Neptune Aquatics

Peter's Garage Tank

Not a 100% accurate. Here is the spectrum of light and the depths at which they can penetrate.

87cb94a506c9c6a7219c53c81355885b.jpg


Most coral reefs are found in water less than ~50m deep, but some can be found up to ~140m. So there is some of the rest of the spectrum that gets through to most coral besides blue.

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/04deepscope/background/deeplight/deeplight.html

https://defenders.org/coral-reef/basic-facts
 
Okay, so as a starting point I guess I will leave the blues at 40% for now and add white (lowest setting) for 7 hours so they can get the "full" spectrum.
Cheers! Mark
 
Jason fox does other things besides running full blue to not have algae. He only keeps fish that are working fish (ones that eat algae or clean), and he feeds them so little food that they are starving (at least in comparison to how you or I feed our fish).

I understand wanting to provide a natural environment for our corals and therefore try to mimic the light they have in the ocean, but I have to enjoy looking at them too or it’s pointless to keep them at all. That means I could not run full blue 100% of the time. Plus, I’ve only been diving once and not very deep (maybe 15 meters) but I don’t remember seeing light down there that looked anything like the full blue light from led’s. Was I just not deep enough or is that lighting not natural?
 
daddio said:
Perhaps it was an old wives tale? My blue channel is - 20 LEDs @ 450nm & 30 @ 460nm. I can tell you I like the looks of the corals under these lights more than the crappy T5 fixture I had.
Click to expand...
Blue light just helps to hide algae because it makes brown and green plants and rocks all blue :) I can attest it grows it. But spectrum does make a difference in how plants grow - just ask Kessil RE:grow lights. Just try running blue or red only H80 growth on your chaeto if you want to see for yourself.
 
Flagg37 said:
Jason fox does other things besides running full blue to not have algae. He only keeps fish that are working fish (ones that eat algae or clean), and he feeds them so little food that they are starving (at least in comparison to how you or I feed our fish).

I understand wanting to provide a natural environment for our corals and therefore try to mimic the light they have in the ocean, but I have to enjoy looking at them too or it’s pointless to keep them at all. That means I could not run full blue 100% of the time. Plus, I’ve only been diving once and not very deep (maybe 15 meters) but I don’t remember seeing light down there that looked anything like the full blue light from led’s. Was I just not deep enough or is that lighting not natural?
Click to expand...
Done many dives and the is no blue lights like what led gives off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I think corals tend to "pop" a LOT more under all blue, and not surprising.
With all the UV/deep blue, they fluoresce quite a bit.
And with other spectra gone, tank tends to look dark, your eyes/camera adjust, and you notice it more.

IMO: Fish on the other hand, look terrible under all blue.
 
Well I remember when I went diving I never seen any of the coral colors like we see in our tank. Only time I think was in the Maldives. But even then nothing popped.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Ok, thanks for all the input. Tinkered with the lights a bit and found a mix that works for me. 30% on white and 60% blue and the light was so high above the tank it shined in my eyes, so I lowered it to 11". I was so happy with it, I tossed all previous plans out the window and I went ahead and mounted another 300w Mars Aqua over the other reef. Now they are identical. Now I will resist the urge to tinker with them (unless corals start dying) for a month and let the corals settle in.
Cheers! Mark
 
I will try to take a couple. Apparently my iphone 4 doesnt like all the blue. I cant understand it, this phone is at the forefront of cutting edge technology :confused:
 
JVU said:
If you take the picture with your iPhone 4 from inside the tank, it will help your image quality tremendously. By shorting it out and forcing you to buy a newer one :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...
But I have like 10 chargers for the old iphones and nobody "borrows" them cause they don't fit their new fangled devices.
 
So it has been just over a week since I cut my carbon dose by 30%. Tanks look good and I now have "measurable" phosphate (.25ppm) and nitrate (<5ppm). Now with all the new SPS that I have added I am focusing on staying ahead of the alk/cal usage. Now that I have N&P I am bringing the alk/cal up. I upped the Kalk last week (+ 1tsp per 5 gal. ato) and currently have a dkh of 7.5 with 440 calcium. Went ahead and added another tsp. of Kalk per 5 gallons of ATO.
Cheers! Mark
 
  • Like
Reactions: JVU
daddio said:
So it has been just over a week since I cut my carbon dose by 30%. Tanks look good and I now have "measurable" phosphate (.25ppm) and nitrate (<5ppm). Now with all the new SPS that I have added I am focusing on staying ahead of the alk/cal usage. Now that I have N&P I am bringing the alk/cal up. I upped the Kalk last week (+ 1tsp per 5 gal. ato) and currently have a dkh of 7.5 with 440 calcium. Went ahead and added another tsp. of Kalk per 5 gallons of ATO.
Cheers! Mark
Click to expand...
Do you mean 0.025 po4? 0.25 is a bit elevated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top