[kevinpo]

Hello,
IME there are Acropora and Montipora corals that do well under the 192W of PC lighting you have. Species selection, position, and water clarity will be key to maintaining the coloration you desire. Also you will need to remove the plastic cover over the tank. It will block too much light unless you wipe it every day. Also you will most likely want to evaporate as much water as possible so you can dose Kalkwasser for replacement. Stony corals respond well to Kalkwasser additions. The corals will have to be place directly under the bulbs and within 12" of them. The bulbs will have to be changed every 8-9 months unless you have a light meter (ie Apogee Quantum meter calibrated for electric light measuring Photosynthetic Photon Flux PPF). You can buy a lot of bulbs for the $350 it costs for the light meter however

The species that will do well under your lighting are:
A. Valida
A. nana
A. Yongei
A. suharsonoi
A. loripes
A. granulosa
Porites cylindrica
M. digitata
M. capricornis? (the green with purple rim variety)

The biggest challenge will be finding them by species name as some of them can be hard to identify and locate.

Regards,
Kevin
Note: If you are trying to grow them for frags to sell/trade halides will be the way to go. But if you are just looking for some small colonies in a couple of years your lighting will work.

[shark_bait]

What do you think about Hydnopora? My LFS had this under PC lighting and said that it would be fine as long as I put it up high. I bought it about a week ago but it looks as if it is shrinking??? Can these decrease in size just as soft corals change shape or is this a bad sign?

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Yes Hydnophora can do well under PC lighting placed 8-10" from the bulb. It tends to lose a little of its green but still looks very bright under 420-450nm lighting. They can expand and contract their polyps more than most SPS type corals.

Remember that lighting is only one of the parameters for good SPS coral health Water quality (flow, temperature, nitrate levels, etc.) and proper levels of calcium, buffer, and magnesium are just as important.

Regards,
Kevin