Too muich light over a 55g

[esmithiii]

Opinions please:

Just got a dual 400W metal halide PFO retro for my 55G which will run 2 6500K Iwasakis and will be suplemented with 2X96W PC actinics. Is this too much for the 55G?

Galleon: This topic has your name all over it!

I plan to upgrade to a 180G this December at which time I will add a third 400W and another 2 96W PC Actinics.

How should I acclimate the tank to the new lighting (have 2X65W PC now.) The hood will be suspended over the tank from the ceiling.

My tank has mostly soft corals, zooanthids and mushrooms w/ 1 frogspawn coral. My goal is to keep SPS, clams and more LPS.

Ernie

 

[Lunchbucket]

i have heard that you can never have too much light. the sun is way more powerful than the lights you have. wouldn't worry about it.

not quite sure about the acclimation though someone else will chime in.

later
Lunchbucket

 

[Styk33]

Do a search for acclimating lights/MH. You should find a couple threads that were posted in the last month.

I just put a 250wMH on my 55g and I am having it come on 1 hour a day and adding an hour every 2 days until I get to the 11 hours I want.

HTH.

 

[arnjer]

I'm not the expert here but there are a couple of ways you can acclimate your tank:

1. Since you will be hanging the lights you can start off with them some distance from the tank and then gradually lower the lights over a couple of weeks time.

2. You can shorten the time the lights are on each day and then increase the time they are on over time.

3. Since you are using PC's you can have them come on first then ramp up the MH's say for a couple of hours then have the halides go off leaving the PC's on until it's time for the PC's to go off.

4. You didn't say where in the water column the corals are and I don't think corals would like being moved around too much but you could have them at the bottom of the tank and then over time meaning weeks of running the lights move them higher if they look like they are wanting more light.

Jerry

 

[esmithiii]

Any downside to hanging the lights? Is the actinic supplementation enough?

E

 

[arnjer]

Can't comment on the actinics but you shouldn't have a heat problem by hanging the lights. I built light boxes that have open tops to vent the heat. They are made from 1x12's so they are a foot from the water surface. They have been runnin for a couple of weeks now and I haven't had any splash or heat problems and I don't use glass canopies. There are pix on my website at the bottom of the page. I went with 10k's so i don't use acitincs. You will notice a big difference in the Hamilton and the Blueline bulbs.

Hope this helps

Jerry

 

[murrayjim]

It might be too much light. I just upgraded from 250's to 400's. The tank looks great but the problem I'm having is the PH level. It went from 8.3 during the day to 8.6 with the new lights. Forgot to mention I have a 100 gallon tank.

 

[murrayjim]

took the words right out of my mouth...

 

[esmithiii]

I understand that dissolved oxygen levels in the tank (or rather lack of dissolved CO2?) affect pH (my Chemistry from College is a bit rusty) and that photosynthesis of algae in the tank was a main contributor to this but was unaware that it could swing that much! What happens in the ocean between light and dark (day and night) with pH?

Ernie

 

[esmithiii]

Murray: Could you explain the link between the new lights and pH?

Ernie

 

[reefworm]

Ernie,
Hope you don't mind if I jump in ahead of Murray, but pH rises with photosynthetic activity, so, more light, more photosynthesis, higher pH. If that becomes an issue for you, and you drip kalk, add 3ml of white vinegar per litre to the mix. That also increases available carbon to which the calcium can bond. Backing off slightly on buffering will also lower the pH, but hopefully not your alk too much.

As to the amount of light on your tank, sounds like Jerry has your answers well in hand. Actinic ration sounds right. Should be a great setup for what you want to keep.

regards,
rw

 

[esmithiii]

Where is Galleon when you need him?!?

 

[Sardaukar]

esmithii, i am doing a 150gal with 2x400w MH and 2x5ft VHO. I have had people tell me that the Actinic PC's arnt powerful enought to balance out the MH. I too was going to do 2x96w PC, but have seen pictures and i think that the VHO's do a better job of balancing out the POWERFUL 400w MH's. Just an idea. Since your tank is 4ft long and 96w PC's are three feet, you would probbably get better coverage with the VHO. Im not dissing PC's (I love them and have them on all my FW planted tanks) but i think that the VHO's would be better.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Ernie.
Dissolved oxygen and lack of carbon dioxide.
Consider two things: volume and movement.
In your aquarium, the pH can swing considerably based on respiration outcompeted by photosynthesis during the day and respiration sans photosynthesis at night. Comparing this quintessential process to the ocean we find that the sheer ocean volume and movement that exchanges between perpetually aphotic and diurnally photic zones easily keep the pH stable far beyond what our aquaria are capable of in general (shifts do occur in the wild though, due to the usually massive biomass of photosynthetic organisms both on the reef structure and the usually adjacent grassflats, however these changes depend on everything from tide to seasonal weather patterns, and they are negligeable compared to our aquaria).

Heavy, aggressive water movement between an air-water interface can enhance CO2 venting, and an evaporative/cooling fan and open top facilitate this even further. Many people dose their kalkwasser at night to help combat shifts (as the hydroxide ion with carbon dioxide forms bicarbonate, an alkalinity augmenter, rather than a hydronium ion concentration increaser), but in general they are unavoidable.

However, I think the bottom line and answer to your initial question is: no; this is not too much light for your system, just keep the water churning away.
Chris
...as the kalkwasser drips...

 

[esmithiii]

Thanks again, galleon.

E

 

[murrayjim]

galleon
How high is too high on the PH? I'm still hitting 8.6 in the early evening and down to 8.2 in the evening. I'm moving about 2000 gph through my 100 gallon tank. I have a mini-cal calcium reactor and have left the covers off the top of my tank since I upgraded. What else can I do to lower the PH, or should I even worry about it? Won't esmithiii have even a bigger problem with the same amount of light in half the water?