So I was wondering if your acan lords hold their color. Was told lords prefer indirect lighting, so I placed slightly under a ledge. Well its been months and my acans still orange out or lose their vibrant color. I got some sweet red acans, and now orange. Got some pinks...now lighter pink. Also they are really fleshy, like if they are filled with water. All are on the sand bed with some type of overhead cover. They get the undertow from the MP40. I've seen some guys with crazy color that don't have them in indirect lighting. This happened with my 400w MH and now my LEDs. What gives?
Do your acans hold their original color?
- Thread starter Cake_Boss
- Start date
Mine did the same thing, when i bought the they where rainbow acans and now they are just red with some grey in them. I have another acan that I bought some time ago and was red and purple when I got it. The purple turned clear for the longest time and is just now getting it;s color back. I know it is not a light issue as my lights are pretty lame. They are on the sand and never really puff up. They eat though which is a good sign right?
i think a lot of it depends on the lighting type and spectrum. i read that not so ultra acans and chalice can be made very ultra temporarily under only actinic. i bet shifting your light more blue (440-460nm) will get you closer to those colors you had when you first got them. i had a red bug break out and quarantined all of my sps. i put a two pure actinic vho over that tank just to see what would happen for almost a month. all of my corals in there were litterally glowing under those lights and stayed that way for a few weeks even after they were returned to my display which is 14kish. everything is back to normal now. good color good growth but i would need photo shop to impress anyone lol. my point is coral farmers worth their salt know how to make things look amazing. we want those colors but don't want "windex water" look to our tanks. imo those colors came from the spectrum those corals were kept under and a lot less whether they are in direct or indirect light.
Last edited by a moderator:
I seam to do pretty well with acans. LOL dirty tank? 
I use mainly PC lights and a halide, but the halide for only about 3hrs a day. All my corals are in direct light. No shading. I'm an LPS nut and most of mine grow pretty good under dual 65w PC lights. One bulb is straight actinic and the other is 50/50 combo 10k/450nm. Those run 10hrs a day. The 14k 175w halide runs about 3hrs a day.
Somebody mentioned 20k and then somebody else mentioned 450-460nm --- thats darn near the same color. FYI It will sure make your corals look pretty, but they won't grow very fast unless you can dump about 5x the normal wattage on the tank. Higher K levels have reduced PAR, so if you're going to run all 20k lights, you better double or triple the wattage.
Just my opinion. You're all free to disagree with it. :cigar:
I use mainly PC lights and a halide, but the halide for only about 3hrs a day. All my corals are in direct light. No shading. I'm an LPS nut and most of mine grow pretty good under dual 65w PC lights. One bulb is straight actinic and the other is 50/50 combo 10k/450nm. Those run 10hrs a day. The 14k 175w halide runs about 3hrs a day.
Somebody mentioned 20k and then somebody else mentioned 450-460nm --- thats darn near the same color. FYI It will sure make your corals look pretty, but they won't grow very fast unless you can dump about 5x the normal wattage on the tank. Higher K levels have reduced PAR, so if you're going to run all 20k lights, you better double or triple the wattage.
Just my opinion. You're all free to disagree with it. :cigar:
Huge difference between 20000K and 450-460nm. 20000K is full spectrum with a lot of blue. 450-460nm is monochromatic--blue only.
As far as needing 5X higher wattage with 20000K, that's also not accurate. Blue light produces a photosynthetic response up to 4X that of other wavelengths. A study comparing SPS growth rates under 4 bulbs of equal wattage but different Kelvin ratings (5500, 10000, 14000, 20000) showed the 20000K bulb produced the greatest growth.
As far as needing 5X higher wattage with 20000K, that's also not accurate. Blue light produces a photosynthetic response up to 4X that of other wavelengths. A study comparing SPS growth rates under 4 bulbs of equal wattage but different Kelvin ratings (5500, 10000, 14000, 20000) showed the 20000K bulb produced the greatest growth.
