SPS is much harder then I thought it would be

J

johnnstacy

Premium Member
I am always up for a challenge but after a couple of years now of growing SPS, it's wearing on me. Really, the problem isn't growing them. Most, with the exception of the blues, grow fairly well. Lighting has been a bigger issue. I have some SPS that need to be at the bottom of the tank with 250 DE's. That is currently about 35". While I have others that clearly need more then 250 DE. I have been adjusting my light heighth to match the corals need but in reality this seems impossible. Right now I have the lights almost 15" above the water which is satisfying many corals but others are not liking it.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever used like a 400W pendant in the center and 250's on the outside? Is the difference in light real noticeable? Other then that, I can't figure out another way to do this..
 
I am thinking the samething myself 2-400 & 2 250 without any vho
mabey 250' in a 20k bulb and 400's in a 10k
TAGGING ALONG
 
I run 400w 250w 400w for I can put some stuff in that does not like/need as much light. You can see a difference, but its not crazy
 
I run 250W DE on the sides and a 400W in the center. If I had to do it all over again I would do all 400W's. There is a noticable difference (I am running 14K's on the side and 20K in the center), but it does not bother me much.
 
I would guess that where you are changing the kelvin of the bulbs as well as the light intensity, the difference would be more pronounced.
 
The irony here is that when I started, I bought 400W DE's but I felt they were way overkill for the tank. Many of the corals got very light. So went to 250's. The colors somewhat improved but as I mentioned before, I have a few corals that want more then 250W.
 
have you acclimated all corals to the light before you came to the conclusion taht they needed less light or moved?

15" is way to much IMO. sounds like the acclimation procedure isn't allowing the corals to ajust to what htey needed

Lunchbucket
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8181493#post8181493 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
have you acclimated all corals to the light before you came to the conclusion taht they needed less light or moved?

15" is way to much IMO. sounds like the acclimation procedure isn't allowing the corals to ajust to what htey needed

Lunchbucket
Click to expand...

Most of the corals in my tank are a couple of years old. I would say yes, they have been acclimiated. They are not dying or anything. Some just do better farther away from the lights. I agree that 15" is to high. I just don't have a good solution yet. I have a couple in particular that really want bright light. One I bought from a LFS was very purple when I got it. The guy told me to make sure I give it as much light as possible. When I got it home I started it out to the side of a 250 DE since the LFS was using 400 SE. I figured it was about the same. The coral got darker and a little brown. After a couple of months I moved it to the highest rock in the tank. At that time, it was about 4" to the top of the water and 8" to the bulb. It has since got more purple but not as bright as it was in his store. Same with an Acropora Valida that I recently picked up. It is growning and encrusing after just a month but it is not high enough in the tank to get the colors that it should be. Here again, the guy told me to get it up as high as possible.

250 DE HQI w/Ushio BLV 10K is what I am using.
 
So your growth is ok but you want better coloration? Have you considered that light may not be the factor causing the color problems? It's possibly related to nutritional deficiency or who knows what else. From what I have read, many articles and studies point to light as "coral junkfood" (I think Borneman said this). It fuels respiration and is enough to sustain many corals, but it is basically sugar and it cannot provide many of the nutrients needed by the coral. It's easy to mistake corals for autotrophs and try to treat them as plants.

I've seen so many amazing tanks lit with 150W or 250W halides that have great colors, I don't think jacking up the wattage is always the answer. It's easy to think lighting is a problem because its quantifiable and we see it - we know 400W is more than 250W and that seems better (and it probably is). However, what could be missing may be something unseen.

Of course Im not familiar with your tank so you may already have that angle completely covered... just some ideas. :)
 
One of the nicest tanks I ever saw was lite with this combination

250 Watt 10K
400 Watt 20K
250 Watt 10K

6 foot long tank..
Before I left dallas I talked Melev on here into going that route too . Took a little arm twisting.. but he listened .....
His tank looks awsome ! :)

Im going to be doing a method like this as well.. But im thinking

250 watt 20K
400 Watt 6500K Iwasaki
250 Watt 20K

On a four foot tank..
Nathan
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8181889#post8181889 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lobster
So your growth is ok but you want better coloration? Have you considered that light may not be the factor causing the color problems? It's possibly related to nutritional deficiency or who knows what else. From what I have read, many articles and studies point to light as "coral junkfood" (I think Borneman said this). It fuels respiration and is enough to sustain many corals, but it is basically sugar and it cannot provide many of the nutrients needed by the coral. It's easy to mistake corals for autotrophs and try to treat them as plants.

I've seen so many amazing tanks lit with 150W or 250W halides that have great colors, I don't think jacking up the wattage is always the answer. It's easy to think lighting is a problem because its quantifiable and we see it - we know 400W is more than 250W and that seems better (and it probably is). However, what could be missing may be something unseen.

You are right about there being a lot of factors that control color. I am a big fan of Eric B. I use his coral recipe every 3 nights but I also run a very nutrient poor system. I like my light theory because I have seen it for myself. I know what happens when I move certain corals down and certain corals up. I'm not an expert on all of the corals in my tank but I have been working with most of them for quite awhile now. I think in my case, again, I have some corals that do well under 250's and others that could use more light.



Of course Im not familiar with your tank so you may already have that angle completely covered... just some ideas. :)
Click to expand...
 
Well, I had wrote a bunch after your post but for some reason it disappeared....oh well. Maybe I will write again tomorrow.
 
like Lobster said light isn't the #1 reason for color. heck i have 2x400w MH's on my 58gal (3ft tank) and my colors aren't as good as others w/ less. i have since modified my lighting so only one 400w is on at a time (i did have a 2hr overlap (10k and 20k)). also my nutrients are low so my corals are pale. if they are browning my guess is high nutrients. or they are just browning out and then they will color back up when they get settled in

Lunchbucket
 
Parameters

Temp 78-79
SG 1.025
Cal 390
Alk 8.0 dkh
Mag 1290
Nit 0
PO4 0 (test with colorimeter)

I do skim big time. Deltec AP702 rated for 530g for my 180g. I also run phosban reactor and another reactor with carbon. Up until recently, I used filter socks but have since removed them. I feed what I would consider a lot. Once a day for the fish and a version of the Borneman Coral recipe every 3 days. I also recently started dosing Tropic Marin Coral A and Coral K and colors seem to be improving slightly(It's only been about a week)

The nutrient poor argument is possible. Running phosban, carbon, overrated skimmer, oh and I forgot ozone maybe I am just taking out to much. There is no algae in the tankother then corraline. In fact many of my snails are dying. Probably from starvation. I think I am going to start overfeeding and see if that makes a difference.
 
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