How much lighting is "enough" for SPS corals? Is

[SCIronMike]

such thing as "too much" lighting? I have a 29 gallon and although my acropora are growing, they have gone brown. It kills me that what was once a beautiful light lavender or a yellow, is now brown. They are definitely growing though. They are both at the highest point in the tank and are getting hit by 150 watts of 20k MH and 65 watts of 50/50 PC lighting. I guess it's still not enough. Everything else is doing great.

 

[Len]

There is such a thing as too much lighting for some corals, but many species of Acros can acclimate to most any amount of light you can throw on to your tank (while keeping it reasonably cool that is).

150W + 65W PC should be plenty over a 29 gallon. My friend (Hyolee on this site) has a single 150W Iwasaki 50KK and he can maintain some color in his SPS. A few possiblilities is the tank's water has too much dissolved organics (happens all the time if you don't use a skimmer or carbon), or simply your SPS corals were more or less brown to begin with. Some of the bright colored ones imported are nothing more then bleached versions of their healthy counterparts. Lavender ones in particular are infamous for browing out in captivity. It could also be your lighting doesn't bring out the best colors in your corals. I've noticed that certain bulbs will bring out certain colors in certain corals (ok, sue me for using "certain" 3 times in a sentence ).

Is this all SPS, or just a few select specimens?

 

[SCIronMike]

There is such a thing as too much lighting for some corals, but many species of Acros can acclimate to most any amount of light you can throw on to your tank (while keeping it reasonably cool that is).

150W + 65W PC should be plenty over a 29 gallon. My friend (Hyolee on this site) has a single 150W Iwasaki 50KK and he can maintain some color in his SPS. A few possiblilities is the tank's water has too much dissolved organics (happens all the time if you don't use a skimmer or carbon), or simply your SPS corals were more or less brown to begin with. Some of the bright colored ones imported are nothing more then bleached versions of their healthy counterparts. Lavender ones in particular are infamous for browing out in captivity. It could also be your lighting doesn't bring out the best colors in your corals. I've noticed that certain bulbs will bring out certain colors in certain corals (ok, sue me for using "certain" 3 times in a sentence ).

Is this all SPS, or just a few select specimens?

Well, my water conditions are always perfect. I have a AquaC Remora on here. Two 1200 Maxijet powerheads to water movement. Temperature is always at 79. Calcium always 450. Water hardness is always good.

I have pics of one of them to give you an idea. I've had it for 3 months and 2 weeks, give or take a few days.

Before-

After -

 

[Anonymous]

That is still a nice looking piece. It has shown pretty good growth too, which is a good indication of health.

I wouldn't worry too much, it may color back up if you change lamps or change it's location in the tank.

Louey

 

[SCIronMike]

That is still a nice looking piece. It has shown pretty good growth too, which is a good indication of health.

I wouldn't worry too much, it may color back up if you change lamps or change it's location in the tank.

Louey

Thanks. Yeah, it's grown quite a bit. I just don't know when it comes time to change my MH bulb, whether I should keep with this double ended 150 watts 20k, or change to a 150 watt 10k bulb. Or whether I should scrap the MH fixture and pick up 250 or even 400 watts.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, don't worry about too much wattage. Acros will be able to handle it as long as you acclimate them to the brighter light slowly.