Is 14k mh bulbs enough for sps

[saltyreefguy]

I am having space issues in adding supplemental actinic lighting in my cube
tank. I currently have a single 14k mh bulb over my 150gl. cube reeftank, mostly sps and some lps on the sand. some of sps are seem to be losing abit of
color and turning pale, so i was wondering if i am starving the sps of 420nm
spectrum or do i not needed?

150gl. cube
470ca.
10.6alk
10.25sg
0.0no3
0.1no4
1440mg

 

[110galreef]

that seems a bit inadequete. Is is a 400w MH? How deep is the tank?

 

[saltyreefguy]

it is 36x36x27, most of the sps are about 7 inches from the top of the tank, and mh is sitting about 12inches from the top of the tank. i was going to add some actinic vho's but the canopy is split into 2 pieces so its kinda awkward for extra bulbs.

i am thinking of switching over to 400 radiums, but also heard other reefers with 400w radiums still use actinic supplements.

 

[bryan007]

You don't mention what the wattage is of the MH bulb you are using but I would say if not using at least a 250watt bulb I would upgrade to that wattage.

 

[mike_cmu04]

It could also be due to your alk which is a little high or your phosphates.

 

[RyanAlan]

What 14K bulb are you using?

 

[RyanAlan]

Also, what ballast and reflector are you using?

 

[saltyreefguy]

sorry guys, for the late reply, been having problems with my morphine pump implant.
1. 1 400w ushio 14k
2. lumenarc 3 reflector
3. ice cap newer ballast
4. 150gal cube 36x36x27 deep
5. my alk was at 11.5 sps were much more happier and coloring, decided to lower it,
seeming it might be abit high, was thinking of raising it back up slowly?
6. i was dosing 2/3part, and switched over to calc reactor, sometimes i do top off water
kalk every other day.
7. i have a mrc mr2/iwaki 40rlt.
8. i have been dosing vodka, on and off for the last two month,(maybe my problem?)

thanks for any advice or input.
?
i decided to put some t5's with icecap or vhos with icecap or led's, anyone have any of these combinations? or is it too much actinic?. also, been thinking heavily to switch over to radiums for some time now, guess i better start looking to buy the correct ballast for radiums.

 

[110galreef]

400w Ushio on a lumenarc III should be plenty of light.

I bet between the alk change & the vodka dosing variables that is your issue.

if it's not broke, don't fix it!

VHO's have the best acctinic supp. Led's would be cool too. Lighting color is all preference. Also if you plan radiums, get the correct (M80) balast i believe.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

As stated above, a single 400 watt light should be plenty. With the right water conditions you can also get great colors with only MH lights. Additional actinic or led lighting is not needed for great color if the water quality is suitable. I run my systems with only MH and find colors to be much more dependant on water quality than type of lighting the piece happens to be under.

 

[Justdrew]

400w Ushio on a lumenarc III should be plenty of light.

I bet between the alk change & the vodka dosing variables that is your issue.

if it's not broke, don't fix it!

VHO's have the best acctinic supp. Led's would be cool too. Lighting color is all preference. Also if you plan radiums, get the correct (M80) balast i believe.

The 250 watt Radiums require HQI ballast to drive to proper wattage. The 400 watt is a completely different beast and does fine with electronic ballast as it likes to run under 400 watts.

Drew

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Do your homework on the radiums before you buy a ballast. They do not run properly on all 400 watt ballast. I have seen some ballast drive them pink. I am still using a 400 radium in my system that a guy on this forum gave me as his ballast would drive it pink instead of blue. It works great, over driven to a nice white blue with the ballast that i am using on it.

Although I said before that I use 400 watt without suppliments I do mix the lights. My favorite combo is a 400 radilum flanked by two 10 K lamps. Here is an image i recorded a couple of minutes ago under one of the 10 lamps. The pieces here all get spillover light from the radium in the center of the tank. I find the mix of 10 K and 20 K to be most pleasing.

 

[am3gross]

dog boy dave! great pics. what kind of camera do you use?



and to the original poster how old are the bulbs that you are using?

 

[allsps40]

I have a single 250w 20k over my tank and I grow sps just fine. I was using Phoenix 14ks for a while as well. PO$ at 0.1 is high that will cause problems.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

The Images were recorded with a Nikon Kool pix 5700

 

[parkavenuereef]

I have the same tank and have been battling light issues for two years... Here are my findings... I started with 2 x 400 W 20K XMs on icecap ballast side by side with two 75W Actinic R VHO's on a icecap 440... That was WAY TO MUCH LIGHT!!! bleached everything to death... So I downgraded to one 400W Hamilton 14K... with the two Actinics 75W VHOs... More than enough light and depending on what setup you have hood wise I have the marineland setup with black canopy so everything had to go in the hood. with the single 400W 12 inches from the top was to to much and bleached my sps.. I basically moved everything down to the floor level.. I read somewhere about being a cube and being starphire glass it makes a difference in reflection on the inside causing light to bounce around.. Not sure how valid that is really but I guess it could be possible.. Moral is, in this tank a 400W is alot cause of the dimesions but It will work, just can't mount things to high... actinics can be worked in.. I plan on going back to a 20K to balance things out.. The 14K in this tank looks to pale to me.. If I add anymore light in the future it will be VHO or t5.. Not more Halide. Hope that helps!

 

[saltyreefguy]

even though when i wasn't dosing vodka, it was a roller coaster ride, few weeks the sps looking descently nice and for a few weeks they look pale and not happy looking thats when i had stopped vodka and kalk dosing/top off. so this pass saturday, just as a experiment i added carbon, and resumed topoff with kalk (no vodka) and just today, i notice most of the acros, there colors were starting look good again.

Do you guys think sps like more of the 2/3 part dosing, instead of calc reactor? I notice that their are plenty nice reef tanks that are on calc reactors and also plenty of reefs that dose 2/3 part, is that just out of choice of what the reefer like to use?

thanks, to all the input and advices...

Rod boy, your tank looks awesome, wish mine looked half that good.