ISO SPS for T5/Led
- Thread starter Ghxst
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Thanks for the recommendations! I agree, all of Gonzo's stuff does great in my tank. Where is aquatic? I have some sps, bonzi, rainbow and star monti, orchid stylo, scroll coral and a few more and they all look great. But if I get a hot acro from a club member that is under halides or led only, they don't looks so good. Maybe it just needs more time? I dont like paying $$$ for a yellow or rainbow acro and it turn brown in my tank when other yellow sps in my tank are yellow without doing anything.
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Neither one of those guys use LED as a main light source. If you have more T5s then you might be able to get some of the harder stuff.
It is not time. "Hot acros" do not do well under LED. They look OK for a while and then they start to go downhill. If you really want to get serious about SPS, then get a MH or more T5 bulbs (8 or 10) and sell your LED. Otherwise, you will need to pick and choose the acros that do OK under LED - there are some that are cool. Many will deny this and say that LED can grow anything and look just as good, but they lack the depth and breath of experience to know better and most of them are new to the hobby or to SPS. You have seen it first hand. Sorry to be a bummer, I don't really want to be... just trying to save you some cash, time and heartache.
People who know the difference separate acropora from SPS, like Zombie did. Other SPS like monti, birdsnest, stylo, catspaw can do just fine under LED until it gets larger and starts to shadow the bottom. Acropora are a whole different game.
It is not time. "Hot acros" do not do well under LED. They look OK for a while and then they start to go downhill. If you really want to get serious about SPS, then get a MH or more T5 bulbs (8 or 10) and sell your LED. Otherwise, you will need to pick and choose the acros that do OK under LED - there are some that are cool. Many will deny this and say that LED can grow anything and look just as good, but they lack the depth and breath of experience to know better and most of them are new to the hobby or to SPS. You have seen it first hand. Sorry to be a bummer, I don't really want to be... just trying to save you some cash, time and heartache.
People who know the difference separate acropora from SPS, like Zombie did. Other SPS like monti, birdsnest, stylo, catspaw can do just fine under LED until it gets larger and starts to shadow the bottom. Acropora are a whole different game.
Thanks Jda! I see what your saying,I need to find some acros and millis ( if possible) that look good under my t5/led combo specifically and probably all the cool named ones won't do. I use the rsm130 stock t5s and supplement with a verstick led, its only 6 3w crees and don't think there is much of any other solution for that tank that works for me.
Would thier be a specific species of acro to look for? For instance Green slimmer grew really well and bright in my tank in the past. My garf bonzi was kinda like a pest in my tank, had to remove 3 rocks cause of it. And the newest one, WD, from schase is getting greener and encrusted well in 2 months. Yet the sunset milli that came with it is a black/brown nugget with a shiny green skin.
I was going to update my tank build but I couldn't find it lol. Essentially with my t5/led combo I have at around 280-100 par, ph of 8-8.1, dkh of 8-9, temp 79.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong or if it's my choice of corals recently, as you mentioned due to my lighting. I just want a good looking and growing acro/milli(S) to cover the top part of my tank so I can be done! Lol
Would thier be a specific species of acro to look for? For instance Green slimmer grew really well and bright in my tank in the past. My garf bonzi was kinda like a pest in my tank, had to remove 3 rocks cause of it. And the newest one, WD, from schase is getting greener and encrusted well in 2 months. Yet the sunset milli that came with it is a black/brown nugget with a shiny green skin.
I was going to update my tank build but I couldn't find it lol. Essentially with my t5/led combo I have at around 280-100 par, ph of 8-8.1, dkh of 8-9, temp 79.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong or if it's my choice of corals recently, as you mentioned due to my lighting. I just want a good looking and growing acro/milli(S) to cover the top part of my tank so I can be done! Lol
The T5s are more powerful than that. The PAR meter cuts off at about 440nm (effectively) and the T5s will produce good light well below - some LEDs will too, but some are built just for PAR numbers and mostly just perform from 440 to 640nm. With the same PAR numbers, T5 or MH will produce 40-100% more than a comparable LED since they give output down to 350, depending on the bulb.
That is not a lot of light. Look for some Cali Blue Tort - it might be OK although it will be blue/green instead of all blue. Milles are going to be really tough - maybe a generic green one? I would try anything from ORA - they have a track record of being chosen to be less hard to care for. Ant Insigns is a really easy coral, IMO, that has nice color.
