SPS color

[RichConley]

Salty, 150w MHs are fine. The issue is that theyre 20Ks. 150w 20Ks are a joke.

 

[korndogg091]

nice tank!!!

 

[leesanhua]

all right. the sps that i'm having right now it's in the 30 gallon tank. the metal halide that im using now is coralife which is 150W 20,000K.
it sitting high top in the tank. ammo 0, nitrate 5ppm, nitrite 0, phosphate 0.5ppm.
temp 82
salnity 1.025
2 maxi jet 600 with hydor rotating water deflector.

is there anymore information that you guys need?

 

[RichConley]

PPFD of an 150w XM20K bulbs is 26!. The Coralife is probably lower. We'll just assume 25 though.

PPFD of a 150w XM10K is 61. Thats well over twice the light. PPFD of a 250w xm10k is over 130 in some cases.


You DO NOT have much light. You'd probably get comparable light from a pair of daylight NO striplights.


Again, too little light, too much phosphates.

 

[MCary]

Occam's razor, the simplest explanation is usually the right one. SPS primarily turn brown when they don't have enough light.

Mike

 

[leesanhua]

so i should change it to 10K? 14K?

 

[GMAX]

more PAR ( learn this term and figure out how to evaluate your bulb choices ). LESS PO3( I would say that you need to get this down to .2 or lower. Free advice so you know what it is worth.

 

[javajaws]

Definitely get your PO4 down. Unlike some, I don't believe "zero" phosphates are necessary or even desirable. But they should be down in the .01 - .1 range.

 

[stereomandan]

Yes, you definately need more light. Typically, daylight bulbs (5k - 10k) will have much more light output per watt. Also, to see the pink colors better, actinic lighting is a big plus. You may want to invest in some true actinic T5's, or actinic VHO's to suppliment the MH. That's what most guys do in my experience.

Dan

 

[buzzee]

It will be the phosphates that are causing the browning.

You can get phosphate removing media and should run it alongside with carbon.

Try and cut back on your feeding if possible so long as your fish arent skinny now!

Less food will assist to bring down the phosphate levels.

 

[buzzee]

How deep is your tank?

If it is deeper than 24 inches, you will need to run 400 watt bulbs.

If it is up to 24 inches 150 watts should still be ok so long as your SPS are high up in the tank, otherwise 250watt will be required.

My advice would be to drop phosphate first and monitor, and if still no results beef up the lighting.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8038253#post8038253 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by buzzee
How deep is your tank?

If it is deeper than 24 inches, you will need to run 400 watt bulbs.

If it is up to 24 inches 150 watts should still be ok so long as your SPS are high up in the tank, otherwise 250watt will be required.

My advice would be to drop phosphate first and monitor, and if still no results beef up the lighting.

Buzee, I disagree there.


400w shouldnt be used IMO until tanks are 36" plus deep. 250s will handle 30" just fine. IF you want to run 20K bulbs, slightly different.


That being said, if you're gonna put all your SPS up the top, tank depth really doesnt matter.

The problem is that the PAR out of a 150w 20K is a joke. You could sit the SPS on the bulb, and its still not getting enough light.

 

[Salty Brother]

sorry rich, I didnt know that about 150w bulbs cause I have a 250w 20k and get great growth and color.

 

[buzzee]

Personally I wouldnt run 250 watt lights with 30 inches.

I run 3 x 400 watts over 24 inches.

The more light the better, however saying that, it doesnt mean they wont grow with less light than that.

 

[GMAX]

Buzzee

Me too.