Please Help! Coral Growth ?'s

[J4Life]

Ok,
I was wondering if this is considered to be slow, moderate, or fast growth for Acro's under VHO's. Here is some pics. They represent a 4-1/2 - 5 month period.





Thanks for the input,
Bill

[kevinpo]

The majority of Acropora sp. will grow slow under VHO lighting. I think your picture is typical of what you could/should expect.

HTH,
Kevin

[J4Life]

Thanks Kevin,
At what rates do they grow under MH's? I am curious as to how one defines the growth rate for both VHO's and MH's. I am not so sure that the fast growth rates under MH's means that SPS's and the like are more healthier than growing them under VHO's.

I plan on at some point upgrading from a 75 gallon AGA to a 180 gallon AGA and I am considering heavily on the idea of just buying another Icecap 660 ballast and running 6 160 watt URI VHO's. That would give me 960 watts of total light. Surely that will be enough to grow what ever I want. SPS's, LPS's, Inverts, and Softies. I am having great success with VHO's now and the overhead is much cheaper than MH & VHO combos. My ideal bulb configuration would be either 4 (Aquasuns) & 2 (Super Actinic R) or 3 (Aquasuns) and 3 (Super Actinic R) bulbs.

All though I have considered the idea of a MH & VHO combo. I am not wild about it.

Thoughts,
Bill

[reefhead]

3 mo. period

[kevinpo]

Bill,
Most corals will do OK under VHO lighting. Some clams and SPS require more intense light to obtain colors other than brown but they will still live if other foods are available.

As far as coral health I am of the opinion that the closer to natural conditions you can provide the more disease resistance and parameter tolerance you will have. As you deviate from the optimum settings a small shift in one parameter can trigger a bad chain of events.

Some SPS are so high on the reef they are exposed to the tropical sun for a few hours at low tide. I spent the last 18 months working in Campinas, Brazil and it took about 20 min. to get a sunburn in the tropical sun. I work for hours a few inches from my 400W MH bulbs without a hint of sunburn for comparison.

In regards to cost, metal halide is cheaper to run because of the number of bulbs required and the useful lifespan differences. With the range of color bulbs now available you really can find a coloration that appeals to you using just metal halides.

Regards,
Kevin

[kevinpo]

In my tank about 1" a month is average for the 95 or so SPS species I have.

Regards,
Kevin