A Decision has been made

[Braves Fan]

I am going to reaqua scape my 125g 6ft long tank, not sure of the higth or depth of the tank, but its a standard size, to make it more sps coral friendly ( meaning to put as many sps corals in my tank as I can). I have three sets of lights in my tank, two sets of T5 lights, one set has two whitish colored bulbs and one set of bluish colored bulbs and I have three MH lights, 250 watt 20K bulbs. My lights are in a canopy and I would say 8 or 9 inches off the top of the water. My over flow box is inside of the tank in the left hand corner of the tank. I am going to use (most likely) some type of acrylie rod type system to make a structure to get my LR up off the bottom and towards the top of the tank for the SPS corals. What I am thinking of is two main structures, left side, right side with a structure of some sort in the middle of the tank that will house my Rose Ann. and two Maroon Clown fish. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't have the Ann. in the tank with the SPSs, but am not willing to get rid of it now. Anyway, my question: With the lights that I have in my tank, how far from the top of the water in my tank can I go down and and still have sps corals with out killing them because of not enough light penetration? This will have a large bearing on how I build the LR structures. Thanks for your time.

 

[Braves Fan]

I am looking for a general answer to this question. I am sure that the brand of bulb has alot to do with my question. I am guessing half way down my tank is as far as down as I can go with the SPS corals.

 

[rng_pw]

is there a way that you can get a par meter from your local club or lfs or something like that. You would have to do a little research but I know that a few people have done studies on light penetration in tanks more having to do with the comparison of reflectors, but they measured the par in a bunch of different parts of the tank and found some spots that were getting a ton of par and others that were not getting much at all but to the naked eye still looked lit up. I met a guy named James Fatheree, and I know for a fact that he has done alot of studies on this stuff. My method though was much more simple. I just put coral all over the tank and seen which were happy and which werent. I have sps in the sand bed of a 30" deep tank lit by 400 watt reeflux 12 k's that are about 16" above the surface of the water and they are doing great. Good luck

 

[5DC]

standard 125 you'll be fine with 250w MH with decent reflectors. *luminarc/ coralvue*

If you want full penetration but not as good of spread go with the lumenmax elite they have serious spotlight effect that would def reach bottom with lots of par.

Also if you go with like a radium bulb and electronic ballast that slightly overdrives it you will have great par.

My recommendation:

3 lumenarc minis
3 radium 250 20k's
3 icecap electronic ballast.

(thats not because I sell them, I actually sell several brands)

PS: to answer your question 12-16" from water. I would experiment depending on your reflectors...

/d

 

[Braves Fan]

My tank has a dark spot on the right side, now that you say that. I have three lights in the canopy, same brand and for some reason the right side has a dark spot ( dark compaired to the rest of the tank, but its still bright), I will check on getting a Par Meter, I didn't think of that, am sure someone around here has one. Thanks for the idea on the Par Meter.

 

[GPhiAce]

A PAR meter would be great if you can use one. Also, you can research your ballast, bulb, reflector combination too. I did not believe how much change in PAR the ballast and reflector could cause. You can google search it and look for sanjay's results-- unfortunately I do not have them saved now or I would post them. I know of a few people keeping sps on the bottom of 120 highs without any problems-- but they do have great equipment. Also don't forget about the other factors that play a major role in healthy sps (parameter stability, flow, low nutrients, etc)

 

[5DC]

you might have defective bulb/ballast. Also make sure reflectors are clean.


/d

 

[5DC]

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the importance of flow. LOTS OF FLOW~

/d

 

[Murfman]

you might have defective bulb/ballast. Also make sure reflectors are clean.


/d

and the bulbs

 

[Braves Fan]

It is most likely the ballast, the bulb in that light is brand new, and I had the dark spot with the old bulb before it went out. I have pretty good flow in the tank, but you know what they say about flow, never enough and I am sure I could use more. I have alot of rock in my tank, to much in fact, I have about 235 pounds in the tank so I am sure all that rock slows down my flow. But, we are fixing to take about at least a third of that out of the tank when I do the reaqua scapeing.

 

[Braves Fan]

Pics of the tank before I redo the Aqua Scaping. I am looking for some acrylic rods that I can't seem to find. I may have to use my back up plan and use PVC pipe.

 

[seafansar]

Try looking in a hardware store for fiberglass rods. They are near the mailboxes. They're reflectors for your yard so people don't hit your mailbox. They are easy to cut with a hacksaw and hold rock up nicely. I've used them in my rockwork and they don't seem to hurt anything, just don't use the part that has the reflector tape on it.