Your favorite Metal Halides for Acropora Growth and Coloration

[SpSDrew]

What duration do all of you guys typically run your MH for? I’m seeing 6 hours ?

I run mine for 7 hours. Have the reefbrite XHOs on for 11 hours (-+ 2 hours before halides kick on)

 

[X-37B]

I always get a laugh from the they are the best. Great quality light source for sure. Its why I keep them around.

I dont care who you are. If you know how to grow coral then leds will work very well to keep your corals growing and healthy.

I just get annoyed when people say they wont grow corals or its the light thats not doing it, i.e. leds.

I am not bashing halides as I ran them for 30+ years and still own many and always will.

Here is a good pic of 1 years growth on a unknown stag under leds. It never really took off under halides. That does not mean the halides were causing it though.

I have many pics but people see what they want to see, imo.

I completely understand halide growth from years of experience with them, like others.

Pic 1 old halide 120.
Pic 2 said coral in 120
Pic 3 as it sits today under xr15's

 

[X-37B]

What duration do all of you guys typically run your MH for? I’m seeing 6 hours ?

Depends on the wattage really.
I ran 250's for 8 hrs.

 

[Reefing102]

I run two 150’s for 7.5 hours. When I upgrade to 250s, I’ll likely cut it back to 5 and expand from there

 

[njreefkeeper]

What duration do all of you guys typically run your MH for? I’m seeing 6 hours ?

This is a loaded question. I’ve been using halides since (can’t believe I’m saying this) 1999. There are two ways I’ve found to light with halides. If you have the height and good reflectors, start them high (18-24” off the water) for 4 hours or so. Check your spread with a par meter if you have access to one. If not you’ll have to use your eyes. A cell phone camera is a great method to stand back from the aquarium with ambient room light off, take a picture and see the spread that your naked eye can’t see. It’s always better to brown out corals and bring them back to color than have them go pale from too intense a light and fix it that way.

I’ve found lighting duration always correlates and parallels nutrient levels. I tend to lean on the side of higher nutrients. I want that deep, rich color in my SPS with strong polyp extension. Dana Riddle has reported in his photosynthesis experiments that corals receiving more than 350 par for about 4 hours go into photo-inhibition, shut down and then use their energy to protect themselves. While this is very true, that protection period after photo inhibition is when they create those colorful pigments we all love; like a sun tan. A simple search on old tank of the month RC threads will reveal that most veterans of halides lit their tanks with upwards of 8-10 hours and had some of the most colorful SPS corals ever. In a new tank, that’s definitely not a good idea. I like to start them at 4 hours a day when a tank is new, establishing bacterial beds, processing nutrients and growing coralline algae. Especially now with dry rock, I really don’t even try anymore to put SPS frags in a tank until 10 months to a year out. So, all that said, my goal is to eventually give them 8 hours of halides. A good benchmark for me has always been what I call the “coralline threshold”. I know a lot of people like to scrape coralline off all their glass panels and make their tanks look like pristine labs these days, but how high up coralline will grow is a good indicator of intensity, duration and how high up calcifying organsims can safely grow and thrive. If you’re only able to grow deep richly colored coralline in the bottom half of the tank, your lights are on too long or they’re too low to the water surface. Only when I see coralline able to grow to the water surface do I feel I have nutrients, light duration and intensity nailed down. I do have nice old school reflectors (Lumenmax Elite and Lumenbrite) which can be hung far off the water and still provide great par, less heat transfer to the water and awesome spread. You’ll have to experiment with all these variables but it’s always proven true for me.

 

[X-37B]

Halide people will like this!

Ok in a month or 2 I am going to setup the 20g nano cube again. I ran it 8 months last time with leds and documented it from day one.
That was the cube that got me to switch from halides to all leds.

This will be the same and I wil focus on mostly stags.
All live rock will come from my other systems. Same with the corals.

I will run a Hamilton 150 watt de fixture with a 20k bulb.
So 150 watts halide vs around 90 watts led.

I will then have a decent example of halide vs 16hd's.

