gotta another 4 ya doc

[zsuzsu]

hiya doc, i have an idea , maybe you can save me some time with your knowledge. i have started an experiment with one of my reefs, i picked the halide/ berlin old school tank because it's bullet proof. this time of year my ph is suppressed cause the house is closed up and i'm not drilling a hole in my house for fresh air to the skimmer... anyway...my thought is to raise my lighting to reduce par values as to keep the photosynthesis jamming longer during the photoperiod. my thinking is if the corals are getting their par requirements too soon in the photoperiod they will shutdown and stop photosynthesis thereby lowering ph values. is this viable? or just marbles rollin around in a control freaks mind?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I think you are correct. But the effect of the amount wold be minimal. Also so complex it'll smash your marbles.

You'll have to look at some of Dana Riddles threads on the processes that happen when zooox shunts light and and sends the light energy into other processes.
That's real been shaking up my bag of marbles.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Dana would be better to assess how light levels impacts total synthesis, since it depends on how the corals respond in your particular tank.

My expectation is less light is not going to usefully help the pH later when the light is off.

 

[zsuzsu]

ok thanx guys, btw can you transfer my op to danas' forum as i don't know how. thanx again...zsu

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

ok thanx guys, btw can you transfer my op to danas' forum as i don't know how. thanx again...zsu

It isn't something that you can do, but I can.

 

[zsuzsu]

thanx again doc

 

[jda]

What are we talking about - how low? I used to range from 7.8 to 8.0 in a closed up home and the acropora grew well under 10 hours of MH. That is not REALLY low, but I have not noticed any difference since we moved, the current home is always open and we range from 8.15 to 8.35/8.4.

 

[zsuzsu]

i have noticed my best growth spurts in the summer when my ph can spike up around 8.4, the temp can spike a bit in the summer. i keep my reefs at 77, but the halide tank is allowed to get to 80 occasionally probably contributing to the growth spurts. zsu

 

[Dana Riddle]

When I ask a question, I sometimes want a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer, but this is one of those that can't be easily answered. Theoretically, you could manipulate pH via lighting schedules. Of course there are tradeoffs that could affect your animals well beyond that of low pH. I see you have clams - if Tridacnas, they are light hogs and can suffer under low light. Contrary to popular lore, most Acroporas are sensitive to higher light - Acans much more so. If pH values are a true concern, perhaps a sump with some sort of algae (Chaeto, Caulerpa) with high illumination is your answer. Can you provide some PAR numbers (along with the make/model of meter) - that would really help if you want to pursue this.

 

[zsuzsu]

Dana, thanx for the reply, the clams are not in this tank ,but the reef is lit with radium bulbs and the par values on the corals are between 150 to 250 , the numbers using seneye. It's not really a hardcore "berlin" as it employs chaeto on a reverse schedule. I have watched many of your seminars which I've noticed most coral doesn't need gobs of par and can shut down photosynthesis before the lights go out., and possibly harm the animal itself. my lfs here has a pc rainbow that was stubborn and just sat there and did nothing for over a year, it was getting 220 par /blu+,coral+ t5s. They put the little frag in another tank getting 75 par, little to almost stagnant flow, and that stubborn little frag grew to basketball size over the summer... You could watch it grow. I was just wondering if we just have it all wrong, or this is just the red headed stepson frag put out there to make me crazy. Which the latter isn't out of the question.

 

[zsuzsu]

Btw, the tanks at the lfs are daisy chained, so other than light and flow They're in the same water