sps with vho

[droberts]

i have a 125 with 4 six foot t-12 vhos there 160 watts each so 640 watts. so wouldent 640 watts of light grow any sps?

[dustinlclarke]

some people have had luck with this but myself my sps's bleached when i took frags from a 110 w/ 3 250's and put it in my 90 with 4 96 watt pc's which is 4.26 watts/gallon but after mounting some borrowed 2 * 150 mh everything really perked back up just some food for thought if you already have it try it if it doesn't work go another route

[jimsplace]

I have a 90 with 4 VHO's (440 watts) and can grow just about anything except the more light demanding acro's etc. As dustinlclarke said, you do need to be careful of coral placement, since I have bleached some corals. Start them low and move them up and you should be ok. Watts per gallon is really not a good measure, but is ok for a "rule of thumb". Depth of your tank will also affect what you can grow. Mine is 24" deep and I have a dersea (sp?) clam on the sand, very happy and have mostly sps in my tank.

[jmann]

I would guess Dustin experience was caused by lack of light rather then placing to high. Removing from under 250 mh's to vho's shouldn't cause bleaching from to much light.

[Frick-n-Frags]

lowering the light should not cause bleaching at all. bleaching in that instance was most likely due to the change in other conditions from the tank swap.

corals will ADD zoox and get browner.

going from low light to high light too suddenly can bleach corals however.

[shred5]

lowering the light should not cause bleaching at all. bleaching in that instance was most likely due to the change in other conditions from the tank swap.

corals will ADD zoox and get browner.

going from low light to high light too suddenly can bleach corals however.

Exactly...

Dave

[phil519]

comparing VHO watts with PC watts is not a valid one. Just like trying to say a 150w MH is about the same as a 110w vho (it's not). You need to have a PAR meter to truly view the difference between the two.

Back to the OP - i am assuming this is a standard 125 that is 6 feet by 18 by 24? If so then I'd say you're ok. If your tank is higher than 24' then you may want to be careful what you place on the bottom of the tank.

Judicious placement and ensuring the bulbs have not reached the end of their lifespan will help greatly. A guy in our club had 4 VHO's over a 55 and was raising BTA's like candy (constant cloning).

[droberts]

i was hoping that with new bulbs i could support sps requirements and yes its a standard sized tank. i have a few sps frags that seem to be doing well under the lights purple and red digi,green slimmer,brown Monti,green Monti but the montis are growing but i don't see much growth in the other sps. lps and zoos all look great and show growth

[jimsplace]

i was hoping that with new bulbs i could support sps requirements and yes its a standard sized tank. i have a few sps frags that seem to be doing well under the lights purple and red digi,green slimmer,brown Monti,green Monti but the montis are growing but i don't see much growth in the other sps. lps and zoos all look great and show growth

The corals you have named all will grow very well in your tank, what are the other sps your refer to? How long have you had your frags, sometimes it just takes awhile for them to adjust to your tank. One thing to watch with your VHO bulbs; I try to replace my super atinic (03) after about 6 months maybe a little more, the atinics I try to replace at about 10 months and I don't know what to expect from the new 454 bulb. It has been my experiance that if I go any longer than stated, I start getting some unwanted algae showing up.

[cdbias2]

VHO's have been used to grow coral longer than any other type of lighting.

[redfishsc]

I've seen lots of lovely monti cap grown under relatively dim VHO. A local fellow I know has a 75g with just two 110w tubes and has a couple of beautiful monti cap colonies.

[tkeracer619]

Make sure to run lots of carbon. The clearer your water the more light will get to the coral.