Hey.......
Just thought of something :idea: do you think if I added VHO maybe x2 96w to the system I might have better luck with SPS

Richard

Metal halides are fairly widely accepted as the standard for SPS. The bigger the wattage the better, of course. Currently I have a number of lovely pieces under dual 400w Ushios, and this fall I will be putting them into a tank with only a 175w pendant over it. It will be interesting to see how the colour changes and if growth slows down. I do know of reefers keeping SPS solely under VHO, however the colouration of their animals is not as intense as I believe it could be under halides. Some people feel supplementation is a necessity for growth and colour but I don't agree. In short, my own opinion based on what I know would be that, no, you should not expect VHO to lead to greater success with SPS.

What kinds of troubles are you having, by the way?

I had lots of SPS with the same 150W light, but three bulbs. They did well just lacked vivid colors. So it's not a bad place to start. The hobby seems to be all about upgrading and slagging fish stores so dude your off to a great start. Welcome to Canreef!

Dave :biggrin:

In short they die good flow in the tank have tried different spots, water tests come back good. I was thinking lights ????? just the next thing I was going to try.

Why don't you post your tank in the Tank Specification forum and we can 'ave a look at what you've got.

What genera of SPS are we talking about, Montipora spp., Acropora spp., Seriatopora spp.... they might just be shipping poorly, I'm assuming you're buying them from the shops, correct? There are a myriad of coral killers that you really have no control over when you're dealing with wild-collected colonies.

Start with captive prop frags first. Firstly they're cheaper, secondly they're hardier. Wild caught pieces are hit and miss until you really know what's going on.

What are you doing to maintain Ca and Alk? Without good values that promote active growth, pieces can die off.

Flow is probably more important than lighting. What kind of water turnover do you have?

Re: new here.....HI
 

Medican, these are the Mercedes/Lexus of filters for the planted FW tank people. You will have no trouble selling your Eheim filter on a FW plant tank board. I suggest advertising on the Aquabotanic boards, there are a lot of Canadians there.

Delphinus......

I use Kent Liquid Reactor with Kent Turbo-Calcium when needed. keeps me @ about 420Ca and 10-12 dkh. My water flow is Aprox. 1100GPH Via 4 powerheads and about 250 GPH whith the EHEIM.....So turn over is abou 15 times.....this should be good.....right????

PS thanks for all your help
Richard :lol: