Washed out colors

Nitrates and Phosphates are 0

 

That's where mine are at too, and I had the same problem. I can let you know how my switch from T5s to MH goes. It may help, but it may not.

 

I've been doing some pretty heavy dosing of magnesium for the past two weeks trying to get my level above 1200, but it doesn't want to move any higher. I wonder if the extra dosing may be impacting the clarity of the water? I have been adding the mag supplement to my ATO. The last refill of the reservoir was without the mag dosing, will be interesting to see if it makes a difference. Should know by tomorrow.

 

SPS and LPS - The outside dimensions of the tank are:
36"x36"x27"

 

If your calcium is below 360 your colors can fade. If one of your lights looks yellow that could cause the colors to look washed out. You can add magnesium up to a change of 100ppm per day.

 

That's good to know.

 

mag can be up around 1500 with no ill effects Id get your to 1300-1400 just to help keep your Ca and ALK in balance

 

Now I'm confused

For those who ask, water params:

• Ca - 400
• Kh - 8/143.1
• Ph - 8.21
• Mg - 1200
• Sg - 1.025
• Temp - 78.5
• Phosphates - 0
• Nitrates - 0

Now for the confusion aspect. According to what I have read, the IceCap lamps that I have (39w) are T5 HO. Which means that they are not being overdriven per their spec. Secondly the information I have found for T5 and T5 HO states that they have a 20,000 hour life span. That's 5.48 years for a ten hour cycle per day. The bulbs I have were received the first week in July of this year, which means they are barely two months old.

xmetalfann99 made a statement that overdriven bulbs were only good for six months tops. I may have incorrectly stated that my bulbs were overdriven. They are 39W bulbs which would put them as an HO rather than overdriven. I'm still concerned about the life span of the bulbs. I was estimating a change every two years or so. Does anyone know where the specifics of the life span of IceCap T5s is? I have looked through their web site with no luck, and Google yielded no results. The typical recommendations on forums for T5s is 12-18 months which is a lot less than the 65 month life expectancy for the bulbs.

 

If you are using and IceCap ballasts you are overdriving the bulbs, they are actually producing 60W per lamp. The time range given for overdriven lamps is the short end 9 months is probably max.