CRAZY about lights!!!

hawk fish

hawk fish

Member
im so confused now. i just read all about how watts dont matter and how lumins and kalv's do...so how do i know when i have enough or not enough...i just realized that all my lps i have gotten it the past 2 year except the candycane and one brain has died....i dont know why im freeeeeeeking out i have softies that are doing great....do i not have enough light for the lps.
last year i got 2 150 MH (HWI) for my birthday....i thought that would be enough with my old lights to keep lps and softies...thinking tonight that maby i should up grade to sps tank....but then i though that if these lights arent enough to keep lps then how do i know what to get for sps!!!! ahhhhh....i have spent ove 500 on lps and each and everyone has gone down the drain...
the lights that i have now are 2 X 150(20,000K) hqi bulbs 1(20,000k) 96 watt pc and 1x 96 watt (6,500k) pc..........all ontop of a 90 gallon tank...is that enough!?!?!?!
what do i do im freeeking out and the fish stores are closed tomorrow because its monday....please help me with what ever you got!!!!!!!!! :notsure: :notsure: :notsure:
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
Your lighting is borderline for sps, if you kept them towards the very top of the tank you should be fine or you could swap out just the ballast part of your lighting system, go from 150's to 250's and then you would be fine.
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Whats your water quality like?
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Sps need lots and lots of water flow which is not compatible with most softies. Also, sps are very intolerant of poor water quality and need a stable system. My 75g sps tank has 40x flow and 14k 2x250mh's, 2x96 actinics
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
keeping LPS under halides shouldnt be a problem, they require about the same light as softies, if your not acclimating them to the light slowly they are probably sunburning to death. this is just a guess though 'cause I really know nothing about your methods and placement or other factors of your tank. I have no poblem keeping several types of LPS under PC lighting, such as fungia, frogspawn, 2 types of brain, hammer coral, and torch coral. lots of lps rely heavily on feeding as well as photosynthesis, sure if you have plenty of light they can usually get the food they need out of the water such as stray flakes and stuff but if your light is marginal, spot feeding can often be required. (I even keep a few lower light SPS under my power compacts) but they are located very high in the tank and are in exceptional flow areas. I do not reccomend this though often the SPS cant acclimate to the lower light fast enough to survive. I lost some expensive corals figuring this out. and some that have survived still havent recovered fully.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Have you thought it might be something other than your lighting for your losses?????? If your having issues with softies and lps, I wouldn't venture to the sps world.....What are your water parameters?
 
kjord97

kjord97

Member
I am leaning towards your water being messed up. Or you are acclimating wrong. I have been running salwater tanks for 4 years and all 3 of my tank have softies lps and sps in them. I run a multiple of different types of lighting. I have found success which each type. I have shrooms, zoas, frogspawn, xenia, moti caps, acropora, millipora, galaxia, brains, plates, bubble tips anenomes. On my 56 gal I run 2 10k 96 watt PCs and 1 54 watt dual blue actinic. On my 125 gal I run 2 150 watt 10 k halides with 2 10k 54 watt pc and 2 54 watt actinics. On my 48 bow which has most of my sps and lps has 2 150 watt 14 k halides only.
 
hawk fish

hawk fish

Member
just tested every thing
cal-370
mag-1300
nitra-10
nitri-0
phos-.2
ph-8.3
how should i light aclimate lps...put a bottem of tank then raise them up slowly??
 
kjord97

kjord97

Member
yes when you put corals in the tank you should place as low as possible and then slowly move up to where you want it over the course of a month or so. BUT it also depends on what kind of lighting was at the LFS. IF they have there corals under halides and you run halides as long as your halides are equivlent or less then you can place anywhere.
Yuo halides are good for a year and your pc are good for 9-12 months.
 
hawk fish

hawk fish

Member
if i go to up grade my 150 to 250 can i still keep lps and softies???can i do one side of the tank at a time?? left 250 right 150 then get enough money and get both sides 250?? thanks for all the input
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by hawk fish
just tested every thing
cal-370
mag-1300
nitra-10
nitri-0
phos-.2
ph-8.3
how should i light aclimate lps...put a bottem of tank then raise them up slowly??
Again it's your water parameters IMO and not necessarily lighting......Your ca is low.....400-450ppm would be ideal......mag is good.....nitrate is high, phos it pushing it as well, what about your alk?????
 
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