Distance from the water

[primereef]

I have a question concerning how close to the water a 400w MH bulb should be from the surface of the water. MY tank is 24 in depth tank. I currently have it approximately 10 inches from the surface of the water. Is this too high? Thanks

[charlie]

I've got mine 13" off the surface, I think you are alright. Do you have an enclosed canopy? If so you might want to incorporate the use of some fans to help with the heat. HTH

[primereef]

I do have an enclosed canopy. I have installed fans. If you have yours at 13 then my I know isn't too far. I was wanting to know if 10 inches was close enough. Thanks for your time.

[charlie]

I do have an enclosed canopy. I have installed fans. If you have yours at 13 then my I know isn't too far. I was wanting to know if 10 inches was close enough. Thanks for your time.

What are ya growin?
Glad to help

[primereef]

I have 3 sps corals (I hope not too soon), hynophora, blue acrophora and millipora digitata. I also have soft corals: spagetti leather, sarcophaton ellegans (?), kenya tree maybe capnella, some green polups and mushroom and one blastomussa welli. My lfs had some good deals. Of course, I have snails and hermit crabs. My substrate creatures are plentiful and numerous. I plan on placing the sps and lps in the upper half of the tank and the soft corals in the lower third. I have long term plans to have mostly sps and lps though. The soft corals will add motion.

Enjoying the hobby

[charlie]

It is possible that you might have some chemistry issues with the softies and the sps/lps. Are you running any carbon to help this out?

[primereef]

I just added the sps and lps friday. I have had a carbon pad for several weeks. I am switching to granular carbon today. I just haven't done it yet. I do have a skimmer which is home made which is a copy cat of the ETS. It skims approx. 1800 gph.
I was going to wait on the sps but the lfs had a good deal and good specimen.

[charlie]

Sounds like you are headed in the right direction my friend. That skimmer alone ought to take out a bunch!!! Just keep on keepin on, we are here for ya! How big is your tank?

[primereef]

Sounds like you are headed in the right direction my friend. That skimmer alone ought to take out a bunch!!! Just keep on keepin on, we are here for ya! How big is your tank?

It is a 240 with a 75 gal sump in the basement. I run a sequence 1000 hammerhead. I have 3000 through the tank and 1800 through the skimmer.
I was wondering if the homeade rock was inhibiting the growth. I did follow the garf method. I also have thought about buying some live rock but I don't want all the nasty critters riding along.