Is 400w too much for 70g?

[dirty59rt]

I've got a 70g tank that measures about 36" long 23"high and 20" wide. I've been running a 400w 10k on it for awhile with 2- 75w actinics. Is this too much? I got a variety of livestock. SPS LPS, Clams, Zoos, Polyps...

 

[kindafun]

I don't see how that could be too much. I'm running 2-250W MH on a 75 gal which is very standard. Getting ready to put some actinics on it, again a standard setup.

Are you seeing something that makes you think it's too much light?

 

[dirty59rt]

Well... the sps seem to be doin fine. Not growin very fast, but they do look good. My star polyps usually just come out at night, candy cane corals aren't puffed out at all and i got some blasto that hasn't grown a bit in months. But like i said the sps look good and plate coral, frogspawn, zoo's, my clam are doin great too. I've been tryin to figure this out for awhile and i thought i'd question the lighting...

 

[kindafun]

Lots of puzzles in this hobby! FYI, I've got sps up high in mine that are doing great and a candy cane that's about in the middle that is also growing well. Perhaps it's something with water parameters? Calcium, alkalinity? I've never fed my candy cane but my water has been pretty nutrient rich the last couple of months (just ordered a new skimmer to reduce that).

Good luck!

 

[Chckrbrd Wrasse]

Here is an excerpt from an article I was reading.

To correctly light a reef aquarium that is 24" deep or less, use a lighting system between 4 to 8 watts per gallon. Of course, you can relax requirements significantly by choosing to house only corals and invertebrates that require low levels of light, as well as non-photosynthetic invertebrates.

 

[TheCoralNabber]

a friend of mine has 250W on his 30, you are fine! Sounds like you need to be dosing, or adding kalk to your top off water.

 

[glassbox-design]

We have a 400w 20k XM on a 20gallon....you're fine.

eric&flint

 

[dirty59rt]

Well something else i was thinkin that was causin this is over skimming... Anyone think that's the problem?

 

[StefanHayek]

What are you paramaters?

 

[dirty59rt]

temp. 78-80 F.
specific gravity 1.024
ph 8.2-8.3
magnesium 1390
calcium 400-420
alk. 9 dkh
nitrate 0.0
ammonia 0.0

These were recorded a few days ago. But they are pretty consistant.

2-75w actinicts come on at 10:00am off at 10:00pm
400w mh comes on at 11:30 am off at 7:30 pm

Incase the lighting period matters...