So far things are going really well with my new tank. I'm in week 12 and slowly adding critters, most of which have come from the club meetings. Just wondering if any of you sell frags or livestock outside the club meetings. Im still new enough I don't know what I need or want or what my tank is capable of. Seems like in discussing reef tanks, with club members, store owners and other people in the hobby, the one thing I know for sure, is Everybody has their own opinions on how to do it. What one person tells me is a difficult species for my tank another considers easy. I ordered a Sun Coral from an online site in FL. They listed it as a easy coral to maintain and take care of. Then I talked to someone in one of the local stores, they considered it to be difficult. After last weeks meeting and discussing with some of you, I did make the jump to LED. I installed two 48" Orbit Marine LED strips with controllers. I can't say for sure, but I know the Sun Coral opens up now, where as he has been closed 95% of the time with my old T-5's and halides. Glad to get rid of the heat from the halides. I also on advice from the club, decided to start using Coral Frenzy and do some target feeding. Everyone seems happy happy. Thanks for the advice guys. I want to post some pics and a little video to track my tank progress, but don't seem to be able to get the uploader in the forum to work from my computer. Having a lot of fun with this new amazing hobby. JA
Congrats Jerry, sounds like you have it going well. I will be starting my new build shortly and hope to post some construction pics here. Good luck with yours and keep us all informed how it is going.
Not familiar with that particular LED fixture but I don't know if it will be adequate for SPS (which I see you have). Sun coral is not photosynthetic. The ones I've seen in person only open up with feeding. I'm sure they don't like intense light. Where you have it looks like a good place. You will need to spot feed it regularly. Some of the guys who have kept them can chime in but I've always regarded them as difficult to keep.
Thats what I have found about the Sun Coral, only opens when I have fed. Last night was the first time it stayed open for about an hour, actually between 8-9 last night. I had him located further up in that same area with more light. As soon as I moved him, he opened and stayed open for an hour. Longest so far. Im curious, in what way do you think the lights may be inadequate for SPS?
I don't at all, just most of the strip lights are low wattage and usually sold to augment T5 lights. Do you know how many lights of what colors and what wattage they are? I'm loving your aquascape!
Thanks. Each strip is 46 Watts, LED's 48-445nm, 48-460nm, 72-12,000K, and 24-8000K I noticed during the auction last week that the lights above the container for the specimens included red and green bulbs. These strips are only blue and white. Will this present a problem. Do you think this lighting is adequate for what I'm doing? Thanks
OK, read up on them a little. Each LED is 1/2 watt. The strips are advertised as supporting "low light" SPS (montipora,etc.) Acros? time will tell. Everything but the Acros ought to grow I would think. The absence of reds/greens aren't a problem. Lots of earlier LED's didn't have those and grew corals fine. If it's not working you could always add back your T5's with some ATI coral plus/blue plus bulbs along with the LED's.
thanks for the feedback guys. So much to learn but enjoying every minute of it. It's been a while since I've had a hobby that is working towards an obsession.....