I will keep the system up for at least 8 months like the last one.

20g before I took it down and the 150 im going to run.
Will run halide around 12-14" from the surface.

I will start a halide build thread also.

 

[djf91]

This is a loaded question. I’ve been using halides since (can’t believe I’m saying this) 1999. There are two ways I’ve found to light with halides. If you have the height and good reflectors, start them high (18-24” off the water) for 4 hours or so. Check your spread with a par meter if you have access to one. If not you’ll have to use your eyes. A cell phone camera is a great method to stand back from the aquarium with ambient room light off, take a picture and see the spread that your naked eye can’t see. It’s always better to brown out corals and bring them back to color than have them go pale from too intense a light and fix it that way.

I’ve found lighting duration always correlates and parallels nutrient levels. I tend to lean on the side of higher nutrients. I want that deep, rich color in my SPS with strong polyp extension. Dana Riddle has reported in his photosynthesis experiments that corals receiving more than 350 par for about 4 hours go into photo-inhibition, shut down and then use their energy to protect themselves. While this is very true, that protection period after photo inhibition is when they create those colorful pigments we all love; like a sun tan. A simple search on old tank of the month RC threads will reveal that most veterans of halides lit their tanks with upwards of 8-10 hours and had some of the most colorful SPS corals ever. In a new tank, that’s definitely not a good idea. I like to start them at 4 hours a day when a tank is new, establishing bacterial beds, processing nutrients and growing coralline algae. Especially now with dry rock, I really don’t even try anymore to put SPS frags in a tank until 10 months to a year out. So, all that said, my goal is to eventually give them 8 hours of halides. A good benchmark for me has always been what I call the “coralline threshold”. I know a lot of people like to scrape coralline off all their glass panels and make their tanks look like pristine labs these days, but how high up coralline will grow is a good indicator of intensity, duration and how high up calcifying organsims can safely grow and thrive. If you’re only able to grow deep richly colored coralline in the bottom half of the tank, your lights are on too long or they’re too low to the water surface. Only when I see coralline able to grow to the water surface do I feel I have nutrients, light duration and intensity nailed down. I do have nice old school reflectors (Lumenmax Elite and Lumenbrite) which can be hung far off the water and still provide great par, less heat transfer to the water and awesome spread. You’ll have to experiment with all these variables but it’s always proven true for me.

I think I’m experiencing some bleaching right now in some of my corals and a Maxima clam. I’ve got my halides on for 5 hours a day. I’m working to bring nutrients up right now, even though they already sit at N: 15 ppm P: 0.05. Corraline does seem a little washed out high up on the rock work as well. I am running 2 x 400 watt Radium’s in the front of the tank and 2 x 250 watt Radium’s in the back. These are all on Sunlight supply Blue wave ballasts.

Bump nutrients higher?

 

[njreefkeeper]

I think I’m experiencing some bleaching right now in some of my corals and a Maxima clam. I’ve got my halides on for 5 hours a day. I’m working to bring nutrients up right now, even though they already sit at N: 15 ppm P: 0.05. Corraline does seem a little washed out high up on the rock work as well. I am running 2 x 400 watt Radium’s in the front of the tank and 2 x 250 watt Radium’s in the back. These are all on Sunlight supply Blue wave ballasts.

Bump nutrients higher?

How old is the tank? Duration and intensity really don’t apply in a new tank that has SPS or other animals too early. You can have perfect numbers and still bleach corals the first year with half the intensity they can handle once the tank settles in.

You’re bleaching a clam? I didn’t even think that was possible. They’ve always been the one animal I’ve seen that can handle as much light as you can throw at them.

 

[wrassie86]

I run 6 hrs 10k ish DE bulbs. Blue led bars for 12hrs. Very clear and bright. with the uv sterilizer going, if it was not for the glitter lines might not know there was water in it.

 

[xabo]

Have a chance to purchase a large Lumearc III reflector for $30. Looking for another one or two.

