Brown Acro under Radium

[Morgan]

I bought a Warehouse MH fitting and have set it up over my tank.

I just realized that some of my brown acros glows. Colours look very good but unfortunately I could not capture it on camera.

I have attached a pic. This piece was/is a very dark brown coloured colony.

Under Radium the colours are no longer brown.

[mv3i]

is that a 400W MH you got ?

[Morgan]

It is not the 400W, just 250W.

[mv3i]

do you think 150W MH and the acros placed near the surface ... will the acros have any chance of colouring and growing ?

[Tanzy]

do you think 150W MH and the acros placed near the surface ... will the acros have any chance of colouring and growing ?

Not very high chance, but can try.

Morgan,

Now you see the light!

Same as Iwasaki 6500K, colour is there but cannot see.

[Morgan]

Tanzy

I never realized that I got so many green acros.

My brown pachyseris is very green under the radium.

Will turn on the light tomorrow during the day and see if there is a colour difference.

[Tanzy]

Same as when Phang switched to a bluer bulb. Suddenly all the corals are green.

[Phang]

And getting greener as time passes by......

Wonder how's the effect with the Radiums 400Ws... betting on their higher PAR for growth....

[mv3i]

veri nice ..... make me want to get into SPS now ....

[robe]

The green you see from the Radium is the UV component of the spectrum. Radium blue bulbs has a peak at 450 nm and it crosses the 400 nm just above the halfway from the peak. That's why you don't need actinics when you run radium.

It may not be good though for clams as it does not have enough intensity at other wavelengths. At 400w radiums have only 8,000 lumens as compared to a 6500K Iwasaki 400w at 32000 lumens.

[Morgan]

robe

I using the radiums for night time viewing. 250W is not intense enough to counter the yellow of the sunlight. Probably need much higher wattage bulb.

With radium you don't need the actinic. The corals flourescent very well.

[Tanzy]

I find that the corals look and flouresce more under actinics. The peak at 450nm from the Radiums is quite sharp so they lack violet spectrum of 420nm.

[robe]

If you want your corals to flouresce then put in a 20w blacklight (same one used to check currency notes). The lamp puts out UV-A 380 nm wavelenght. This is the same light they use in discos where your teeth flouresce as well.

[Morgan]

I think the coral will bleach if expose to too much UV too fast.

I think you have to do it slowly over several days or weeks.

[robe]

Some reefers abroad have used them but have placed them higher farher away from the water surface. A 20w bulb would not have that much intensity to harm the corals.

[spiff]

hi robe,

where to find blacklight? acros look damn nice under it

[robe]

Lighting shops should be selling them. They are the same lamps as those insect killer as well as insects are attracted by it.

[Morgan]

Think you could get them from lighting shop.

UV at 380nm is not good for the skin. Long term exposure can cause skin cancer.

[spiff]

thks man...maybe i'll buy them. but dunno how to hook it up. my tank no hood

[spiff]

oh man...........like tt cannot liao. no hood to shield me

[Morgan]

spiff

You could use a 2' reflector to block. Just don't use it for sun tanning.

[robe]

Do not look at the bulbs directly or work on ur tank under them for some time. Morgan's right. As long as you have a hood that does not allow the light from the lamp spill directly from the lamp it should be okay. One lamp for a 4 to 5 foot tank should be enough to flouresce the corals. They probably gets several tens of times the amount of UV A, B & C in the coral reefs day in day out. UV A is not as harmful as B & C and they are less penetrating.