Is My Acro getting enough light?

[TotalKhaos]

I just picked up a green acropora from Your Reef yesterday.

I just want to make sure I've got him placed alright. I run 3x175w MH's 10 inches over my tank. The Halides are spaced evenly over the 5 ft length. My aquascape has the tallest rocks reaching only midlevel. I have the acropora placed on top of one of those rocks. The halides above are about 5 inches to the left and right of the acro.

I can easily move a few rocks around to place him higher in the tank if its necassary. Whaddaya think?

tia

 

[dots]

water quality and flow are as important to SPS success as to light. Those will be the other factors to getting your SPS to grow in the long term.

As far as your question concerning acros.......depends on who you ask. The SPS forum will say you ain't cool unless you are running 250's minimum if not 400's.

I would say that you may not get the "fastest" growth with what wattage you have, but I think there will be no problem overall.

Mine is a 75 with 2/150DE w/14k, a daylight 96w pc, a one 96w actinic..ie: less light than you have, and seem to be doing well. In fact, some of mine have encrusted over the glue already

I can't stress flow enough....STRONG

Oh yeah, some suggest acclimation by setting on the sand bed and moving it up to the top level gradually. Read the coral as you move it up to see if it likes its position and adjust.

 

[robertloop]

I have all my acro's under 175MH. Yours will do great. BTW.. I have crappy flow in comparison to most sps tanks and all my sps thrives. Perhaps they would grow faster with better flow? Maybe.

I'm running two power sweeps and a hagen 803 return pump in my 55g.

I pay more attention to water quality for coral growth. Other than nitrates, my CA and alk tank params are ideal. I also use Sea chem "reef plus". (iodine and amino acids) I am a firm believer in the amino suppliments for color. I always have high nitrates. Im sure there are many people that would despise my tank having nitrates but the corals dont lie folks. Im my experience LPS such as frog spawn or bubble coral are FAR more senstivie to nitrates than SPS. All my montipora are also far more sensitve to the nitrates than the Acroporas. I can always tell when the nitrates are too high when the monti's polyps dont open up. A water test at 50 mg/l nitrate always confirms. ---> water change time.

 

[TotalKhaos]

ok so basically my lighting is OK but moving the acro a little higher or directly beneath a halide in the tank couldnt hurt.

My basic water Params are all good, I keep B-Ionic around in case I have any calcium dips. OK?

I do water changes Bi-weekly. I change 15 to 20g on a typical water change. I use IO.

I move roughly 19x my tanks water volume p/h. Different areas of the tank get different flows. Several areas get very strong intermittant flow, others get a very gentle breeze. I've been toying with my flow almost constantly since setting up the tank as a few of my corals are very picky. Like the Green Brain - He objects strongly to anything more than a breeze whereas my anemone likes his spot near the hydor flo nozzle that continually occillates.

I guess my challange as I try out sps is to locate the right areas in my tank and tweak the flow as needed. I plan on investing a few dollars into a seio or something of that sort soon.

Thanks For the Advise. I'm really nervous about the sps and am trying to get things just right.

 

[robertloop]

Ive been B-ionic for at least 5 years. I use seachem powders (Reef builder for alk and reef advantage for CA) for a boost in any areas that I need. Alkalinity drop outs can sneek up on you when you start getting stocked up with alot of stony corals. That's when some reef builder getts tossed in the sump. When I upgrade into a larger tank a CA reactor will definetely smooth out alkalinity fluctuations. Totally love the B-ionic. I get the 64 oz bottles from marine depot for $13 !!

As far as flow goes... Just make sure that any acros arent in stagnet locations. Most LPS species seem to do good in little flow. I have blastomossa and pagoda cup in low flow areas and they seem quite happy.