Halides only?

T

TCU Reefer

I know there have been discussions about this topic on RC but I wanted to find out how many of you local reefers are running MH's only on your reefs. More importantly, how are your corals doing? Especially your SPS, since that is what I am interested in keeping.

I just finished constructing my lighting rack similar to Servo's and I didn't know if it was necessary to try to incorporate two 6' actinic bulbs.

My setup will consists of three 250w 10,000k Ushio bulbs which are going to run on Icecap ballasts. Some have said the 10000k bulbs have enough blue for corals to thrive without any actinic supplementation.

What are your thoughts or experiences running halides only.

Thanks
 
I already knew you're an all halide man and from the pictures I've seen, it's obvious your corals are doing great.

What I meant was, is there anyone else BESIDES Ryan that runs halides only with no complaint? :D
 
I have a tank with just a 400W 13K pendant. Everything seems to grow well. I will say that I have noticed a lot of growth on my zoos since I added VHO actinics to my 180 though...not to mention it look so much better than halides alone. 20K halides actually look a lot like actinics to me as far as making the corals glow and I have run them alone too on the 180. I really think actinics are mostly aesthetic when they are run on a tank that has high wattage MH's...Of course on a VHO tank or something its different IMO because they make up a good portion of the total lighting. Of course all that is just my opinion.

Angela
 
Angela,

I agree with your opinion that actinics are mostly for aesthetic purposes.

I'm sure actinic supplementation wouldn't hurt but I would bet that my corals will thrive without them.
 
Yeah I think your corals will be great without them. The higher K MH bulbs do make the coral LOOK really nice though. I think my tank is much happier now that I run 2 250W 10K's and 2 250W 20K's than it was with 20K's alone and the growth is much faster. I dont even consider my 2 72" actinic VHOs part of my main lighting. To me they are just for that pretty glow.

Angela
 
I'm only running a pair of 250w, 14,000K CoralVue bulbs with no actinic. I love the color of these bulbs, my coral growth is great, and there is enough blue that my coral and fish colors fluoresce well while the light still has a nice, crisp white appearance.

I've heard that my corals would probably color up a bit more if I were running 10,000K bulbs, however, I've recently started adding Salifert Amino Acids to my tank and things are really starting to brighten up.
 
Actinics are pure looks. They have like single digit PAR.

I plan on running only 5 250W MH on my new tank 2 DE 20ks and 3 SE 10ks
 
I like actinics.... They just give you such a wider spectrum of color and they really make some corals look amazing. IMO.. :D
 
@blide wrote:
I like actinics.... They just give you such a wider spectrum of color and they really make some corals look amazing. IMO.. :D said:
Same here.
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Plus, if you run actinics, your neighboors will think strange things of you. I know whenever I leave the kitchen blinds open, the whole cul-de-sac is lite in a strange blue glow.

BTW, I'm running 2-250w 10k XM with 46.5" VHO actinics. Although, once the Reeflux bulbs come in, I'll switch the MH bulbs over.

Chris
 
@Marc wrote:
[I]@blide wrote:[/I][quote="I like actinics.... They just give you such a wider spectrum of color and they really make some corals look amazing. IMO.. :D said:
Same here."]

Marc will soon get rid of his actinics once he switches his bulbs :D.

Rick Beauregard also has halides only, and IMO, he has one of the best tanks in the metroplex that I have seen :!:
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I run a 400w 20000k coralvue bulb and get good color and growth.There's a bit too much blue now so I may switch to the new coralvue reeflux and use a 14000k or even 10000k but I won't add actinics even then.
 
@Marc wrote:
Rick's tank is killer. If he actually lived somewhat closer said:
Actually I have not been too happy with it for a month or two. I am hoping a few months with these new bulbs will make me happy. I know that after about 10 days I am amazed at the colors. Time will tell.
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Man, I can't wait to get my new bulbs in. It's going to be just like Christmas, oh wait, it is Christmas, the best Christmas ever.

I was comparing the spectral plots on sanjay's site for the xm 10k bulbs that I currently have to the coralvue reeflux bulbs 10k that I'm getting. Do you guys think that the boost in wavelengths at 450nm, 540nm, and 590nm, will make up for the lack of par?

The legend on the right is as follows:

Blue: XM 10k SE
Par: 115
CCT: 11543

Red: Reeflux 10k SE
Par: 86
CCT: 15953
Both on Icecap electronic ballast, non-sheilded

xmv.jpg
alt="">

Chris
 
@Olaggie01 wrote:
Man said:
The way I look at it right now, most people were very happy with the growth and color using Ushio 10k 250s. If you go back and plot the Ushio, you will see using that ballast the par is 85. So you are getting the same par as the Ushios and a lot higher color spectrum. So unless the bulb breaks down over time alot faster than Ushios, I think they will work as well as the Ushios have at growing corals and make the corals look better.
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The way I look at it right now said:
Sounds good to me. Running the plot on my EVC ballast, it brings that par up to around 90ish. What did the plot look like against the Ushios?

Chris
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