 

[minus9]

I think I’m experiencing some bleaching right now in some of my corals and a Maxima clam. I’ve got my halides on for 5 hours a day. I’m working to bring nutrients up right now, even though they already sit at N: 15 ppm P: 0.05. Corraline does seem a little washed out high up on the rock work as well. I am running 2 x 400 watt Radium’s in the front of the tank and 2 x 250 watt Radium’s in the back. These are all on Sunlight supply Blue wave ballasts.

Bump nutrients higher?

Just feed your fish more. If you're at home during the day, then feed every hour, just a small amount each time. Your corals and fish will thank you. If not, get an auto feeder to pick up when you're not at home.

 

[wrassie86]

Just feed your fish more. If you're at home during the day, then feed every hour, just a small amount each time. Your corals and fish will thank you. If not, get an auto feeder to pick up when you're not at home.

And what if your tangs are already obese like mine, or at least so I've been told lol

 

[minus9]

And what if your tangs are already obese like mine, or at least so I've been told lol

Don't feed nori if you're currently feeding it. I don't and my tangs are picking at algae all day long. Turn up the flow and make them work out. But seriously, if your fish can't swim because it's too fat that's one thing, but if it's nice and round, who cares what other people think. Also, it has to do with quality of food and not feeding mysis as your main food source. I feed pellets 5 times a day, flakes once a day and LRS two to three times a day and my fish look good and healthy. It sounds like a lot of food, but these are small portions that get eaten as fast as I throw it in. Herbivores never stop eating during the day and I've seen some pretty chunky tangs on the reefs, so I doubt that your fish are obese, unless you're just feeding mysis, which is a no-no in my book.

 

[wrassie86]

Don't feed nori if you're currently feeding it. I don't and my tangs are picking at algae all day long. Turn up the flow and make them work out. But seriously, if your fish can't swim because it's too fat that's one thing, but if it's nice and round, who cares what other people think. Also, it has to do with quality of food and not feeding mysis as your main food source. I feed pellets 5 times a day, flakes once a day and LRS two to three times a day and my fish look good and healthy. It sounds like a lot of food, but these are small portions that get eaten as fast as I throw it in. Herbivores never stop eating during the day and I've seen some pretty chunky tangs on the reefs, so I doubt that your fish are obese, unless you're just feeding mysis, which is a no-no in my book.

Great answers! but I was sort of joking, very little nori. My sailfin was fat shamed heavily by many people on FB lol, been growing him since 3 inch now he 6-7 inches built like a moose and king of tank. Its a new low to fat shame a fish lol

 

[minus9]

Great answers! but I was sort of joking, very little nori. My sailfin was fat shamed heavily by many people on FB lol, been growing him since 3 inch now he 6-7 inches built like a moose and king of tank. Its a new low to fat shame a fish lol

FB is horrible in so many ways and there's always some JA who thinks they know better (kinda happens here too), but when you see these fish in the wild on a healthy reef, they are so big compared to what we're used to in our aquariums. I don't think half of the people here realize just how big some of these fish are supposed to be.

 

[Reefahholic]

Well, that was a bit difficult to mount due to the (3) XR15’s on the front. Completely threw off the balance, but I was able to move the halides slightly forward for now and get it done. The balance put the frame about 3” more to the rear of the tank. I got tired of messing with it. It will work just fine for now, and later I might tweak the design a little more. There really needs to be a bar out front to support/balance the weight better from the XR15’s. It was way too front heavy.

Took me two days of constant tweaking and thinking about why this thing was so off balanced even with grippers to tilt forward/ backwards.

Color is beautiful with supplements. W/O them is pretty white like the ocean. It’s doable, but much better with supplements. I’d never run 10K. That would be crazy white.

I’ll get some tank shots soon after the bulbs burn in a bit more.

The Halides are really messing with my Hydros probes. Both pH probes are completed stupid when the lights turn on. I had to put my CaRx back on my other Milwaukee controller. Plus, I’ll have to run another Milwaukee pH monitor on the tank. Only the Hydros seems to be affected.

