Calling all MH owners

[FastUno]

I want to get a better feeling of how your corals are responding under your MH. Do you find that you have to acclimate newly added corals?

Do you find that any of your corals are getting whiter or bleaching when they are higher up & when you lower them they revert back?

Just how careful must you be with corals & lets say 250W MH? Do you think it would be safer to go with 175W MH instead?

I have made my decision to get the Acquactinic fixtures, mainly because of heat issue conscerns. But do you think I should get the 175W or the 250W fixtures?

http://www.aquactinics.com/Store/Lighting_Systems.htm

[ June 28, 2005, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: FastUno ]

 

[jhale]

I think the 175's may be under powered for coral in the SPS range. I'm getting a 250 to install, I missed UPS today, so tomorrow I'll have something to compare it to.

I have a feeling that 250's may be just the right amount of light.
Of course it also depends how long you run them and what they are supplemented with.

 

[yessongs]

250W would be a better choice.

 

[yessongs]

BTW, tony has kits www.acropora.net/T-5_retro_kits.htm

[ June 28, 2005, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: yessongs ]

 

[FastUno]

The whole point of these fixtures is to spend a little more & not have to worry about a chiller & electric costs used to operate a chiller.

I have asked individuals who have purchased this light & all report back a very low increase in tank heat, perhaps a 1-2deg increase. For the most part only 1deg. Has to do with the way it has been designed. It's made to sit directly on top of the tank.

 

[fishywoo]

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=AQ1821
I bought the above from Marine depot recently and put them on my 70. They definately run hot and I did have a lot of bleaching problems. This was more so with corals that had already been doing very well under lower lighting conditions.

 

[ShaunW]

Definately go with the 250watt ones!

 

[FastUno]

So even with MH systems you have to play these lighting games? Placing corals higher or lower or even shading them?

How come pet shops don't have this problem? Take for instance the one on Northern Blvd, before Main St. (N.Blvd Aquarium). They have a MH tank & keep all sorts of corals, none of them looked bleached. Most looked very healthy & happy.

What is the best way to acclimate a coral to a MH tank for lighting?

 

[House of Laughter]

FAst

Halides are intense - so, in addition to acclimating them to other pieces of your tank (salinity, temp etc) you have to acclimate them to your lighting

That being said, you should either limit the photoperiod or move the corals lower to accomodate and slowly move them closeer to the light

Hope that helps,

House

 

[jackson6745]

uno don't stress lighting acclimation so much. Just start your corals off low in the tank and move them around to see how they respond. Most of the SPS you will get are already acclimated to haildes anyway.

 

[FastUno]

The reason that I am so worried is because with my T5's (54W's) I had corals bleach even at the bottom of a 24" tank. The corals in question did not revert back until I placed them under some serious shading.

 

[jackson6745]

I never heard of T5's bleaching SPS. By any chance did you have stray electrical current leaking throught the water via broken heater or bad pump etc?

 

[FastUno]

I don't think that is the case in my situation. My sps's are fine, never bleached. My brain corals were affected, mushrooms too. When I moved them to shading they got better. Even my torch coral when I moved it up a few inches completely bleached & then when I lowered it slowly reverted back. I am too worried even to move certain corals around, at leas the ones that do not like as much light.

I had to give up one of my brain corals & now it is in another reefers dimmly lit MH tank & doing much better from what I hear.

 

[FastUno]

Looks like it's a sealed deal. I went for the 250W MH, XM 20K combo. I hope I did not make a mistake.
They say you get better growth rate from bulbs in the 6500k & 10K range. The chart below compares a XM 20K bulb with a Iwasaki 6500K, just how much better can they possible be?

http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.com/spectraldata-line-2.php?Watts=250&Watts2=250&LampManuf=Iwasaki&LampManuf2=XM&Lamptype=Single+Ended&Lamptype2=Single+Ended&LampName=10&LampNam eText=Iwasaki+250W+6500K+SE+1&LampName2=19&LampName2Text=XM+250W+20000K+SE+1&BallastName=6&BallastNameText=Icecap+250W+Electronic&BallastName2=6&BallastName2Text=Icecap+250W+Electr onic&Shielded=N&Shielded2=N&Minwavelength=400&Maxwavelength=700&Submit=Submit