Sunday, February 28, 2016

40 Gallon Update

My display tank is making progress but here is an update on the corals I am growing for the display.


The tank is currently lit by an 8 bulb TEK T5 fixture. The bulb combo from front to back is as follows:
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Coral Plus
ATI Purple Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Coral Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus

The tank does not have a protein skimmer, the sump is full of live rock and Chaetomorpha macro algae.

Monday, February 1, 2016

PAR Readings Part III

My other Lumatek ballast went and I replaced it with another LuXcore and also a new Phoenix 14K bulb to compare the PAR to the Hamilton versus a 6 month old Phoenix bulb from the previous post. I still cannot run the LuXcore ballasts on a GFCI but I am not having issues with them firing up without being connected to the GFCI.


Results:

Phoenix 14K on LuXcore ballast:
HQI Setting -  269 watts of power draw at 825 PAR
Standard setting - 256 watts of power draw at 775 PAR


One week old Hamilton
Hamilton 20K on LuXcore ballast:
HQI Setting -  261 watts of power draw at 765 PAR
Standard setting - 249 watts of power draw at 720 PAR

The PAR measurements were taken 8" under the bottom of the reflector. The Phoenix has more of a white look when compared to the Hamilton. I wanted to have a bluer look than what I am used to without sacrificing PAR so I think I am going to run two Hamilton's over my tank. I have been running Phoenix 14K bulbs for the past 9 years and feel it is time for a change.