[freeman79]

Hello all,

My aquarium consists of 3 150 W HQI 10000K MH, 4 96W Actinic PCs, and 4 Lunar lights. Is this enough light to have clams on the substrate? I have some branched Montipora Coral (SPS), which looks to be doing great near the bottom of the aquarium. I also have Acropora that's doing well. Another question is...Can too much light cause your corals to look bleached out. I have open brain about midway and it looks kinda bleached out.

Dimensions 72Lx17Wx22H

Thanks

[zhenya]

Hi freeman79,




I think you have enough lighting to support clams on the sand bed, but this will depend on the exact species of the clams you'd want to keep and how high your light fixture is off the water surface. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to keep T.derasa or squamosa on teh sand bed and maybe even some of the color variants of the T.maxima(like gold colored, for example).
As far as open brain coral, I don't think it is getting too much light being midway in the tank, but if anything, you can always move it lower and see how it responds.
It would help some if you could provide some more information about the tank, especially age and salinity, temperature, etc.

[freeman79]

Gene,

The age is about 6 months, but it was transferred from a 2 year old 55 gallon. The lights are only about 4 inches from the top. I use a chiller to keep the temp at around 80 F. What's wierd is my 55g which only consisted of 260 W of PC's seemed to have had more color and the coral seemed to reproduce quicker. I think this could be from more fish per volume in the 55g which generated more nutrients for the coral (just a far guess). I only have two fish in the 125 g at this time. I have 150 lbs live rock (75 from the 55g).

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by freeman79

Gene,

The age is about 6 months, but it was transferred from a 2 year old 55 gallon. The lights are only about 4 inches from the top. I use a chiller to keep the temp at around 80 F. What's wierd is my 55g which only consisted of 260 W of PC's seemed to have had more color and the coral seemed to reproduce quicker. I think this could be from more fish per volume in the 55g which generated more nutrients for the coral (just a far guess). I only have two fish in the 125 g at this time. I have 150 lbs live rock (75 from the 55g).

I think you can basically keep any clam on the sand bed if your lights are only 4 inches from the top. Some like to be attached to hard substrate so you need to take that into account as well (croceas and maximas do).

I think the colors will come alone as tank matures and corals adapt to your new, much more intense lighting. I think you may be right that they are bleached somewhat. Did you acclimate them to the new lights when you transfer them to the new tank?
As far as nutrients and color of the corals, this will depend on the species of corals. Hard corals, like Acropora species and others, come from nutrient poor waters, but some softies may absorb nutrients directly from the water column and probably depend on it and do come from different areas of the reef.
Anyways, you can always offer some food to corals without necessarily feeding the fish. There are some foods that could be added to benefit corals directly, like Golden Pearls, frozen Cyclop-eeze and such. You probably know all that by now.

[freeman79]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Did you acclimate them to the new lights when you transfer them to the new tank?

No, I didn't. As far as feeding the corals, I go to some LFS and they state they don't put nothing in their tank but calcium. The tank is beautiful. I find this hard to believe. I'm putting all kinds of supplements like, coralvite, essential elements, tech I, reef builder, calcium, micro-vert, etc. I know the reef builder and calcium is a must, but I wonder if the rest is just a waste of money.

Originally Posted by zhenya

You probably know all that by now.

I don't know too much. I'm just getting in to the advance reef keeping. I can finally afford the equipment to do it. When I tell people how much $ they pretty much call me an idiot.

Kris

[Reefland]

Hi freeman79,

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by freeman79

No, I didn't. As far as feeding the corals, I go to some LFS and they state they don't put nothing in their tank but calcium. The tank is beautiful. I find this hard to believe. I'm putting all kinds of supplements like, coralvite, essential elements, tech I, reef builder, calcium, micro-vert, etc. I know the reef builder and calcium is a must, but I wonder if the rest is just a waste of money.

Well, there are many ways to have a successful reef tank, Kris.
Keeping Ca and Alkalinity up to par is indeed very important, some balanced additives like B-Ionic can do that. You can even maintain those parameters with the cheapest of all additives, the Calcium hydroxide( kalkwasser, Mrs. Wages pickling lime is the same thing and is much cheaper than any of the kalkwasser additives that LFS is selling). All other additives is probably a waste of money. If anything, I'd save this money you spend on them and invest this in a calcium reactor.

If you didn't acclimate your corals to the new lighting it is probably the reason they looked a bit washed out. You can probably raise your light fixture to about 8 inches or so and see if it helps any. I bet it would.

Originally Posted by freeman79

When I tell people how much $ they pretty much call me an idiot.

Welcome to the wonderful world of reefkeeping.....

[freeman79]

Thanks for the welcome and all the info. I also failed to mention I faught a flatworm problem for the first two months. THANK YOU Flatworm Exit(GREAT PRODUCT). That stunted the growth of my coral due to all the toxins from the flatworms. Now they are gone and I'm fighting a bad case of Ich that I got from the LFS. I'm now turning the old 55g into a quarantine. That saying, "Learn from your mistakes", definitely applies in the reef world.

Originally Posted by zhenya

If anything, I'd save this money you spend on them and invest this in a calcium reactor.

I currently use reef advantage calcium to keep my levels up.

Originally Posted by zhenya

You can probably raise your light fixture to about 8 inches or so and see if it helps any. I bet it would.

That's not possible due to the height of the canopy (cherry oak oceanic with coralife HQI retrofit). That's also the reason for the chiller. I have to run it in the summer to keep the temp down. Especially here in this oven, Macon, GA.

Kris

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by freeman79

That's not possible due to the height of the canopy (cherry oak oceanic with coralife HQI retrofit).

I hope your HQI fixture comes with a lens to protect your inhabitants from the UV radiation and bulbs from shuttering if water splashes on them.

Thanks for the welcome and all the info. I also failed to mention I faught a flatworm problem for the first two months. THANK YOU Flatworm Exit(GREAT PRODUCT). That stunted the growth of my coral due to all the toxins from the flatworms. Now they are gone and I'm fighting a bad case of Ich that I got from the LFS.

Well, this may explain why corals don't look too happy. Are you treating your tank with any meds right now? I think you will be one happy camper when you convert your old 55 into a quarantine tank.

[freeman79]

The UV lens came with the retrofit. As for the medications on Ich, I've tried Kich Ich and Rid Ich (safe for inverts). I have been using this for about two weeks. My wrasse has nothing, but my Kole tang is not eating, hiding, and you can see some spots. I think what I'm going to have to do is rid the aquarium of any fish for about 6 weeks so the Ich has no host then slowly introduce the fish again. The so called safe for inverts treatment for ich is a bunch of crap. At least that's my experience.