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Thinking of going to MH
- Thread starter jdeb101
- Start date
J
jokersplayground
Guest
You need to get a 48" fixture not a 36". I use to use sunlight supply and I had great color and great growth. But I also had a fixture that was the correct size for my tank(120g 48",24", 24"). If I'm correct for the current wattage for your bulb size is 24 watts that is not going to do much at all. Your gunna need more like 54 watts and you will see a big difference. Don't get me wrong I love my metal halide(over my 40b right now) but I wish I can have a 36" 6 bulb t5 unit I loved being able to play with the different bulb combos. If I was you I would just upgrade to a 48" t5 fixture and research all the different bulb combos out there I don't remember my combo.
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jdeb101
Non-member
Thanks for your opinion. I try to keep my dkh as close to 9 as possible. T5 bulbs are swapped out yearly and I'm careful not to swap all at once but rather in 2 bulb increments weekly or more when the time comes. As for the T5's combo used, see my post above.
I agree my tank could definitely use more fish, however my lack of them is that I seem to be hit or miss with their survival. Aside from my 8+ year old clownfish, new fish for me last anywhere from a day or in rare situations a year or two on average. It can be quite discouraging as you can imagine!
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jdeb101
Non-member
Wattage on 36" fixture is 39 watts each bulb. Agreed a 48" will provide more light/better coverage, but whats it going to add as far as PAR value/light penetration? There's really not a whole lot of space on left/right side of tank where the fixture doesn't hang directly over and I figure these sides are good places for less light demanding corals anyway..
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jdeb101
Non-member
So I wanted to revisit this thread now that it's been a few months and my coral colors are still brown/pale and growth I feel is minimal. I haven't made many changes since last post here, however I did begin dosing Alk daily rather than every other day to have less swings. I've been really tempted to get a doser setup to keep this stable as possible however the thought scares me of it getting stuck on or malfunctioning.
I'm really trying to wrap my head around whether I have high or low nutrients as I feel this may be the culprit to my colorations. Phos and Nitrate always read 0, and algae in tank isn't too bad... I have a little bit of diatoms on sandbed of low flow areas, get a little hair algae on return output and powerheads after a couple weeks, and just recently started getting a little red cyano on piece of LR. But again, overall not looking bad algae wise.
Some things worth mentioning... I do run filter sock and only change it when I do water changes, which is usually every 3-4 weeks. I also have left chamber of sump as a "fuge" area with just a piece of LR in it with low flow. Could these be contributing to Phos & Nitrate, again though I'm testing 0?
If nutrients is not culprit to my poor coloration, then my next guess is not enough flow?
btw... I just posted a video of my tank here -
[video]https://youtu.be/jLl4hmxu-U0[/video]
I'm really trying to wrap my head around whether I have high or low nutrients as I feel this may be the culprit to my colorations. Phos and Nitrate always read 0, and algae in tank isn't too bad... I have a little bit of diatoms on sandbed of low flow areas, get a little hair algae on return output and powerheads after a couple weeks, and just recently started getting a little red cyano on piece of LR. But again, overall not looking bad algae wise.
Some things worth mentioning... I do run filter sock and only change it when I do water changes, which is usually every 3-4 weeks. I also have left chamber of sump as a "fuge" area with just a piece of LR in it with low flow. Could these be contributing to Phos & Nitrate, again though I'm testing 0?
If nutrients is not culprit to my poor coloration, then my next guess is not enough flow?
btw... I just posted a video of my tank here -
[video]https://youtu.be/jLl4hmxu-U0[/video]
J
jokersplayground
Guest
the algae could be getting feed by your filter sock. with socks i recommend swaping it out every week. i do this with my sock on my tank and i have no issues at all and i feed 2-3 timea a day. speaking of feeding that many timea a day i have noticed a big difference in colors in my coral. my nitrates stay at a 5 and zero phosphates. now to the fixture the 48" will produce more par as the bulbs are usually 54 watts. also if you are doing water changes every 3-4 weeks you could be missing alot of trace elements.
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jdeb101
Non-member
Thanks Joshua. I could start swapping socks weekly, only my laziness is reason I haven't been.
i hear you on the wc's replacing traces, but I do also dose acropower once a week.
J
jokersplayground
Guest
Thanks Joshua. I could start swapping socks weekly, only my laziness is reason I haven't been.
i hear you on the wc's replacing traces, but I do also dose acropower once a week.
I found acro power isn't complete with the trace elements. I tried the same thing not to long ago and my sps started to brown out and I could not figure it out. Then I just started doing weekly changes or small daily changes and everything is mint now. Tank looks better than ever
