Oops - Did I overdo my lighting?!

[Cdfortin]

Hi, I'm new to reefcentral. I volunteer at a local school science lab and am setting up a 75 gal reef tank for the teacher there (48 x 18 x 21).

We want to keep zoos, as well as rics, other shrooms, and some other soft corals - but the emphasis is on zoos .

Current lighting setup:

2 x 250 watt se hamilton 14 K (bulb 6-7" from water surface)

2 X 110 watt vho actinic white

After a lot of research, seems like this is too much light !

Any ideas? Should we step the MH down to 175 watts? We want enough light to keep a nice mix of zoos and softies happy.

Thanks! Will post pics soon.

Dan

 

[mfinn]

I use a single 250 watt 14K Hamiton in my zoanthid tank.
The tank is 30"x18"x18". I also use a couple 55 watt pc actinic.
My zoanthids are doing great, so I would think that your setup would be fine.
I do think your bulbs are a couple inches too close to the water, but that's just my personel preference. If it works for you, why not.

 

[Cdfortin]

Well, it's not set up yet. And that's the farthese I can keep the mh off the water. If it helps, I'll mention that I just have a plane jane electro white reflector.

I'm just worried about burning some varieties of zoos, as well as burning the rics.

If I reduce wattage, will that increase the spectrum of polyps, rics, shrooms, and softies that will do well in the tank. I've never seen a tank with 175 watt halide, but it certainly isn't dim, is it?

 

[john76]

That's a perfect setup.... my zoos are great under my 250w 14k's

The plus side is that you can keep SPS/clams no problem as well.

 

[Cdfortin]

I'm very happy to hear that - do you guys have any ideas how ricordea will fair under those conditions? Not trying to take away from the zoo's glory, but you know what I mean .

Thanks!

 

[mfinn]

I started with a 175 watt mh on my zoanthid tank and was happy with the results when I went to 250 watt.
I really do like the way zoanthids look under the 14k Hamilton bulb.
I do reccomend you keep your blues, slightly shaded. Mine did not like the direct light and faded on me.

As long as you acclimate the corals to the mh lighting when you set it up, they will not burn.

 

[mfinn]

I have some ricordea in my tank as well and they are doing great. Atleast the solid colors are, I have had a little trouble with the more translucent ones, but that may have been the corals themselves.

 

[Cdfortin]

John 76, how tall is your tank? I looked thru your gallery and it's very nice!

Mfin, your tank is also awesome! Might I ask how tall it is as well?

So the general consensus is, 250 watts se metal halide 6-7" from surface is better that 175 watts, if I want to keep zoos, rics, shrooms, softies and lps (in order of greatest to least importance).

Thanks for the responses guys!

 

[john76]

honestly... my rics all died slowly after I upgraded to halides from VHO's... I lost all of them within a couple months... but they were all grown from small peices and propped under VHO's for well over a year. The halides probably just shocked them too much and I didn't notice. May have been other factors, but I don't want to give bad advice. I know there are other people keeping them under halides no problem.

My old tank was a 75.. now I have a 40 breeder

My shallow prop tank has a 250 watt light probably like 12-15" from the water

 

[Cdfortin]

uh oh....that's exactly what I don't want to happen....and I have 250 watts close to the tank...

I guess my main concern is that too much ligtht will actually be the limiting factor in my tank, based on the types of corals I want to keep.

My head is spinning.....weeks of research and I'm still

 

[mfinn]

My zoanthid tank is 18" tall.
And I would still recommend atleast 9" between bulb and water.
The first time your are working on this tank with the lights are on and the back of your arm or hand hits that mh bulb, you'll wish it was a few inches higher.lol

 

[Cdfortin]

The lighting will be enclosed in a DIY fixture within the hood (splash gaurd, ect).

I guess now my question is, with the somewhat broad spectrum of soft corals I want to keep, what's better - 250w or 175w.

Also, is 175w dim to the eyes? Will it be drowned out by 220 wats of vho actinic?

 

[john76]

I've never run 175's ... but I know one of the TOTM's ran a 120 with 175's and kept all kinds of corals...

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-02/totm/index.php

 

[mfinn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7831724#post7831724 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Cdfortin
The lighting will be enclosed in a DIY fixture within the hood (splash gaurd, ect).

I guess now my question is, with the somewhat broad spectrum of soft corals I want to keep, what's better - 250w or 175w.

Also, is 175w dim to the eyes? Will it be drowned out by 220 wats of vho actinic?

First, make sure your diy fixture is well ventilated.
Don't know if there is a better, but you have more options with a 250 watt system.

No the 175 watt bulb is very bright compared to a vho bulb or pc bulb.
No, the vho won't drown out the mh.

 

[Cdfortin]

Thanks for the heads up with ventilation. I'll be running 4 fans thru the system (40 cfm each) - 2 in and 2 out - so hopefully that will keep everything relatively cool.

 

[Cdfortin]

John, thanks for pulling up that TOTM. 175 halide privides plenty of light i can see! And he's keeping all sorts of stuff in there. Looks like I'm now leaning toward "downgrading" my lighting to the 175.

 

[Jayreefer]

I am running a 400w SE 14K on a HQI ballast. The pendant is 6" off the water. My Zoo colonies look great and are growing like crazy. I also have blue ricordia in the tank for like a month that is doing fine on the bottom. All I do is partly shade them for a couple of weeks.