Quote:
Originally Posted by biggles
Reef is looking awesome Mark, lots more info and details now needed.  |
Thanks Andrew, hopefully I added enough info that folks can see what NOT to do.
Ah, lighting.
Front to back (this is hardly consistent!)
Blue/Violet BML strip (whites off)
Giesemann Aquablue Coral (very similar to Coral+)
Giesemann Actinic Blue (blue+ with a little less green)
Giesemann Actinic Blue
Giesemann Super Purple (a little less red than Purple+)
Giesemann Actinic Blue
Giesemann Aquablue Coral
Blue/Violet BML strip (whites off)
PAR is 550 at the top of the slimer, 400 at the mid point of most smaller acros, 260 on the sandbed.
Blue LED on at 11AM, full at noon
2 T5 blues on at 12:30PM
Remaining (4) T5's on at 2PM
4 T5's off at 8PM
All T5's off at 8:30PM
Blue LED starts to ramp down ad 9PM and off at 10PM
Total light cycle is 11 hours, with full lighting for 6 hours. I believe my reduction in light cycle hours, I was up around 14 hours, is a big contributor to the health of the acros.
As for the T5 combination, I tried all blue and 2 purples for a while and I liked it, but yet I switched back to a combination I keep returning too. I've also tried Big E's 3 blue, 3 coral combo and while I like it I need a little more red in the mix. He doesn't use blue LED's and I do, which might be the reason I feel like I need more red, to balance it out. I've also tried mixing in Aquablue Special (YUK!) and Giesemann AquaBlue Azure (better, less yellow).