Reaching out for some sps help

[BHAMR6]

Ok here is the deal I had a 65g all sps tank for 5 yrs that had great color and colonies that grew all over the place.. I sold it and all the coral and decided to try my hand at a larger tank and so for I'm struggling with beginner Sps..

I have a 185g 60x30x24 with a warner marine skimmer, tune 6105, on my 65g I ran 2x 250w radium bulb mh's and Loved it so on this tank I put 2x 400watt radium bulb mh's and right off the bat noticed the tank looked dull not very well lit ( the tank does have a 13in glass center brace). After the tank cycled I added some of my old Lps and softies mushrooms, acans, etc and the have done great.

The tank was set up in June and I know that's still a new tank but I thought I would try a few easy pieces, so I added a green Slimer from my old tank and I noticed it was a darker green in this tank and after a few months it turned dang near brown ( which in my mind says po4 or not enough light).. I also added some birdsnest which did opposite of the Slimer and started fading out looks like to much lights.
Now after several people saw the tank and commented on how dark the tank looked I thought I would try another light so I added another 400w, so that's 3x 400w radium bulb mh's. I have them at 16in from bulb to water which is the recommended height for lumen Brite large reflectors.
Now even with that light here is where I'm confused my low light softies and Lps are doing great with outstanding color but some of my sps are dark colored and some are turning real light colored. So I moved the ones that look like to much light to the bottom and the dark ones up and still no change.. Strangest part is a sps on bottom will look bleached why right beside it my acans don't..




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[BHAMR6]

So my question is what I'm I missing I check all params and everything is good and I understand that some sps might need more light than others but I don't understand how a chilli pepper Monti will bleach on bottom while acans or zoas will look like a million bucks. Or how a green Slimer will turn dark green in the same tank as a bleaching birdsnest.

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[mcarroll]

400 watts is too much light in a tank that's 24" shallow, IME. Further, Lumen Brite's shoot like like a laser vs giving good spread.

I would consider going back to your 250's, but maybe keep 3 instead of 2 over the tank. My guess is that the Lumen Brites "laser" effect, combined with your 30" tank width is what gives the impression that your tank is dark - the edges probably are relatively underlit and this is what you will see the most. When you upgraded to 400's it didn't fix this problem of light spread and probably made your overlighting worse if anything. If you don't want to switch back to 250's for some reason I'd consider switching reflectors or even upgrading to LED lighting.

Also, double check your test kits and make sure your params are really what they say. Check experiation dates and/or test with reference solutions, and/or take a samle to the LFS and have them test.

In the absence of any relief using the above suggestions, I think a voltage leak or other contaminent are less likely, but also possible contributors to your problem. Check with a multimeter and Poly Filter pad respectively.

I hope this helps!

-Matt

P.S. Are you doing regular water changes on this system?


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[BHAMR6]

Here's the problem with the lighting..
There are a few tanks in my reef club that are the same length and height but are less front to back and run 2x 400 and the sps is growing out the tank and there 24 high.. That's what made me change from the original owners 2x 250w he never could get good growth and color..
So I added the 2 400w which copied their setup thinking it would grow the same.

Also to wouldn't it burn the Lps are softies first.???

On the reflectors I had luminarcs on my 65 and loved it but I've not been the happiest with the lumen Brite.. You are right the coverage of them are awful. I read on Rc forum that if you ran them higher than a regular reflector it made a big difference so I did but I can still see that the front and rear are barely lit.. That's why I added the 3rd because you could see a visible shadow in the center with just 2..
I run bare bottom too do you think that the light hitting the glass causes to much reflection??



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[Chameleon]

would love to see you tank in person. Sorry I can't be much help in the issue, but I wish you luck. Just curious...what kind of ballast are you running them radiums on?

 

[BHAMR6]

3x galaxy 400.. Your welcome anytime just let me know I work at the fire department so I'm easy to get up with

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[kuyatwo]

With 400 watt radiums make sure you have them on 400 watt not 400 watt hqi...400 watt radiums are actually 360 watt bulbs so you are already overdriving them at 400. Also in my experience you need to replace them every 6-9 months depending how long you run them a day. In my experience 8 hours a day I replace mine every 6 months


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[Scoly]

What are you running as far as flow goes? My tank has the same dimensions, I'm running a mp-60 2x mp-40's. I've found that flow is a big factor!

 

[BHAMR6]

Was 2 tunze 6105 and now one has just quit on me

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[mcarroll]

On the reflectors I had luminarcs on my 65 and loved it but I've not been the happiest with the lumen Brite.. You are right the coverage of them are awful. I read on...

My Grandpa used to say you can believe only half of what you read and none of what you hear. LOL

But seriously, I wouldn't say the LB's coverage is awful - it's one of the best for "most tanks", aka 24" or less front to back. Most other reflectors spill a ton of light over the front and back of tanks like these. I'd bet you would have loved em over your old 65.

I do think you might do better on your 30" tank with a "more ordinary" reflector. Certainly no more than two 400's should be needed this way. 250's should still do it, but depends if you need/want to run them higher off the tank...400's will let you go higher.

-Matt


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