That is not a lot of light. Look for some Cali Blue Tort - it might be OK although it will be blue/green instead of all blue. Milles are going to be really tough - maybe a generic green one? I would try anything from ORA - they have a track record of being chosen to be less hard to care for. Ant Insigns is a really easy coral, IMO, that has nice color.
Honestly, I wouldn't recommend adding any more at all to that tank. They are pretty packed as is when you consider what mature size should be. Possible to maybe add one or two is you Tetris well, but otherwise you will not have fun trimming in a couple years to keep them from killing each other.
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ant insignis, I like that one, Thanks man! I will try those other ones two, I would like to keep the color thematic as the bottom half. Any red, yellow or orange acros or sps, even just one of each that would balance the blue and green that I could try that you know of?
maybe mods can move to acro discussion instead of classifieds? I'm getting learned here and I'm sure others can learn from it.
maybe mods can move to acro discussion instead of classifieds? I'm getting learned here and I'm sure others can learn from it.
WHAT?? Can I ask where your getting this from? My own personal experience says something way different than what your stating above. I do aquarium maintenance and install for a living and I cannot begin to tell you how many tanks I have that are full of acros that are super healthy and colorful and ALL are grown under Radions. Weve got videos from Jake Adams on Reef Builders of some of these said tanks for those that would like to take a peek.
I then turn my focus to the beautiful SPS dominate tank sitting behind me at my house. 60 gallons of ultimate SPS glory, all grown from nubs under a single gen3 radion xr30 pro, and trust my, only the goods go in my tank. Ive got rainbow millis, ive got WD tenuis, Ive got frankenberry tenuis, red dragon, red planet, tierra del fuego, JF Firecracker, WTF tenuis, purple monster, pearlberry, mother of pearl, just to name a few of the high end acropora currently being grown under LEDs.
I guess Im just wondering how you can sit there and tell another member outright that acros dont do well under LEDs, becuase that is a completely false statement to say the least.
Thats what I love! It's taken years but my tank looks like a mountain village town from a doc suss book up close. I'm always cutting and trimming to keep it looking the way I want. Plus all the frags it makes pays for my salt, equipment, reef qt and new frags. I recently took out my top rocks and now want to top off the arch with some colorful ( not even fancy) acros, pref several different kinds, and I'll put my remaining zoas under them to keep it zany.
If you do make damn sure you keep similar species together and keep them trimmed so nothing (exception being montipora) is within 2in from each other. I make the mistake once of putting an Oregon tort too close to a strawberry mille and one day they were both white and neither recovered.
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+1 to this. I had great color and growth from onyx led fixtures and those are mid grade lights compared to something like a radion. The myth that LED can't compare with halides no longer holds weight today if you buy quality full spectrum lights and get the correct lumens.
T5 compared with halides is a noticeable difference and halides compared with cheap or old technology LEDs is pretty noticeable though.
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T5 compared with halides is a noticeable difference and halides compared with cheap or old technology LEDs is pretty noticeable though.
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If indeed "the goods" is anything like what I call "the goods" you are one one fifty. However, if "the goods" to me are large colonies that are larger than a softball with no tissue necrosis on the bottom with the undersides not white. The vast majority have tanks that look like the on Greeley or on Harmony in Fort Collins where the acros are white on the underside, dying from the base up and the birdsnest and montis are only doing well, but still dying - there is no possible way that anybody can say that these tanks look like they have healthy SPS in them but they are more indicative of LED success with acropora. Are yours colony size at softball or larger? Anybody can grow frags or small colonies - it long term growth that has problems. My guess is no or else they would be suffering from the shadowing of the single Radion or else you would have added the T5s by now that everybody else who tries this has. I have no doubt that you have some fine frags and mini colonies, but I can nearly guarantee you that if you borrowed a Halide from me for a few months, you would never want to give it back. There is no Myth that LED can't compare to Halides or T5 - it is just flat out true... but I get that most folks probably cannot even tell the difference and the rest that can might not care as long as they can control them from an android on a couch or light the tank like a black light. I am not saying that a panel does not have a place in the hobby, but expecting and suggesting that the average person can have lots of acropora success with it is pretty misleading - most fail in the short term and in the long term every single one who is decent ends up having to supplement them as the corals get bigger.