MH Distance from Water / Frags

-Logzor

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Looking for some advice regarding MH placement and lighting duration. I'm running a 250w MH lamp (Sfiligoi) over a 40G Breeder as a frag system.

What is the ideal distance of the light from the water level and the depth of the frags and total light duration? I have the option to run four 24" T5 bulbs in combo with the MH but I currently have the T5 turned off.

Initially I had the face of the light about 19" from the water, then my frags were about 5" under the water line. The corals I had under there bleached pretty bad and eventually died, even with a 3-4 hour light cycle. Although, they were in rough shape to begin with.

I'm more or less starting over with frags, most of them were not salvageable, so I want to make sure I get it right this time. I removed the posts from my frag rack allowing the tray to sit 13" under the water line.

19" is the highest I can raise my light but I'm flexible anywhere from 5" deep to 13" deep for the frag tray. I can simply cut the PVC supports to the desired length or remove them entirely (13").

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm a T5 guy so the MH I'm still getting used to.
 
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hobbzz

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19" inches is fine. Start everything on the bottom, and slowly work them upwards over a few weeks. Also do research on what you buy to see what kind of intensity it likes. Most people do 6-8 hours with mh.
 
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-Logzor

-Logzor

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Thanks, I'll give that a try. All frags are now at the bottom and I'll start to increase the lighting duration.
 

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