par and sps

[joeycadre]

my sps's aren't growing and i believe it's my lighting. i have a 250w xm 15,000k se over the tank. the tank is a 45gal 24x24x18. i'm thinking of switching to an xm 10,000k or a megachrome marine 13,000k. anyone know the par of the megachrome marine or if i go weith the xm how can i aclimate my corals to the new lighting? shorter photo period?

any help would help. har har.

 

[slavearm]

Er... that should be more than enough light. Check your alk and ca. Then your nitrates and PO4.

HTH

 

[DrBDC]

That XM bulb is absolutely pathetic for par. I tried them before I saw how bad they are and corals barely grew. The 10,000K is about 2 X as much.

 

[joeycadre]

my ca is 440 and my alk is 2.8. nitrates around 10 and no phosphate. i know it's the lights.

i want a 250 bulb with some blue but with a higher par than the xm. so i was looking at the megachrome marine but can't find a par on it.

 

[LBCBJ]

There's almost a 150% increase in PAR from the XM 15 - XM 10k, if that tells you anything

You definitly run the risk of some bleaching with an increase like that, so I'd raise the light at least 6", shorten the photoperiod, and maybe throw some eggrate over the tank

 

[joeycadre]

yeah. i plan on raising the pendant and shortening the time it's on. thanks.

 

[NuclearReefs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8007825#post8007825 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by joeycadre
my ca is 440 and my alk is 2.8. nitrates around 10 and no phosphate. i know it's the lights.

i want a 250 bulb with some blue but with a higher par than the xm. so i was looking at the megachrome marine but can't find a par on it.

Whats your mag test out at ?

 

[slavearm]

If you are not testing with a good kit for PO4, then your numbers could be way off and just wasting your time. My salifert read 0 when the number was really 0.1... doesn't sound like much, but a bag of ROWA and a week later and all the corals had visible growth. Just my experience anyways.

 

[joeycadre]

true. i am using a salifert test kit. i might through something in there for po4 just to be safe.

also i don't have a mag test kit. i do bi weekly water changes and dose seachem reef advantage calcium which includes magnesium.

 

[MrPike]

How long before you have to scrap the front of your glass? JBNY and many others use that as an indicator of to many nutrients if you are scraping every few days instead of once a week. P04 tests are pretty unreliable I think.

The xm 15k is perhaps the worst performer in regards to par according to sanjay's test. I cant really think of a single thread where anyone sings its praises either. Switch your bulb to anything, even the xm 20k, and I think you will be better off.

 

[joeycadre]

every two days i scrape the glass, but it's not fully covered, just a fine film of green here and there.