Coral ID and Lighting question

[soccer4life94]

A guy at the LFS told me that I would need to replace my bulbs every 6 months. Said the spectrum on these lights fade at 6 months. Is this true? I read when i bought them they should be good for 12-18 months.
They are 150w de HQI 20k
Do I need to replace these? they are currently 4-5 months old now.
Also, I bought this coral this weekend. I forgot was it was labled as. It was Aventa or something along that line. Anyone identify it? the pic shown it is closed up a lot. When it opens it is pretty green colored.

 

[soccer4life94]

pic

 

[razoreqx]

That looks like an Alveopora or Goniopora coral.
On my reef I have six 10k 65w bulbs. I replace them one at a time on a rotation schedule. I try to replace each bulb after 6-8 months of operation.

 

[soccer4life94]

Ok. I was told my the lfs guy and my friend that this would be a great coral to have at this level of my tank (5-6 months).
It is in fact a Alveopora. Everywhere I'm reading is telling me that these are next to impossible to keep in a reef tank for more than around 6 months and nothing but an advanced reefer should attempt them. Ok....alittle help here. Seems like I may be have dooped by the lfs. Any advice? Should I get rid of it or try it?

 

[razoreqx]

Originally posted by soccer4life94
Ok. I was told my the lfs guy and my friend that this would be a great coral to have at this level of my tank (5-6 months).
It is in fact a Alveopora. Everywhere I'm reading is telling me that these are next to impossible to keep in a reef tank for more than around 6 months and nothing but an advanced reefer should attempt them. Ok....alittle help here. Seems like I may be have dooped by the lfs. Any advice? Should I get rid of it or try it?
Not true. I bought mine when my tank was just over 5 months old and have had it for almost 2 years now. Its one of my favorite pieces.
It is more sensitive to water quality and I often judge my water by the presentation of that coral.. Its always the first one to get ticked off.

 

[soccer4life94]

Well I would like to keep it if I can. the water conditions seem to be ok. the only problem I have is some Cyano that I cant solve. Its not to bad. I will post a pic of the tank as it is now. The Nitrates are around 1-2, I dose Alk/Ca daily. What do you feed yours? I have been reading and it says to dose DT's? Any advice would be great. It has quickly become one of my favs as well. Here is the tank pic and you can see the Cyano that I am getting. Is it bad enough that I shouldnt keep this? Also, I placed it higher on the rocks. Should this be a coral I set in the sand somewhere?

 

[razoreqx]

I have mine pinned between LR pieces about half the height of the tank. I found this coral likes to extend its polyps upward in a medium to low flow area.
I dont dose my tank with anything other than 10% bi weekly salt water changes.
As for my topoffs, I run open hood so I have about 1/2 gal of evaporation per day.

 

[bang guy]

Alveopora is often confused with Goniopora. Green Goniopora is the difficult coral to keep.

 

[soccer4life94]

Ok.... so does no one feed it DT's? I have read some places that say it feeds off the light...others say you have to feed it DT's.

 

[reefraff]

I second the Alvapora not being that hard to keep. I had mine under 110 watts of PC when I first got it. It is now spreading in my tank. I don't target feed it but feed the tank freeze dried photoplankton.