MH + SPS = How Many Hours

EricTheRed

EricTheRed

No, I'm not a communist..
Okay, this is a relatively specific question for those of you with SPS tanks and Metal Halides.

How long do you leave your halides on for each day? I'm running mine for 8 hours but am thinking about trying only 7 to see if I get better coloration. I recently went back to 14K Phoenix bulbs from 20K's and it seems some of my sticks are getting a little paler. I am Curious to know if anyone else has switched up their cycle and seen different results...?
 
Eric, long ago I run MH from 10K to 20K then to 14K, I go back to 20K because the 14K color not look good to me. You may dim or raise the MH up a little. You ever try 20K radium bulb? It's really nice in my opinion. I changed from Phoenix to Radium too.
 
7 hours here.

You're seeing your SPS go ick is because of the Phoenix bulbs. They're crap when it comes to spectrum for SPS. Try the 20k Ushio's those are my back ups if EVC ever disappeared.
 
maidia said:
Eric, long ago I run MH from 10K to 20K then to 14K, I go back to 20K because the 14K color not look good to me. You may dim or raise the MH up a little. You ever try 20K radium bulb? It's really nice in my opinion. I changed from Phoenix to Radium too.
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Yeah, Mai, Radiums are the best IMO but I'm running DE fixtures now since they fit better in my canopy.
 
poidog said:
7 hours here.

You're seeing your SPS go ick is because of the Phoenix bulbs. They're crap when it comes to spectrum for SPS. Try the 20k Ushio's those are my back ups if EVC ever disappeared.
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Man, I loved the color in those 20k EVC's. I'll give the Ushio's a shot.
 
poidog said:
7 hours here.

You're seeing your SPS go ick is because of the Phoenix bulbs. They're crap when it comes to spectrum for SPS. Try the 20k Ushio's those are my back ups if EVC ever disappeared.
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I have used both but I prefer the phoenix because of better coloration and growth. Ushio20k is about half the par of the phoenix.

Op problem is pale. Stepping up to higher par, you need to feed the tank more. Sps is not getting enough nutrient if you have a low nutrient system.

My experience was that when I change to phoenix corals looked great when my alk is around 7dkh with the same 7 hour cycle. So I can either lower the light hour and increase alk or vice versa. Ushio 20k put my corals to a halt. Color was great but zero growth.
 
kn240 said:
I have used both but I prefer the phoenix because of better coloration and growth. Ushio20k is about half the par of the phoenix.

Op problem is pale. Stepping up to higher par, you need to feed the tank more. Sps is not getting enough nutrient if you have a low nutrient system.

My experience was that when I change to phoenix corals looked great when my alk is around 7dkh with the same 7 hour cycle. So I can either lower the light hour and increase alk or vice versa. Ushio 20k put my corals to a halt. Color was great but zero growth.
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Thanks, I used to run an ulns but now I make sure to keep enough nutirents and even dose aminos so I don't think that is my problem. Good advice though, because I know ulns can pale sps.

I always heard that the phoenix bulbs had the best par. They're relatively new so I wouldn't be replacing them soon anyway. I think I'll kick it down to 7 hours and see what happens.
 
Ya, phoenix is the best as far as PAR output, but PAR isn't the whole story, Otherwise I'd blast my tank with a plasma bulb! ;) Spectrum plays a higher importance than PAR does. There are a few articles on reef keeping.com and other more scientific reefs sites, that have done spectral testing and find that there are wavelengths very beneficial to corals that not all lighting produces or produces enough off (its more towards the end of the spectrum towards UV in the purple range). We test PAR in our tanks as a good indication of a good bulb because a PAR meter is affordable compared to a spectral analysis meter. Sites like Sanjay's lighting guide is an invaluable tool because it plots spectrum for many different bulbs in different applications.

Ushio's do have less PAR than the EVC, but I have heard that the color/spectrum is very good and SPS thrive under it. I don't know about growth under the ushios as PAR is the primary driver for growth (not necessarily color).
 
I am also wondering if 7 would be 'better'.
I run mh for 8 hours right now and everything is doing well including my gigantea anemone so I am hesitant to drop everything by 1 hour.

2 ATI Blue+ for 10 hours
2 ATI Blue+ for 9 hours
2 Radiums for 8 hours


I used to do 9 hours mh, but that was definitely too much.
 
