Lighting Minimum

[kwirky]

Back when I had T5 HO teklights they bleached my first SPS I ever got

I'm going to be seeing if 150W 14k aquatinic lighting with PC actinics will be enough for SPS on my little 24g tank. It's only 16" deep and running zeovit too *crosses fingers*. I think water clarity has a part in it too. With my softies and LPS (again in my previous tank) I started running active carbon and the water all of a sudden cleared. I had a few colonies bleach on me.

I've been reading all of advanced aquarist's articles on coral colouration too and I think from looking at the articles as a whole it's the symbiotic algae that needs the light. If you can supply sustenence to your coral through other means then the coral can thrive in a lower light environment. For instance if you have mature rock providing lots of microfauna or even the bio supplementation products that could be magic or could be snake oil

I think the actual studies on lighting and colouration in corals being done by advanced aquarist are quite exciting but I'm a geek that way :X

[IceTurf]

Hmm, keep it coming, this forum is giving me a good idea of what I need if I wish to keep acropora

So carbon is bad for the corals? Did your corals get their color back? I'm planning on running my filter with carbon *and some LR rubble, maybe some algea stuff*, which now I'm wondering if it could cause the corals problems.

So a live rock which has colonies of microfauna*looks up quickly lol*, oh well that told me allot, so if i have a live rock with colonies of small/microscopic animals, the acropora color will be aided?

[Reefer Rob]

When you say SPS what do you mean? There are so many different types with so many different light requirements. Has anyone ever kept Acropora is a 10G long term? Lighting requirements aside, I thing it would be a real pain to keep the water parameters stable enough for them... unless you hooked it up to a 50G sump.

[Jason McK]

Ya I think Rob makes the best point. Light will be the least of your issues. Unless you have a large sump LOL

J

[IceTurf]

lol, I would definitally be waiting a long time to make sure my parameters were nice and level, before adding SPS corals. By SPS i mean high light requireing corals, such as *yea my favorite, although hardest to keep* Acropora.

lol, just run a sump line a few miles to someone elses tank, yea that would likely be easier.

Well I was thinking about an internal sump that would be about 3 gallons, possibly a section or end of the 10 gallon which was seperate from the coral section. Containing LR rubble, algea and other good stuff.

[Jason McK]

the problem with a 10G ( I had 1 for about 1 year) Is that it is very hard to get stable. Evaporation alone can cause such huge changes to the water make up.
unlike larger tanks smaller changes effect a 10G huge

J

[IceTurf]

Well I've found a way to keep the evaporation levels in check, a simple auto top off system, and for a smaller tank I don't have to be worried that the auto top off will run dry of a day's worth of evaporation. Yea I know, bigger is always better, unless you have no place to put the bigger. I may just give up on SPS corals for a while.

If you had say a tank, that was completely closed, with no area or space for evaportation and for outside influence, but with clear sections to allow for light to get in, could SPS corals do better or worse in an already cycled, closed tank? *assuming that you could somehow add calcium and other good stuff to aid it with life functions*

[mark]

Seal up at tank shine a bright light on it you'll have a greenhouse effect. Also your tank still needs the exchange of air.

No sure what you're planning for ATO but here's a simple gravity type.

If you are forced to go small, should skip the SPS (and the expensive lights). There's lots of really nice nanos out there with easier stocking and demands. Something as simple as a piece of LR, a mushroom and a shrimp can gorgeous if done properly, think bonsai.