Too much light?

[Sprattoo]

I hung 2x175W MH over my 75G tank thinking I had FINALLY gotten the right lighting for my tank!

but now.... a couple months after hanging them up, my purple Coraline on the tops of the upper rocks seems to be dieing.. or turning whit-ish light brown-ish.
My leathers (I put on the bottom aware of their low light needs) have been shy about coming out if at all.

My devilhand is doing nicely, as are my mushrooms and pipe-organ. Mysis and copepods are breeding like rabbits... snails sperming and laying eggs/ hatching like mad. I so love my sarcophytons.

Is this TOO much light? If not I am wondering how long do you folks with similar lighting run your MH's?

I am running mine 8 Hrs per day now. too much? not enough? when I saw the coraline fading I raised the lights up a few inches. All my experience was with PC's up until I got these lights.
I LOVE the intensity, the look and all....

I AM noticing more green coraline than with the PC's.

thoughts?

 

[SCIronMike]

I have 2 X 150 MH HQI 10k over my 29G and I don't even think that this is enough for my acropora. THey still aren't as colorful as when I first got them. Coralline algae doesn't do that well under intense lighting. Just the way it is.

 

[Sprattoo]

so I'll deal with coraline die off I suppose. and try to hide my sarcophytons...

Is UV radiation a concern with MH? I have nothing between my ushio 10Ks and my tank water....

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

I can only speak for HQI (double ended) MH bulbs.

UV is definetly a problem with those. I've "burned" a hole in a set of curtains, given myself, several fish, and corals sunburn etc. Ever seen a longhorn cowfish with sunburn?

I use a thin sheet of roofing lexan (polcarb) less than 1mm thick as a UV shield.

I think the single-ended MH bulbs come complete with a sleeve inside the bulb that gets rid of the UV. Never used one though so can't be sure.

Purple coraline, IME doesn't like bright lighting. The green varieties seem to do better.

 

[K9coral]

Watching

 

[Sprattoo]

hellolights has the following UV radiation warnings:

Do not mount "double ended" HQI type bulbs without a UV filtering glass shield!! This bulb will put out UV radiation which can damage your eyes and skin, as well as your animals in the tank. The bulb MUST BE burned behind a protective glass sheet.

nothing stated one way or another about the single ended like mine.

Specialtylights.com doesn't even mention UV that I can find,
MArine Depot had the best prices I found.. they even beat hellolights on price!

hellolights was the only place I can find info on UV rays and they only speak of double ended.

Is 8hrs of MH light too much? they are 10K bulbs... Is actinic PC lighting really needed?

Oi- I'm almost wishing I had stuck with PC's

 

[Juck]

I have 2 x 175 Ushios over my 75 and I'm upgrading to 250's ,,, my tank is full of SPS though.

If you're not keeping a lot of SPS or Clams then maybe you don't need halides at all,, although I'd personally hate to lose the ripply water thing.

 

[K9coral]

How long do yall leave your lights on during a daily cycle?

 

[Juck]

I run the 50/50's for 16 hours. I run my halides for 6 hours,, I used to run them for 10 hours but have cut back in the last 3 months,,, not noticed any difference in the growth rate or color of my corals so far.

 

[Sprattoo]

The lights have been on for a month.
Im only keeping softies. but I have noticed more snail reproduction, and those... volcanoe looking snails (2 of the bigger ones) seem to sperm regularly, many new astrea babies, many copepods and mysis. I have seen a bunch of little clams on my LR that I hadn't noticed with the other lights.

I bought these lights just because I never felt like I had enough light. and the thought was the more light one can afford the better.

I think I discovered why my sarcophytons have "buttoned up lately" tonight though.

My CA was at 388!! The combo of skimming and invert populace explosion must have used it up.
Hoping I can save whats left of my 20 sarcophytons.

 

[Anonymous]

SCIron Mike..i do believe you have enough lighting over your 29 Gal..they may not be as colorful but that might be corrected by upgrading lighting..but you do have enough lighting to make yours grow and thrive..JMO...I too have 175W MH..10000k Ushio..I like MH...I have some LPS and about to invest in SPS...this coming week.. ...since i only have MH i run mine 10hrs..more than enough..my tank is in my bedroom so the lights are off by ten..(stuff is really bright)...

