Currently I am running ATI fix but thinking of going w a t5 hqi combo,thoughts?

[Outlets710]

My tank is 26x16x14 and currently have the 4bulb 24 inch ATI fixture on there and I'm just not getting the growth I expected .montis and birdsnest do great but It seems like im just stabilizing acros, should I give this a shot

Aqua Medic 24" Ocean Light 150 Plus Metal Halide with T5
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All my parimaters r on point but my tank is almost 8 months old and some of my acro frags look like they did when I put them in there.my question is...is what I have now enough light to grow SPS?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Drae]

Imho 4 bulbs with 2 being actinic ,most likely, is not enough (ati or not). If it were me I'd do the hqi w/ 2 ati blue pluses. 10k hqi will give you the growth your looking for but you'll have to supplement it with good t5 bulbs and imho replace them every 9 mos. Jmo

 

[Drae]

If your acros are colorful but don't grow and your parameters are stable either feed more, increase flow or increase lighting.

 

[biggles]

As Drae has mentioned, changing your lighting drastically might not resolve the issue and or might be an expensive disappointment. Before you decide on the new light perhaps look at your bulb choice in the ATI fixture, how how is it above the tank etc. How much flow and what type is it in your tank. Just want you to double check a few things before taking the plunge on the halide ( shimmer can't be beaten ) lol. Are you running any carbon - i don't trust flubbery things around SPS.....

 

[Outlets710]

As far as food I was feeding a block a mysis and a cap of microvore daily. Being that my tank is an AIO and where it sits I am bit limited on space ,meaning I don't have room for a skimmer which landed me a serious phosphate problem so i did a 50% water change and have been doing 5 gallon water changes weekly in addition to running chemi pure elite. Things are finally back to normal.
flow-I have an mp10 and my return for circ, which I think w the mp it's plenty.
Bulbs-3 atinic and 1 white, fixture hangs about 4 inches from tank.

I have a feeling you guys are about to tell me I'm way off on coral food, so please offer up some suggestions , I'm told ten diff things at LFS so I never know what to go w.

I like the look of my light plus I have no clue to where I am going to stash the ballast so really not dying to go out amd buy a new fixture.

Drae
If I did go to another fixture which do you recommend?

 

[biggles]

I would strongly suggest swapping out your bulbs to 3x blue+ and a coral+ changing one bulb at a time and watching your corals as you carry out the change. I am certain you will see better results with different bulbs in your ATI fixture.

 

[BHD]

It is hard to help someone without seeing the tank but here are my opinions anyway.
I am not familiar with those 3 Actinic bulbs that you have and now much par do they put out. But next time you can try 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Aquaspecial and 1 ATI Purple Plus. With that combo, it would give you good color and alot of par. I think its more than enough light. I don't think you have to change to MH to get corals to grow. I have the sunpower 6x54watts over my 75 gallons and I get alot of light.

As for your questions about growth, SPS are very weird. Some of my sps are growing too fast and I am running out of space. Some of them just stunt and stay small for a year or so. Then one day, they just start growing very fast.

So I guess you just have to keep everything stable and wait and wait. One thing about sps is that if it is alive, sooner or later, it will grow. That is if your nitrate and phosphate are low and everything else stable.

Good Luck,
Bao

 

[Outlets710]

Maybe I should I have been more specific

Maybe I should I have been more specific

I have 2 ATI blue 1 ATI purple and one white, what is an aquaspecial?

Thank you guys for the encouraging words, ill keep at it. One last question, with doing weekly water changes my calcium stays at 450, I have even tried a mixing a lower salinity, is 450 entirely too high for sps?

What do u guys feed your sps?

 

[BHD]

That's more than enough light for it.
As for calcium, you can pick a point from 360 to 500 and keep it stable. I keep mine at 400-450. The most important thing is Alkalinity, no Calcium. If Alk isn't stable, then you are in trouble. Again, pick a number between 7 - 11 and keep it stable. Most people keep their Alk somewhere between 8 - 9. how do you dose your alk and cal? I would suggest you buy a doser and dose your alk and cal. It is very easy and keep your params very stable.

 

[Outlets710]

I use a 2 part and add a cap of alk weekly amd that keeps it between 8.4-9
Do u feed your corals w anything?

 

[s_luark]

The ati is just as good as the light your looking at buying

 

[potterjon]

I don't think it has much to do with your lighting. 8 months just isn't that long for sps. I have some sps that took a year or so just to start moving. Some grow quicker than others. I have had a few corals that I thought would never grow and then one day you look back at your tanks and they are growing like crazy. If you have good color I would just try and wait it out. Don't go messing with too many things at once or you will shock them and you may be waiting longer. You have a nice fixture and I don't think you need a new one.