Comments on: Coral Magazine Jan-Feb 2009 Issue – New Site, Aquascape Contest, No T5s?

By: Jeremy Maneyapanda

Jeremy Maneyapanda — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:44:39 +0000

I, too, am glad Calfo, et al, took it over. I had let me subscription lapse when it was under the control of Ecosystems. I felt it was quite lacking then, with marginally inofrmative articles and features. It was almosts a periodical advertisemnt for Ecosystem. I ws pleasantly surprised by the last issue, and renewed my subscription.

By: Jeremy Maneyapanda

Jeremy Maneyapanda — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:42:12 +0000

Eric, while I think ballast and reflector combos will make a big difference with MH, I guess my poorly stated point was that, with MH, it will rarely make the MH a poor light choice. even a poor refelctor and poor ballast will still provide valuable light with a MH setup. However, with T5,s a poor ballast and poor reflector can almost render a fixture useless, while a good reflector and ballast can make it the polar extreeme opposite, and make it phenomonal. Its the realtive scale I was referring to.

By: Nicholas Sadaka

Nicholas Sadaka — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:05:45 +0000

I just want to say that I absolutely LOVE Coral magazine and read it cover to cover. I subscribe to a lot of aquarist magazines, but Coral magazine is the only one that I keep with my aquatic literature…all my other mags are eventually given to kids at the library. The photos are stunning and I would say that there hasn’t been an issue yet where after I have read it, hasn’t inspired me to try something different or start a new type of tank. I don’t have the money or space for more tanks, but I’ve certainly though about and designed plenty in my mind. More than anything, I find Coral magazine to be…inspiring! Not too many magazines have the ability to have that kind of affect. With how many different aspects of reefing there are, I’m a little surprised that Coral and Anthony’s quarterly (I believe) magazines are the only strictly reefing mags available to us in the US. I’d love there to be more, but Anthony’s alluded in Editor’s Notes that running a mag is a really tough business, so I guess that’s probably why. I think a lot of reefer’s overlook Coral because of the price and the frequency it’s put out. Let me just say to those people, it is WELL, WELL worth it…I’d pay double without blinking.

By: eric michael

eric michael — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:46:03 +0000

@Cliffy, I found the 4x MH a bit odd as well; 3 have always sufficed. I have even used 2 with Lumenarcs for adequate coverage. I completely agree, T5s are particularly useful as supplements to metal halides. While they do lack the pop of VHO Actinic, they can provide useful PAR while simulating sunrise/sunset.

@Jeremy, Truthfully I believe the ballast reflector combination is more important for Metal Halides, but I do see where you’re coming from. IMO a simple T5 with individual reflectors covers the area well. In either case, it’s difficult to give full information without including a particular brand or specific product.

By: Jeremy Maneyapanda

Jeremy Maneyapanda — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:44:55 +0000

While this can arguably be pursued for all lighting methods, it seems that the “bugaboo” with T5 is that the combination of ballast and reflector is what causes such polar differences between mediocre T5 use and spectacular T5 use. Like I said, I do believe that this is also true of MH, but perhaps not to the degree of the T5. Along with that, it would near, if not completely, impossible to account for such a seemingly infinite combination of permutations to address. I am not saying that T5s should have been left off, but I think unless appropriately address, it is a misleading application.

By: mcliffy2

mcliffy2 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:01:59 +0000

Thanks for pointing out the one ommission I saw in an otherwise GREAT publication. The statement that you would “typically” put FOUR metal halides over a six foot tank struck me as a bit odd, but suggesting reducing that to two with a light mover was on point (although how about one 400w MH with some high PAR blue T5 supplements, all on a light mover).