talking about T5 and SPS color !

[andresont]

Almost unbelievable

http://www.atiaquaristik.com/index.php?id=139,0,0,1,0,0


http://www.atiaquaristik.com/index.php?id=140,0,0,1,0,0

[fishytime]

I saw this guys tank in a link on another forum. And ...WOW. Not to shabby for T5s eh?

[Snappy]

I think that part of the consideration here isn't the just lighting but the grade of the corals. From my understanding when companies are distributing sps worldwide generally the European market is sent the grade A, USA is sent grade A/B & Canada is sent what they can't sell elsewhere or grade C. Could be just a rumor but how often do you see sps that looks really good in the stores here?
Nice looking stuff on that link.

[Jason McK]

Well I certainly can't get those colours from my Frag tank.

I run MH in my display but as soon as I frag a coral and put it in my frag tank it looses all it's great colour.

[andresont]

Yeah, and also in the discription ,they feed them some color suplement too.

[Delphinus]

I think that to a point, there is some element of truth to the saying that Canada gets the leftovers.. but ... at the same time, I think a "Grade A" coral quickly becomes a "Grade B" or "Grade C" coral, depending on tank conditions and maintenance. And I think the reverse is true, that a "Grade B or C" coral can become a "Grade A" once again under the right care. So for us it becomes more about what "potential" a piece has, over what a piece "currently looks like." That's my take anyhow.

Here's another thought. There's just something I can't quite put my finger on when I look at those photos. It's like ... it's like, if I look at the individual coral closeup photos ... they look nice, but no nicer than some of the nice corals I've seen in fellow Canuck's tanks.

For example, take a look at this light blue acro, seen in the first link above:


Now look at this one (This is from a Canreefer's tank):


Is the German coral really nicer than the local coral? I don't think so. In fact, I think quite the opposite. The Canreefer's coral shows MUCH nicer in closeup. Plus the background is cleaner, ie. no bubbles and fuzz algae on the rocks.

But when I look at the German full-tank shot:


There's something subjective that makes the presentation almost overwhelming. Like I said, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems to have something to do with the density, and the placement of each coral so as to maximize the contrast between each piece, which gives the tank a much better "Oohhh wow" factor.

The one thing about this German tank that also sticks out, there are some larger colonies there and the colours are solid from top to bottom and there is no recession at the bottom. I for one would really like to know to manage that on a long-term basis. Anytime I had a large SPS colony, the top would shade out the bottom and there would be brownouts or outright recession at the bottoms. Caps were the worst for this and in fact I steer away from caps nowadays for this reason, I grew weary of constantly needing to trim them back every week. So is it a question of the right kind of flow, ie., something they've got that we don't, is it a question of moving your lights around so that there's no constantly-shaded-out-spots? Or do they rearrange their tanks often enough to keep up? Or is there a more sinister side to the story, ie., are they just replacing their corals as they lose that initial "pop" ? (I really hope that's not the case!!)

Or maybe they just have the dosing equivalent of steroid abuse - I know the colours are nice but if THAT were the case, I'd be very wary about a regimen like that - I'd hate to basically have to be treating my tanks as the equivalent of a full time job and I'd hate to train someone up to take care of my tank like that in the times I have to go away for work or vacation or whatever ..

At any rate though, I'm not sure that T5's are really the only difference here. Certainly T5's have a lot of potential however, there's no doubt about that.

[Nate]

Tony you speak of the bottom of the coral recession, which I used have using a standard 250 watt halide. I no longer experience this after using an 8 bulb tek t5 unit, becasue the light comes from different angles, not so much of a spotlight effect.

As for coral colours. I have never had as good of colour as I do now with T5's. and that is not to sum it all up to t5's either as there are many things I do differently now.

Also, to comment on how the tank just looks off...I notice this too with some European tanks, I think they would look more accurate if the prices were written on the glass infront of the corals as they all have that display case look to them.

Nate

[Delphinus]

Hmmm, interesting. The diffuse-ness of the light helps keep the bottoms viable. Ok, that's a major plus then for the T5's.

Curious, what are your thoughts about penetration of T5's? How tall is your tank? Would additional bulbs (ie. 8 vs. 6, or 10 vs. 8, etc.) compensate for taller tanks (e.g., a 30" tall tank).

I imagine one big plus of an 8 bulb unit is the ability to mix and match bulbs to get a wicked colour and spectral coverage.

What other things would you say you are doing that are contributing to your better colour these days?

[michika]

Is it just me or does the water at the top of both tanks look hazy? Could it just be the photos, but some of the colors looked washed out, particularly at the top of the tanks.

Delphinius, I must agree with you, I've seen some local tanks that look just as good, if not better. The colors, and clairity of some local tanks are much sharper, giving the viewer a "cleaner" view.

[Nate]

Ummmm....

Tony 24 inch tall tank, 30 inch wide...the 8 bulb tek unit gives full coverage.

Penetration is great, I wish the tank was 30 tall for 2 reasons. One, growth to the top, and 2 I bleach quite a few corals with the intensity of the light (ie encrusting monti's) even on the very bottom of the tank.

I also wanted to mention I have been trying out as many different bulbs as possible everything from 3000 k to all the different ATI bulbs. So if you have any questions about a bulb in particular, I will be happy to let yyou know iuf I have tried it and noticed abything with it.

BEtter colour I attribute to....

LESS Maintenance
T5 lighting
More flow (4 koralia 4's and a couple of seio's on a seio controller, and two rio 32 hf'splumbed through the eurobrace.)

Oh, and I am now using a bubblemaster as well, which hasnt made a difference in colour, but possibly polyp extension for some reason
and just better tank design than my tanks prior.