Lighting & Corals

[Lakeside518]

Since my rescent upgrade in lighting I'm finding it pretty well impossible to keep soft corals. All my water parameters are in check. Even on the bottom of the tank they still suffer. I'm currently running 9 1/4 watts per gallon.

If i shelter the corals under some rock ledges they begin to improve. The LPS looks great.

So I'm seriously considering getting some Acro's

Which is Hardy and recommended for beginners?

There are several i like. Like, Acropora samoensis, Acropora loripes, Acropora cerealis. Found on the LiveAquaria Diver's Den page. It is a large investment in corals. I don't want to sacrifice the animals or the cash. So when i goto do it i'm hoping to be well informed and make the right choices.

My flow consists of (2) seio 820's and a Rio HF12 for a return pump. Should i add more powerheads?? I have a Seio 620 not in use and a couple MJ's. I'm looking to upgrade to a Eheim 1260 return w/ a WaveySea wavemaker.

Thanks for any thoughts.

I will prolly be posting some Soft corals for sale or trade in the future.

 

[TA]

Sounds familiar. I've had trouble with softies too. (>10Watts/gal)
What coler temp are the halides? 10K? The softies may do better with if you change em out or fiddle with lighting periods. I found it wasnt worth it...wanted sps anyway.

Monti's for the most part are far easier than acros to keep. Why not start there. I got a boat-load for ya!

The samoensis I have are pretty tolerant when others have deteriorated.

More flow!

 

[PowderBlue518]

Yeah they are 250w 10 k's SE bulbs. I would like to keep my PAR up. Will eventually upgrade to Ice Cap ballasts and research bulbs again.

I have been reducing my burn time. I don't want to cut it back to far. 20 to 30x for flow with SPS right? It's been awhile since i last researched it.

(My bad on Jill's laptop) Opps!

Kris

 

[gary greguire]

my personal opinion is buys some frags from some local reefers first there are some great finds in the local clubs and much better prices..

 

[xian]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8188311#post8188311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PowderBlue518
Yeah they are 250w 10 k's SE bulbs. I would like to keep my PAR up. Will eventually upgrade to Ice Cap ballasts and research bulbs again.

I have been reducing my burn time. I don't want to cut it back to far. 20 to 30x for flow with SPS right? It's been awhile since i last researched it.

(My bad on Jill's laptop) Opps!

Kris

Looking Pretty Kris

If you shelter the softies they may adapt.

Get some monties they're pretty tough.

 

[jgarrison]

could you increase the distance from the water?
Could it be UV lens cracked ect?

 

[Lakeside518]

It would be difficult to increase the distance being that its a fixture. I do have the hanging brackets but i don't want to drill holes in the ceiling.

They are SE bulbs. The glass is thick 1/4" i would guess. I've never would have guessed i would have such problems with to much light. When you read how much light other RC members have on their profile & see the pics of thier tank setups, I feel I'm in the same class. The corals do not seem to like anything over 5 to 6 watt's a gallon.

Is it just that a 75 gallon tank is to shallow? A 24" deep tank would be much better? IMO it would be I'll just have to get a 120 gal up soon.

 

[fd235158]

I have softies growing under a 175se mh with 110 actinic pc in a 20g long. The tank height is only about 1 ft. Try and put the softies under ledges or off to the side and then it will just take time for them to acclimate to higher lighting. At first my softies completely bleached and were white but over time they made a full recovery and look great now. With the bleaching I experienced it looked like the coral died and I took some of them out of the tank. In retrospect they might have made it if I was more patient, so unless they start growing algae on them I would give them plenty of time to adjust.

 

[monti-mike]

yup monti are the way to go for testers they are Fast growers and the plate forms are even faster, the softies will take a couple weeks to even a month to adjust to the new light big difference when u put all the watteage there..

for the sps's i think its a combo of flow dirrection too and the light, if u have to money to put in a seaswirl( or something like it, something to change the flow up )i think it helps alot and also removes the detruis from the corals....

back to u'r softies reducing u'r burn time is a good idea and slowly bring up the light levels too fast Burns the little guys, just too intence, u could put a sheet of EggCrate over the top of tank to shadow it for a while till the softies pick up the light..i knoweced the softies and even the lps do better on the out side of the MH, i have 6500K bulbs so even a little brighter, but they are just too strong right in the center..

peace
mike

 

[DanConnor]

I have softies, such as those green sarc's, growing near the top under 250 de halides with no problem.

I think the softies will acclimate given time. Most hermatypic corals really do like good light levels, its just controlling those pesky zooxanthellae herds that's the problem!

 

[michaelg]

Dan- does that sarco need strong light? Mine hasn't opened up much, but think it might be that it is in the 20G with another sarco and a bunch of other leathers....thoughts?
Kris- start with a couple frags if you haven't already. Take the acro thing slow. they can crash and burn on a dime.