Montipora lighting

[liverock27]

I was reading about Montipora Digitata (sp?) and Carpricornis (sp?) and in one of the sites it said that they could be under lighting other than MH. It said that they needed 3watts per gallon or higher. Is this true? I have a 20g long tank that has 132watts (6.6 watts per gallon) and I am saving up for a better system, probably sometime this summer I will buy it, and I was wondering if this was enough light for these corals? Thanks for any help yall can provide me.

 

[dburr]

The digis will prolly be a little dulled out in color. More like brown sticks with colored ends. But the caps will maintain the color better. They grow in deeper water and the way they grow, they collect light better.
I would try the caps.
HTH

 

[liverock27]

Thanks. If I wanted to get teh Digitata also, what lighting should I be looking at. I was looking at a setup that had one 175w MH with 2x75watts VHO lighting. Should I be worried about the heat with this system? Thanks again

 

[michael7979]

I put digis' under 440w of vho toward the upward third of the tank and they did great. Just be careful.

 

[liverock27]

How do you like the VHOs? I have never used them, but like I said the lighting system I am looking at come with them.

 

[dburr]

If you want to get into SPS go with MH. As for temp, I really havn't had a problem. I don't use the fan I put in my hood and I have a LARGE sump in the basment. I guess it depends on your system and where you live.
If this is for the 55, you will be happy with the 175's and happier with 250's.

HTH

 

[liverock27]

Thanks for all the input and help yall. Actually this lighting is for a 20gallon long tank and probably would eventually get moved onto a 29gallon when the coral frags start getting bigger. That is why I am worried about so much light over the 20g long since it is so short.