I'm with Eric. I used to use Phoenix, can't use Radiums because I have double ended, but hated them. My corals on top lost their color and growth slowed. I switched to EVC's for 7 hours and LEDs the other 5.
 
Just remember SPS just don't thrive on lighting alone. 1st the quality of the water has to be pretty close to where this animals accustom to. If u can dial yours closed enough to natural SW then u will see growth and colors it does't matter if your bulb is 65k or 10k but colors more pronounce under 20k. Mine is on for 8hrs and VHO 10hrs. Note, corals in our tanks looked more candy than the once in the ocean all of that coz of the expensive lighting we used :lol:
 
labas39 said:
I'm with Eric. I used to use Phoenix, can't use Radiums because I have double ended, but hated them. My corals on top lost their color and growth slowed. I switched to EVC's for 7 hours and LEDs the other 5.
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I'm with you. I was running EVC's recently and LOVED them. Apparently they didn't love my magnetic ballasts because I blew 3 bulbs and had to give up on them.
 
ReefDweller said:
Just remember SPS just don't thrive on lighting alone. 1st the quality of the water has to be pretty close to where this animals accustom to. If u can dial yours closed enough to natural SW then u will see growth and colors it does't matter if your bulb is 65k or 10k but colors more pronounce under 20k. Mine is on for 8hrs and VHO 10hrs. Note, corals in our tanks looked more candy than the once in the ocean all of that coz of the expensive lighting we used :lol:
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I keep my param's in check but recently my alk slipped up to 8.3 dKh. Ordinarily that wouldn't be a big deal but I'm running biopellets and I know that tips can burn if you go over 8 with pellets. I'm inclined to think this is why some of them turned pale. I have the dKh back down to 7 and will keep my MH's at 8 hours. If they color up then I'll know it was the pellets. If they stay pale, then I'll try other bulbs.

Ideally, I'd like to stop running biopellets but I don't have an area for a fuge in my sump and I'm concerned that my nitrates will get out of control. I like the idea of biopellets because they have allowed me to keep a fairly substantial amount of fish and feed them heavily. What I dread is having to give up some fish but I'll do it and build a bigger sump if that is what it takes to keep the sticks happy.
 
EricTheRed said:
I keep my param's in check but recently my alk slipped up to 8.3 dKh. Ordinarily that wouldn't be a big deal but I'm running biopellets and I know that tips can burn if you go over 8 with pellets. I'm inclined to think this is why some of them turned pale. I have the dKh back down to 7 and will keep my MH's at 8 hours. If they color up then I'll know it was the pellets. If they stay pale, then I'll try other bulbs.

Ideally, I'd like to stop running biopellets but I don't have an area for a fuge in my sump and I'm concerned that my nitrates will get out of control. I like the idea of biopellets because they have allowed me to keep a fairly substantial amount of fish and feed them heavily. What I dread is having to give up some fish but I'll do it and build a bigger sump if that is what it takes to keep the sticks happy.
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Eric, u ran biopellets, so ur carbon dosing? Add amino acid everyday and you'l see. The higher alkalinity will only burn tips if ur coral is starving.
 
ReefDweller said:
Eric, u ran biopellets, so ur carbon dosing? Add amino acid everyday and you'l see. The higher alkalinity will only burn tips if ur coral is starving.
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Interesting. I always thought that the system had to be ultra-low nutrient for them to starve. I keep my nitrates around 2.5 to 5 ppm and thought this would avoid them from starving. Do biopellets can cause them to starve even if there are still nitrates registering?
 
EricTheRed said:
Interesting. I always thought that the system had to be ultra-low nutrient for them to starve. I keep my nitrates around 2.5 to 5 ppm and thought this would avoid them from starving. Do biopellets can cause them to starve even if there are still nitrates registering?
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Eric, any nitrate registered at 2.5 that's ultra low. I dose vinegar in my sytem everyday via automatic doser. nitrate at 2 and phos. at.03 and rumps up to .05 sometimes if i neglect amino acid for a week i will see some lightening in some corals. Corals need nitrate and phos. too but in tiny percentage. If u have a mix reef like mine u cant strip all that to almost sterile w/o having issue w/ other corals.
 
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