 

[wrassie86]

Well, that was a bit difficult to mount due to the (3) XR15’s on the front. Completely threw off the balance, but I was able to move the halides slightly forward for now and get it done. The balance put the frame about 3” more to the rear of the tank. I got tired of messing with it. It will work just fine for now, and later I might tweak the design a little more. There really needs to be a bar out front to support/balance the weight better from the XR15’s. It was way too front heavy.

Took me two days of constant tweaking and thinking about why this thing was so off balanced even with grippers to tilt forward/ backwards.

Color is beautiful with supplements. W/O them is pretty white like the ocean. It’s doable, but much better with supplements. I’d never run 10K. That would be crazy white.

I’ll get some tank shots soon after the bulbs burn in a bit more.

The Halides are really messing with my Hydros probes. Both pH probes are completed stupid when the lights turn on. I had to put my CaRx back on my other Milwaukee controller. Plus, I’ll have to run another Milwaukee pH monitor on the tank. Only the Hydros seems to be affected.

Thing about 10k is if you get your supplements right and no yellow in your water, it can actually look like no water in your tank. floating fish and exactly what your corals look like is pretty neat. Par also can get pretty high.

 

[minus9]

Well, that was a bit difficult to mount due to the (3) XR15’s on the front. Completely threw off the balance, but I was able to move the halides slightly forward for now and get it done. The balance put the frame about 3” more to the rear of the tank. I got tired of messing with it. It will work just fine for now, and later I might tweak the design a little more. There really needs to be a bar out front to support/balance the weight better from the XR15’s. It was way too front heavy.

Took me two days of constant tweaking and thinking about why this thing was so off balanced even with grippers to tilt forward/ backwards.

Color is beautiful with supplements. W/O them is pretty white like the ocean. It’s doable, but much better with supplements. I’d never run 10K. That would be crazy white.

I’ll get some tank shots soon after the bulbs burn in a bit more.

The Halides are really messing with my Hydros probes. Both pH probes are completed stupid when the lights turn on. I had to put my CaRx back on my other Milwaukee controller. Plus, I’ll have to run another Milwaukee pH monitor on the tank. Only the Hydros seems to be affected.

Could be the ballasts interfering with the probes?

 

[Reefahholic]

Could be the ballasts interfering with the probes?

That’s what I’m thinking, and I reached out to Hydros and they’re pretty sure that is the issue.

I have them plugged into my Hydros WI-FI Power Strip. I did move the cables up and away from my probe cables exiting the sump which did make a difference, but not enough to be normal.

I will likely have to plug the ballast’s into my other Power Strip and use some timers to cut the lights on/off. Hopefully that will resolve the issues. It’s definitely not happening with the Milwaukee equipment and same exact probes. Only when I plug into Hydros controller.

Maybe tomorrow I will plug them into my power strip and see if that makes a difference before I buy some timers.

I could also be that the ballasts and hydros controller are mounted on the same wall (but 6-7’ apart). Not sure.

Either way, it’s odd that the Milwaukee isn’t effected at all with same probes.

 

[minus9]

That’s what I’m thinking, and I reached out to Hydros and they’re pretty sure that is the issue.

I have them plugged into my Hydros WI-FI Power Strip. I did move the cables up and away from my probe cables exiting the sump which did make a difference, but not enough to be normal.

I will likely have to plug the ballast’s into my other Power Strip and use some timers to cut the lights on/off. Hopefully that will resolve the issues. It’s definitely not happening with the Milwaukee equipment and same exact probes. Only when I plug into Hydros controller.

Maybe tomorrow I will plug them into my power strip and see if that makes a difference before I buy some timers.

I could also be that the ballasts and hydros controller are mounted on the same wall (but 6-7’ apart). Not sure.

Either way, it’s odd that the Milwaukee isn’t effected at all with same probes.

Yeah, if I didn't have an extra EB8 I would've just used some solid appliance timers for mine. I do run a wave engine on my main tank, but no problems there. I have the x4 pro pack on my nano system, but that's 12' or so away from the other tank. You could use a piece of shielded panel to block the RF? Kinda like Faraday fabric which blocks RF, EMI & RFID