red/pink colors

[mshur]

i've been having hard time to keep red color in my tank. i do great with blue/purple/green. do u guys think this has to do with my light?
i have 2x aq 14k-400w ,i run them on pfo hqi ballast. plus 4xt5' blue on ice cap 660. should i try different temperature bulbs?..maybe 12k or 13k?

mike

[The man]

From what i noticed reds do better with lower kelvin bulbs.
6500 and 10ks.IMO

[gqjeff]

Well as Alex stated the whiter the light the better the pink, reds and oranges will show up.. I run 20k though on m59 and suppliment with t5 blue+ and vho super actinic and I have no problem still holding those colors.. I snapped this pic quickly over lunch yesterday and you can see the monti cap and the pink milli to the left hold there color well.. I read a thread on RC recently that was taling about this also.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...p?threadid=775
I do feed pretty heavy also as stated in that thread and also they are medium to higher level in my tank. Hope this helps some Mike.. Oh yea I do use all the zeo supps now and the colors have only gotten better. Mike if oyu want to try somethign wihout changing the main lights go to a hydro store or do a search for red t5. This is a grow lamp used for hydro and it will help show the reds.. I bought 2 of them to try out but have not been using them as I do not have my other 660 hooked up.. In one of the recent TOTM threads I saw a red t5 in use.. Well I decided to look at them too.. I did put it in for a few and I really do think it helped with making the reds pop even more. I would also bet the thing is CRAZY in par as the other 10k t5 have been rated higher then most MH bulbs at tank bottom. Mike here I did the search for you. This is where I got mine from.
https://hydroponicstore.com/catalog/...0k-p-1292.html

Oh yea just want to note I am not using the bulbs yet so the pics do not show the effect.. I can pop one in tonight and snap another pic if you like.

Jeff


Jeff

[mshur]

hi jeff,
thankx for great info..i already order one bulb to try)) i do feed my coral heavy...i think))
have u try new ushio/blv-14k?..i order 2 bulbs from premium, i hope they will burn nicely on my hqi ..
i got my luminarcs today..i have something to do this weekend
jeff,thankx for ur help!!!


mike

[gqjeff]

Mike. I tried the blv 14k when Chuck got them in.. I let it burn for a day or 2 but didn't really care for the color on the m59 ballast.. Had that yellow look to me of 10k.. I sold it to Bob so you might ask him also.. I am not sure if he has used it yet though..

Peace, Jeff

[Aged Salt]

Jeff, Mike, just fired up the Nepturion today, on a HQI ballast--now it only today, but it's white with a tint of blue, whereas the 13.5 Megachrome that I've been running are white/white. I've ordered another Nepturion from Premium today

BTW, I agree with Jeff, the best reds come out in Iwaski-6500's, if you can stand the "bright-out" look on the others. Bob

[Alex1]

I

Jeff

Wow! Superb colors!

[jake2045]

So lets see the picture with thw new T5 red bulb.

[Travis]

Mike I've never been able to keep the natural inensity of red acros. I've had them under 6.5k, 10k, 14k, and 20k all with actinic. I do not lose the red color but it doesn't keep its original intensity. I'm hoping this will all change once I start ZEO... Heck, if I could get even a small amount of the coloration that gqjeff gets I will be happy.

gqjeff, could you post a pic w/ and w/out the red T5 bulb over a red coral so we can see the difference? Even that difference won't tell us much but it would be nice to see. Just throwing the bulb on will let us see if the coral "looks" more red under that bulb. I wonder if burning the bulb over the coral for a month or so would cause the red pigments to come out more so the coral actually becomes more red.

[Orion76]

Heck, if I could get even a small amount of the coloration that gqjeff gets I will be happy.

His secret is 400w black lights

[kiwireefer]

400 watt black lights ? What are they ? Like the ones you have in night clubs ?

Brendan

[Orion76]

400 watt black lights ? What are they ? Like the ones you have in night clubs ?

Well they used to in the 80's. These days only Jeff still has them

[kiwireefer]

Does he have a disco ball as well

[Orion76]

No disco ball, but he has fluorescent samba balls that glow when he dances in front of his tank

[kiwireefer]

Awesome colours. I am very impressed.