 

[Juck]

388 is fine for softies IMO. I'd guess your coral and coralline woes are due to the new lighting. Did you acclimate the tank to the new lighting slowly? Or did you do what I did and,, SPANG! hit them with 10 hours of MH on the first day.

I always understood astrea snails were next-to-impossible to rear in an aquarium due to their long planktonic stage thingy. So hey,,, good job with that!

 

[Anonymous]

my bet is that your sarcophytons will come back fine. you probably didn't need to move them but should have applied your new lighting schedule slowly.

sacrophytons react dramatically to stress and often take weeks to expand again. i have had them under more light then you are sporting and all was fine..... the dang thing grew like a weed.

 

[Sprattoo]

ok well.. thanks for the help guys.. Yeah I did a SPRANG!

I figured 8 hours of MH was almost the same as 12 of PC. As a matter of fact I noticed them closing up more after I put mirror on the inside of the hood to disperse and direct the light down.

I had considered sps too with the MH lights but I'm not so sure they would appreciate living with my soft guys.

Thats good info on the CA level Juck. I always just assumed it was supposed to be around 400-480 for the inverts, snails and such.

Not to fear though of the 20 I know for certain 3 leathers are still alive, spreading and ok. So in a year I'll most likely have 20 more if I want them. I just hate to see an animal die on my account

I might have many fewer stupid questions if my #&$^% Dr. Shimek books would show up in the mail!!!

2 years and I have barely got a handle on some general stuff. I would like to thank everyone on this board and a couple others like it too. I ask alot of long winded questions and get good patient answers.
I have no quality LFS within 100 miles LITERALLY. now that inland reef is closed probably much more. I have pieced together marine aquariums from thin air just about and ALOT of time online.
Without contributors and boards like this... People like me would be high and dry... no really! When we buy our home in a few years Its a solid plan to become the local marine shop eventually out of a basement or heated garage.

So thanks everyone!!

of course without these tanks I might have already been able to afford that house.......

*PS on snails.*

The astreas I haven't witnessed "sperming" but they do on occasion have long goo trailing strings with eggs. I always just assumed my tang or 2 damsels ate these at some point. I think the snail hatching is due to no mechanical filtration for about 2 weeks and I turn off my skimmer for a few days on occasion just to see if I can find a difference.
*I keep Macro in a refugium so I don't see this as a danger at all*
Along with the bad stuff I think I was getting some good stuff like the snail plankton and pod plankton.

I left my skimmer off for a week not so long ago, could have attributed to the large hatching I had in my overflow box.
I also noticed more hatching when I ran the temp low (76 F) I'm now closer to (79 F raised up over the last week). all levels in tank at 0 - ph was alittle low at 8.0 but slowly coming up with the CA and ALK additives. I'm still picking snails the size of pinheads out of my micron bag every couple of days with the copepods. Perhaps by the fluxuation tank I inadvertantly created a season.

This 75 is a new setup but incorporating my 29G and 55G.

 

[Unarce]

I have 2 X 150 MH HQI 10k over my 29G and I don't even think that this is enough for my acropora. THey still aren't as colorful as when I first got them. Coralline algae doesn't do that well under intense lighting. Just the way it is.

You may want to try a higher kelvin bulb. 14K or 20K would be the more natural spectrum for corals. You'll get much better coloring and there's not much of a difference in growth.

I can only speak for HQI (double ended) MH bulbs.

UV is definetly a problem with those. I've "burned" a hole in a set of curtains, given myself, several fish, and corals sunburn etc. Ever seen a longhorn cowfish with sunburn?

I use a thin sheet of roofing lexan (polcarb) less than 1mm thick as a UV shield.

I think the single-ended MH bulbs come complete with a sleeve inside the bulb that gets rid of the UV. Never used one though so can't be sure.

Purple coraline, IME doesn't like bright lighting. The green varieties seem to do better.

Do you notice if the lexan begins to yellow over time? I've read that it might. Tempered glass blocks most of the UV-A and UV-B rays. That's usually the best option.

 

[Anonymous]

Tempered glass blocks most of the UV-A and UV-B rays. That's usually the best option.

good call