MH lighting with a Bimac

[CalvinC4S]

Hello all, glad to see everyones octos are doing good.

I have been kicking around the idea of upgrading my lights.
I love the way MH look as the water ripples and I would like to start growing coraline. If im not mistaken
The Bimac is a shallow water octo that is day active? My tank is
31" tall and I was pondering uping the lights from 40w NO to
900w MH/PC. I'm afraid of two things happening;

1) blinding the octo

2) stressing the octo

Has anyone ever seen first hand the effects of that much light on a Bimac? It isn't near as much as natural day light? I was planning for a blue spectrum as well if that makes a diffrence.

I was reading some study on how NO bulbs are hard on preditors;
I guess the frequancy of the light has a strobe effect.

BTW, the tank is 31" deep and it would boost the lighting to 6 watts per gallon.

 

[goodman770]

I believe the problem here is not so much the light as the temp. Bimacs like it cold, and the MH's would cause the temp to rise up farther than would be desireable.

 

[SushiGirl]

Sorry to butt in, but MH isn't required for coralline growth. You'll most likely get your best coralline growth in lower lighting. You can try to simulate the shimmer effect by having a powerhead agitating the surface of the water. MHs are more a requirement for corals than for anything else.

 

[OctoMonkey]

Hi calvin

At present I have a 60 watt spotlight table lamp illuminating my octopus tank. That is on a timer set for 10 hours of light per day at present.

The reason I have the light on at all is for the caulerpa algae I have on the rocks and the coralline does fine under this light too.

The light also does give the rippling effect that a flurorescent striplight doesnt do.

It is correct that the MH bulbs will cause the temperature to get too hot. Before I added the new octopuses I was using my MH bulbs on my tank and the tank was sitting at 80degF with no heater at all.

Colin

 

[goodman770]

I'm going to agree with Sushi on the coraline as well. I have power compacts and regular attinics on my reef and I can't get the Coraline to stop. I had to scrape with a razorblade for about an hour yesterday...ugh. Power compacts are also VERY hot. I have a fan on my light setup and it is always 10 degrees hotter in my room than the rest of the place.
Let us know what you decide...