek light sucks, only have half the output compare to ati. The fixture heat up too much and Kill the bulbs. You can put some new t5 in one side do a par read compare to the one have been running let's say a week. You will find your 1 week bulb almost lost half of the output.

Really? I find that hard to believe but I have no experience with those fixtures so maybe it's true.. wow..

[Rambo610]

I have a couple sps. Very diverse tank. Those bulb peak at the 450ish where the coral in the ocean see at that depth where there found. Now from my experience when I added the coral plus bulb. I saw more pop in color when my blues are on. And I'm using euroquatic blue pop led bulb. Now beside light you need a bit of nutrients and if you have phosphate issue. That will slow growth. Also sps do take time and stability to take off. So give us your nitrate level and phosphate no and light schedule to help you figure this one out

[ClownNut]

Really? I find that hard to believe but I have no experience with those fixtures so maybe it's true.. wow..
Oh yeah, they might look the same Tek vs sun power, the inside complete different. I have both fixture I compare them with par meter.

[Piper27]

I agree, Tek fixtures are not anywhere near an ATI. When I ran one I use half coral plus and aqua blue special and half blue plus and kept it very close to the water. Take the purple plus out and add a abs bulb in its place, or two if you can stand the look. It should still be able to grow sps at some rate though as long as it's not hung high. How high are the fixtures off the water? Either way paying good money for a nice ATI is well worth it in the long run.

[Myka]

I agree, Tek fixtures get too hot. The "secret" to T5 is keeping the bulbs cool enough. The ATI able fixtures have dimmable ballasts and also dimmable fans...if the fixture gets too hot the fixture will auto dim the bulbs to keep the bulbs from getting too hot.

However, PAR isn't everything, and I think there is something else going on in the tank. Post up some water parameters.

[jda]

Put the Radiums and VHO SAs back on it and see what happens. I don't think that anybody has ever thought that a 6 bulb T5 fixture would replace a Radium and VHO for output, so you had to know that growth would drop a little bit.

I agree that TEK is no awesome fixture, but you should have some growth. If you have none, then look elsewhere.

[reefslugs]

OK just got home from work. I am going to try answering questions the best I can. Cause I could really use some good feed back.

As far as tank chemistry. I usually only test for KH every week. I run a calcium reactor, so usually if the KH is in check all other supplements will be in check. Here are my readings as of tonight.

Salt = 1.025

Using Red Sea test kit for KH Ca Mg=
KH=9.2
Ca=490
Mg=1320

As far as nitrate the only test kit I have is the API=
NO3=0
So I know this test kit is not the accurate, but I know the nitrate is in the low level.

As far as phosphate I don't have a test kit at this time. I will ask a local reefer to come by and take measurements. I'm sure it is low. I run three cups of GFO and two cups of carbon. Changed every two months. I also do not have any algae issues.

All water is filtered by BRS 5 stage RODI.

Feeding, I only feed once a day. Because of how much I am out of the house do to my work. Every night I either feed PE mysis shrimp or Ocean Nutrition flakes. I only feed till the fish start to slow down on eating. Nothing else.

One other thing someone ask how many inches are my lights over the tank. The answer is 7 inches off the surface.

[Myka]

You may be in a situation where there is not enough nutrients then. You may be using too much gfo - you never want po4 to hit "zero" on a high-sensitivity kit. You also don't feed much.

I'd you're serious about SPS you really should pick up a good quality NO3 kit such as Salifert, and a good kit for po4 too such as the Hanna ULR phosphorus checker.

Could you take some good quality photographs of your Acros?

[reefslugs]

quality photographs

I have photo bucket app on my phone. I can not figure out how to post photos off my i-phone and post them here on RC. I wish I could figure that out. I have lots of really good pictures.

[reefslugs]

Here is a picture of my setup.

[Myka]

Tank looks good in that pic, but it's far away so can't see any detail. Do you have any individual photos of single SPS corals? Up close.

[reefslugs]

Tank looks good in that pic, but it's far away so can't see any detail. Do you have any individual photos of single SPS corals? Up close.

When I get how tonight I take some close up pictures.

[reefmutt]

You may be in a situation where there is not enough nutrients then. You may be using too much gfo - you never want po4 to hit "zero" on a high-sensitivity kit. You also don't feed much.

I'd you're serious about SPS you really should pick up a good quality NO3 kit such as Salifert, and a good kit for po4 too such as the Hanna ULR phosphorus checker.

Could you take some good quality photographs of your Acros?
+1
quality photographs

I have photo bucket app on my phone. I can not figure out how to post photos off my i-phone and post them here on RC. I wish I could figure that out. I have lots of really good pictures.
When viewing an image in Photobucket touch the screen so that the tool bar comes up at the bottom. Click (touch) the i with a circle around it and then touch IMG at the bottom of your choices. It'll say 'link copied' in green right beside IMG. Then go to your RC response and just paste. You have linked the Photobucket image to RC and it will display a full image.
This is what I do.. however I do not use tapatalk so maybe it's different if you use rapatalk..

[GSMclowns]

One thing that I noticed from that picture is that the light is way too high above the water line. Your light fixture isn't the best already and with that much distant above the water light, you won't be getting much Par at all.

[reefslugs]

One thing that I noticed from that picture is that the light is way too high above the water line. Your light fixture isn't the best already and with that much distant above the water light, you won't be getting much Par at all.

It's at 7 inches.

[GSMclowns]

Sorry, it looks like it is at least 10" or more from looking at the picture.
But 7" is good, any lower and you will get a lot of water splash.

[reefslugs]

Here is some photos that you ask for.

[reefslugs]

Couple more.

[Mr.Fishtank]

You have some nice corals there. I also have some sps that just won't grow. Some of which have been in my system for over a year with almost no growth. I run an ATI sunpower 8 tube over my reefer 450. Some would say that is overkill for my size tank but obviously it's not too much. Have it hung at 12 inches and get 400par half way down. More then enough for sps. My point is, I don't think that your lighting is the cause for the slow growth. Maybe too low of nutrients like Myka said. You always want some in the water column.

[bif24701]

Here is some photos that you ask for.



Those look like growth tips to me, are you sure not getting growth?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pife]

Darrell try lowering your alk.

[Vio]

Darrell try lowering your alk.
+1
i keep less then 8 dkH , i like 7.5 dkH.

[Nanook]

Tank looks good. Lights could be better like ATI or Radiums with VHO's again. If your nitrate and phosphate are both zero, you might need to back off the GFO. I'm usually aiming for 3-5 nitrate and .02-.05 phosphate, when numbers go above I usually do a water change or run some Phosguard.