Who has a beautiful LPS dominated tank?

[sinned]

Sure 195w is enough....go for it! Dennis

 

[PoukieBear]

Sweet! Thanks for the SIMPLE answer!

 

[Scissorhand]

If you're gonna go out buy a light, why not just go for a MH pendant.

 

[PoukieBear]

If you're gonna go out buy a light, why not just go for a MH pendant.

I would if money grew on trees , but alas! it doesn't, so i'm stuck getting what I can afford for now. Maybe when my car as payed off i'll get MH.

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

mh pendants can be too much sometimes

i have way too much light in my tanks and i'm only running 250w MH's. a lot of my red lps have bleaced. i had to put them in really dim areas

 

[SMS76]

Bump...

 

[WendyMc]

mh pendants can be too much sometimes

i have way too much light in my tanks and i'm only running 250w MH's. a lot of my red lps have bleaced. i had to put them in really dim areas

How deep is the tank, what is the temp on those bulbs/manufacturer/type? I just wanna know 'cuz I have a LPS dominated tank in my near daydreams...

 

[cindy288]

Hello,
Here are some pic's of my LPS dominated tank

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

250w 14k hamilton. on icecap ballasts
24" deep tank
6 hours a day lighting schedule

a lot of people say "go MH!" and i bought into it.

but honestly, if you are keeping an exclusively LPS tank like I am, you will not want 250w bulbs. I'm thinking of either trading the 14k hamilton bulbs for 20k XM bulbs. or selling everything and getting a T5 setup

 

[SaltyMember]

Large Polyp Dave,
Nice tank. I agree about the 250s being too much. I have 2 x 250w 14ks over a 65 gallon but I find it is too much light for many of my LPS and soft corals. I am considering going to a 20k bulb to decrease par but then I think that I am wasting electricity and could get away with less lighting. I am considering going to 175 wt MHs or maybe T5 also. But I really like the shimmer effect of the halides.

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

yeah same here salty, i would definitely miss the shimmer effect..

i was also thinking about going to 175's but i would feel like i was losing too much money on my current setup and such.

hmm do you think lowering the photo period would help? what do you think would be the fewest hours that these corals to be lit?

Maybe a a 4 hour MH period with a 50/50 VHO supplement for 2 hours on either end...?

 

[SaltyMember]

I am running 8 hours now, but I am thinking of trying 6 hrs. and see how it goes. I have 2 x 95 watt VHO actinics but I only use them for dusk/dawn and leave them off during MH period. I like your idea though.. Maybe I can put 50/50 bulbs in the VHO setup and squeeze one more NO or VHO bulb in there for actinic. Then I could try 4-5 hours of MH.

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

I have 2 x 160W VHO URI actinics as well that I use for dawn/dusk as well. A few weeks ago I was running 8 hours as well. I started running 6 hours but I'm trying to aim for 4 hours now hehe. If you think about it though. The intensity of light in the ocean is only really strong from like 12:00 to 5:00?

i'm thinking i'll leave the front one as an actinic. and then take out the back bulb and replace it with the regular 10k bulb.

 

[otolith]

LPD-that sounds like a good idea, lowering your photoperiod. However, leave your VHOs up around 8-10 hours. If possible, can you move the MH bulbs up higher away from the water?

FWIW, on my tank, I only run my MHs (granted, I have a lot of light) for 4 hrs daily, but run my actinic VHOs for 12.

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

unfortunately i'm stuck with my bulb height hehe. i wish i could raise them a little

while my MH's are on. do you think i should leave the vho's on as well? or should i just turn them back on when the MHs are about to go off?

face fixer upper huh? i just started doing an observership in it heh. i could never do it. some of the cases are just too gross

 

[otolith]

You could always turn off your VHOs when your MHs are on, but I don't think it would make that much difference.

Just remember, there's nothing as gross as stool or functions on the "other end." :lol: So what do you want to be when you grow up?

 

[dmccrary]

nice tank dave..

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

i dunno otolith, i haven't foudn anythnig that i've been really crazy about yet. the things that are a definite "no way!" so far are.. cardiac surg, ER, derm, maxillofacial surg and pediatrics.

thanks dmc. it's still pretty empty heh

 

[cindy288]

Nice tanks!

 

[WendyMc]

i dunno otolith, i haven't foudn anythnig that i've been really crazy about yet. the things that are a definite "no way!" so far are.. cardiac surg, ER, derm, maxillofacial surg and pediatrics.

thanks dmc. it's still pretty empty heh

You should be getting paid to keep that amazing tank!