Lets talk about lighting an SPS tank

[JB NY]

Using DE ights I think you will be fine with your tank. Personaly I would at least try it with DE before I even thought of getting 250 MH.

 

[Robert Patterso]

Thanks Joe, Now that's only one DE light, plenty you think? My vho is only 24" also so I have 6" on each side that's not covered. I may go to t5 ho setup to take care of the coverage. No 36" vho bulbs that I'm aware of.

Thanks again.

 

[JB NY]

I would use two DE on a 36" tank.

 

[Robert Patterso]

Thanks Joe, I know this off subject but do you feed your tank, corals I mean. If so, what?

 

[juststartingout]

How many of you are running with 250 watt MH bulbs and have a tank the is 30" deep/tall. Due to the cost of electricity and a larger tank I am thinking of switching from my 3- 400 wt down to 4 -250 watts, the new tank is longer, thats why I am figuring 4, they will be in luminarc3's.

 

[Travis]

I am getting by just fine with 3 x 250w XM 10k's on a 72 x 30 x 30. Perfect balance of growth, heat, and electrical consumption, IMO.

 

[xlayedoutx]

I've got a 75g tank and was thinking about maybe getting into SPS. Now I have (2) 150 MH's and all the sites that I've gone to say that this is enough wattage for sps, but I see you guys talking about 250 watt and up. Has anybody tried keeping SPS with 150 watt MH's and what were the results. I'm thinking about just buying one frag and seeing what happens after a few months. My water quality is exactly where it needs to be and as long as I can keep it there I'm hoping that will make up for the lack of lighting if there is one.


Also my other question is I'm looking into getting one of the new Solaris units, although this wouldn't be for awhile. At least not untill they make replacement LEDs on the unit that can be changed at home instead of sending the whole unit back. Anyways what do you think of this lighting in reguards to SPS?

 

[fast94m]

I havent been in this game long but i can atleast give you my experience. I've been running 2 150w 10k hqi bulbs w/ 2 t5 actinics over my 75g and have been growing monti caps as the only sps coral so far w/ great results. Decent growth and no coloration loss. They are in the top 1/3 of my tank along w/ a maxima clam too if that helps you get an idea, check my gallery for some outdated pics. I want to try acros but am waiting for my tank to catch up on coralline and just give me a sense that it is maturing and stabilized before i spend all the money on expensive acros. All the other softies and lps are doing great also. Give the one or two frags of sps a shot, i dont think youll be totally disappointed. I might add that my 10k bulbs are generic brand and i'm looking forward to a growth comparison when i change to a blv or xm proven bulb in a few months.

 

[rogergolf66]

well this is a large thread and maybe I missed it, but can you have to much light?

Roger

 

[ATJ]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10799942#post10799942 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rogergolf66
well this is a large thread and maybe I missed it, but can you have to much light?

In my opinion, yes. Photoinhibition has been demonstrated in shallow water corals, even at higher latitudes. The zooxanthellae don't photosynthesize during the middle of the day when light is at its highest. If you were to provide that much light for the whole day in a tank, they probably won't photosynthesize at all.

Also note that even shallow water corals reach saturation at around 20% of full sunlight. i.e. they don't/can't make use of any more light.

 

[Randy1]

How about 10K MH with VHO actinics? Best of both worlds??

<a href=showthread.php?
s=&postid=2976407#post2976407 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AlgaeMan
My observations are:
10k's are needed to keep yellows. Yellow turns green under 20k
20k's are better for keeping blues and deep purples
Mixing 10k's and 20k's are optimum for keeping all colors.

 

[jackson6745]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10801522#post10801522 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy1
How about 10K MH with VHO actinics? Best of both worlds??

I always though so. At least 3 or 4 tubes though IMO.

 

[frank88]

....IMO, pick a lamp that puts out a color you like 6500K eek: not for me), 10K or Blue (14K, 20K and the rest of the blue bulbs I put into this category) has decent PAR....

which means?

 

[rogerwilco357]

I love my vho's for the color they put out the 10k Ushio's for the growth factor they seem to work for my sps and off they go to another tank with an ATI T5 powermodule for coloring them up if I was selling them in frags..if not then once they get the size I want I go with the radiums for the color stage 250 watts SE bulbs..hope that made sense being 4 in the morning lol..

 

[JB NY]

which means?

Something with a PAR of 350 or higher.