This lighting OK for my 55gal?

[sheree]

I`m about to buy a "CoolTouch Lighting" canopy for my 55 gal. It has 2 - 175watt MH, and 2- 110watt VHO actinics. My tank has every kind of softy...with a brain coral and a bubble coral, and a few small candycane corals. No SPS`s. The brain and bubble are doing good now with just Power Compacts, but only about 170 watts. Will I be able to put the brain down on the bottom with the MH`s? And the bubble? And will the MH`s be too much for the softies?(mushrooms,capnellas,cabbage coral,zoo`s, etc??)
What ya`ll think?
Thnx in advance
PIC OF NEW LIGHTING BELOW

 

[a&m aggie 04']

you should be fine but you're going to have to shade the softies under rocks, caves, etc.
HTH,
Mark

 

[nm reef]

You may need to shelter and/or re-locate some of the softies to avoid direct lighting...but I'd think most of your selections will adjust. Sounds like a very nice lighting up-grade! Take care to acclamate the entire system to the new lighting and keep a close eye on how the corals react.In time everything should get used to the new lighting source...then you can start to introduce new corals. Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress.

nmreef@cox.net

 

[reefnut]

Acclimate them sloooooowly. I though I went slow but still lost all my shrooms. You will most likely see a die off of your coralline algae. Don't worry though, it will most likely come back and be even a bigger pain .

 

[jarvis]

I would say go with the 250watters. Its more versatility if you want to do SPS or Clams down the road. Aclimate slowly starting off with 2 hours and slowly increasing your time. I didnt have any problems with my critters adjusting to light except for my white bubble didnt take well to the lighting upgrade where he was at. Were as my pink branching bubble was right around the same area has taken very well to the light. The white bubble has recovered in the shade and is doing well now. I might move the pink one down next to him because those bubbles are just plain vicious as far as stinging issues go. Just giving you a heads up.

 

[jauringer]

i think that is great lighting. i just upgraded to MH and i couldn't be happier. I have too disagree with jarvis, You could still do SPS with 2 175s in a 55 gallon tank. You deffinatly have to acclimate your corals to the lights very slowly. i fried a group of Pom Pom xenia with the new halides. i had to move them into the shade.

 

[wyldgunz]

I went with the dual 250 watt double ended 10k ushios with dual 110 VHO supper attinics on my 55 gallon but what you have is just fine youll be happy with the looks.

 

[spsfreak100]

Originally posted by jauringer
I have too disagree with jarvis, You could still do SPS with 2 175s in a 55 gallon tank.
I would have to disagree with that statement to a certain degree. You could keep most species of small polyped slceractinians under 2x 175wts halides, but, you would be much better off using something around 250-400wts of halides. You would see much better growth and possibly better coloration under a higher wattage and P.A.R. rating.
you should be fine but you're going to have to shade the softies under rocks, caves, etc.
In the wild, most species of soft coral get much more lighting that 175wts from the sun. As long as the corals are slowely aclamated, they should do fine without any shading.
And as others have said, aclamate them extremely slowely. I would start out with around 2hrs daily. Increase the lighting 30 minutes every 2-3 days. Keep a good eye on the corals for any signs of stress, including shrinkage, "melting" appearence, no polyp extention, etc.
Take Care,
Graham

 

[sheree]

Thanks everyone for the replies and opinions. I dont think I`ll ever go to SPS corals..just personally dont care for the looks of them. Gonna stick with softies and LPS `s...I was just wanting some lighting that would encourage more growth and reproduction. I have PC`s on my 30 gal with Triton lighting and the improvement has been great. I picked up a large brain coral today that arrived at LFS a lil bleached,,(10.00) and I`m hopeing the MH will revive its zooanthella inside and it will recouperate. Slowly gonna submit it to halides from the Triton and see what happens.
Wish me luck and thanks again.
Will start the softies down low away from the lights.

 

[krunk]

you should just stick with vho if your not doing SPS, lots cheaper.

 

[jonthefb]

the cool touch lighting products are awesome....i have 2 250w watts from him on my 65 and am very very pleased with the quality of his product!
good luck
jon

 

[sheree]

This is the brain I picked up cheap...ya think it will survive? (it has "puffed up a bit"...and we gave it a slice of shrimp.
In this pic,,it looks totally bleached ,but theres some brown coloration internally(algae)..and it still glows green under actinics.
Any hope?

 

[spsfreak100]

If the brain receives regular feedings (krill, silver sides, lancefish, diced squid) and ample amounts of lighting, it should recover. From the looks of it, it still looks like it has some zooxanthellae left within it. There's hope.
Graham

 

[sheree]

OK...I got my lighting...now....
......I cant set the canopy right down on the tank cuz of the wetdry overflows and heater..so, I built a "canopy-canopy" that raises the Cooltouch canopy off the tank about 6". That puts the MH about 8" off the water. Is that too far ?..too close?
When the Halides are off...that has the actinics and daylight bulbs about 6" off the water. Gonna be a enough light from them?
I know...a pic would help, but I`m not an expert craftsman..and my handywork isnt that great.
Any opinions?
Thanks

 

[jim672]

Sheree,
I'm not an expert either but have my MH and VHO's about 6 inches above the water. Most of the lighting threads I've read indicate a range of 6 to 12 inches above the water for best results.
Don't forget to acclimate your tank....... slowly....... to the new lights. I used an acclimation schedule like Graham suggested and had no adverse effect on any of my corals ( I went from NO to 175w MH and 2 96w VHO over my 45). Slow acclimation will also help avoid an algea bloom.
You're going to love the way your tank looks with those lights!!
Jim

 

[chinnyr]

Sheree....I'm getting the same light setup in a couple of weeks for my system.I sold my house and made mad loot to get some new lights.I also have another empty tank waiting to be setup.It is a 36" 38gal.,and I'm going to relocate my vhos over to that.And,the good thing is all I need to do for that is get new bulbs!It is just about time to change them anyway.My stuff has been thriving under the vhos,but I want to give myself more options for tank additions.Let us know how things work out and I will do the same!

 

[sheree]

This is what I built...not the fanciest thing in town,,but it serves its purpose. Raised the MH about 8 inches off water..

 

[sheree]

I used 1 board of Red Oak....1 ft x 7 ft cut to fit front and sides...1/4 round trim at the corners (redoak also)..inside braces i used pine 1/2x1 inch strips to hold canopy in place. The doors are 6" tall x ?length suits your needs. I stained it with Minwax Golden Oak 210B.
The trim on the doors were $3.20 each glued on with liquid nails and stained also.
Total cost about $75.
HTH