Overdriving actinics?

D

David Gibson

Premium Member
I currently have four 39w T5s overdriven on an IceCap 660 on my 58g. I'm planning on adding some more T5s since while everything seems to be doing fine, I'm seeing some loss of coloration and growth isn't what I was expecting. My thoughts are to add two more T5s, actinics, and put those on a different ballast on a offset schedule.

What I'm wondering is, is there any real benefit to overdriving actinics? If I don't have to overdrive them, I could put them on a 420 I already have and not have to replace them quite as often. But, if there's a reasonable expectation to get better color, then it might be worth it?
 
My first question is did you acclimate your corals to the new T-5 lighting? I think alot of people under estimate regular driven T5s, overdriving T5s are really strong. I think you reduce your lighting period of your T5s and go slow with acclimating the corals to them.
 
I've had the T5s for about three months now. My 58g is 20" deep, so I've been thinking that just four wasn't enough to penetrate. I suppose the best way to figure that out would be to see if anyone near me had a PAR meter and would be willing to come take readings of my tank.
 
What other bulbs are you running?

ATI Blue Plus would be a better alternative I think than the Actinics, but they put out a good amount of PAR so you would want to balance it out well.
 
I currently run:

ATI Blue Plus
12k Aquablue
GE 6500k Daylight
ATI Blue Plus

All four are on the same 660. Light schedule is lights on at 2:30pm, and lights out at 10:30pm.
 
Probably about 4" off the water?

I honestly never considered that it might be too much light. The only coral I suspected was getting too much light was the blue xenia, which I moved to a shady area a few weeks back
 
wow, i bet you are getting alot more par than you think. what do you have for flow? what all corals are there? the club has a par meter you can borrow and i have it, if you want to come get it im just down 35 past 170 near denton.
 
I've got a vortech MP20 (pretty much 100% on reef crest mode) and a Maxi-Jet 900 (until I can replace it; thinking another MP20) on the facing side.

For corals, I have a pink birdsnest, orange monticap, forest fire digitata, eggplant acro nana, a couple of unidentified SPS I got from soybean, kryptonite candy cane, a few assorted zoas, and a RBTA. None of my rock work goes much higher than half depth, so the majority of the corals are at least 10" below the surface.

I'll be at the meeting tomorrow, Wes. If you'll be there, I am rather curious to get some PAR readings, so I'd like to borrow the meter.
 
I'd recommend you raise em up about 8" to 10" off the tank for awhile and see if that improves things. That 6500 puts out a lot of light, you might consider swapping that out for a 50/50 or a 75/25 type of bulb. With your time period, I would be willing to wage a small amount of Wes's money that the issue is too much light and the spectrums rather than too little.
 
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