Coral growth rate

Reefkeeping, Coral, Fish and Invertebrates.

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LoneStar
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Coral growth rate

Post by LoneStar »

Switching form 3 each 250 watt 6.5Ks to 4 each 400w 20Ks. In your opinion, will there be a big drop in growth rate of the corals?

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Jeremy
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snoopdog
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Post by snoopdog »

No.
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Scott
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Post by Scott »

I think a better question is will I be happy not having brown corals :D . I will see if I can dig up some PAR values for 400 watt 20kk bulbs. I think the par of a Iwasaki running on a M58 ballast is just above 700.
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tbmoore
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Post by tbmoore »

Growth rate does not matter if the color is not right. I would choose the bulb that you like for the color you want. You have to look at it all the time. Personaly I like 20k bulbs. but everyone is different. Your tank your choice..
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Brandon
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Post by Brandon »

Tar or electronic ballasts on the 400watters?
FWIW Generally better par but shorter life with electronic ballasts on the 20k... shorter as in 6 months.. Ouch!
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Post by LoneStar »

tar
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Post by snoopdog »

I always bought tar, the electronic are just too high.
"When they was no meat we ate fowl, when there was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when there was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand."--Cellmate
"You ate what?"--H.I.
"We ate sand."--Cellmate
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Scott
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Post by Scott »

I can't really find anything on PAR of a 400w 20k but there is an article by Sanjay Joshi and Dave Morgan comparing some 400w, 250w and 175w bulbs. He uses PPFD measurements for comparison. The 400w 20k Radium had a PPFD of 90.63 and the 250w 6500k had a PPFD of 124.3 on magnetic ballasts. I don't think that it will be much of a real difference because the 250w Iwasaki had a PPFD of only 90.7 on a Blueline ballast. Quality reflectors could increase the PPFD though, these numbers are without a reflector at all. You can read the results from his test here: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/s/b ... rison.html
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Post by LoneStar »

Thanks all for the information. I think I am gonna give it a try.

Jeremy
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Scott
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Post by Scott »

Here are some pictures I took comparing 6500k and 20kk bulbs. It really amazed me how much brighter the 400 is.
Attachments
Actinics and 250w 6500k on right
Actinics and 250w 6500k on right
03 and right 6500 edit.jpg (92.57 KiB) Viewed 2115 times
Actinics on 250w 6500k on right 400w 6500k on left
Actinics on 250w 6500k on right 400w 6500k on left
03 right 250 and left 400 edit.jpg (88.88 KiB) Viewed 2115 times
20kk only on left
20kk only on left
20k only edit.jpg (77.14 KiB) Viewed 2115 times
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LoneStar
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Post by LoneStar »

WOW, there is a huge difference. I did not think it would be that much difference.

Jeremy
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Scott
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Post by Scott »

LoneStar wrote:WOW, there is a huge difference. I did not think it would be that much difference.

Jeremy
Me either, that is quite a difference. Sorry about the coraline on the glass, it has been on a growth spurt recently.
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