[Papa Doug]

Pic of my 5in. squamosa. Did not like my Radiums. Now under 400w Iwasaki bulbs, its doing great. Excellent growth and the outside edges are turning blue.

I also have a maxima, that was brown when purchased. Its higher up and now turning a blue/black under the Iwasaki. Will shoot a pic when I have a chance.

[kccmc]

I thought once they loose their color that it does not come back ???
Is that not the case

[Papa Doug]

Its not that any lost their colour under the Radiums, although they sure look different, its just that in my 30in. deep tank, the 400w Radiums/pulse start ballasts did not provide enough light. Perhaps 4 of them over my 6ft tank would have been fine, but I cheap.

This lighting is only two 400w Iwasaki,s.

[miareefer]

Very nice Squamosa Doug look forward to seeing your Maxima

[Papa Doug]

Thanks Mia. Here is a top down pic of the maxima, I took while working in the tank yesterday. The darn thing is a different colour looking down under the Iwasaki,s. When viewed from the front, its more blue/black type of green.

[SueT]

Doug, that is a beautiful pic of your squamosa. You can sure see how happy and full it is. How could you tell the clam was not doing well under the radiums?? Not opening, looking deflated?? I'm just curious. It sure looks great now.

[Papa Doug]

Hi Sue,
Hows the tanks doing? Still just using kalk and a calcium additive on that tank full of sps?

None of my corals did well under the Radiums. It seemed at first some sps bleached from them, as many others have posted also, then after seemed like not enough light for most corals. Thats on the pulse start ballasts and not being overdriven. I ran three over the tank and it may have been enough, but not impressed with replacing three Radiums every year.

I also tried various combos of Iwasaki and Radiums, which appeared to be the best. However some of the growth still was lacking. To my eyes and the look of the corals, running just two 400w Iwasaki bulbs, was more light than 3 Radiums. Maybe it was the 30in. depth of the tank.

The clams were over 40in. away from the Radiums. Expansion was still good, but no noticable growth and colour was drab, which is unusual under Radiums. Under the Iwasaki,s they have grown and have much more colour in them. The maxima went from a drab brown/green to a nice blue/black green.

I,m not sure if I had other problems with the radiums or not. I have had to move most of my sps to a friends tank. He is now running the pair of 400w Radiums, but also 4-110w vho,s on a 24in. deep tank and they are doing super.

FWIW, after this long post on my Radiums, , I have not given up on them. I would not use them in on my large tank but thinking of doing a 60g cube sps tank, with a single 400w Radium/pulse start over it. No overflows or nothing and filtered only by my large turf scrubber.

[SueT]

Doug, sit down if you're not already.....I did break down and get a calcium reactor. Had a heck of a time getting it dialed in but it is now and the tank is very stable. The corals also had a heck of a time going through the motions too. The clams never skipped a beat though.

I imagine those radiums would have a hard time penetrating down a 30" tank depth plus the lighting adjustment of 10". Those iwasaki's wouldn't blink an eye though. Glad everything is doing well otherwise.

I have also been wanting to do something different lighting wise but I just can't make up my mind. I think and am leaning towards the 250w 10k AB's but then I don't know. I don't want to mess with changing ballasts from my PFO. Then I heard some good things about 250w 10k XM's, but haven't seen them in person.

Have a good one!!

[Papa Doug]

Always wondered how you could keep up to that load of beautiful sps corals without a reactor and not spend a fortune on calcium additives. Like you, I have tried also, {I,m not a big fan of reactors}, but to no avail.

If you have a look at the Iwasaki pic in the lighting forum, one can see the vast amounts of coralline I have and an impossible task to keep up to calcium demand, with kalk and B-Ionic. My large reactor manages though. Guess thats how it has to be.