earwicker7 Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 I've always been one to say that you can't grow SPS unless you have MHs. I'm setting up a 50g with VHOs, and didn't really have any desire to grow SPS, figuring I would just wait until I can afford that 180g that I'll mount in my bedroom wall (which is after I can afford a house in Los Angeles, so this may be a while) until I read a book by Fossa and Nilsen (if you're not familiar with them, they are up there in the pantheon with Julian Sprung) that mentioned people having success with VHOs as long as the SPS were placed very close to the surface. Has anyone out there been able to pull this off? I'm not a huge SPS freak, but it would be nice to have one or two at the peak of my live rock. Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 It's quite possible. From the people I've talked to and threads I've read it's just slower growth with good coloring. I'm setting up my 20L with 300W of VHO for SPS and zoo prop. Link to comment
fade2black Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 I have a 50 gallon tank lit by four 95W VHO's and have several SPS corals and a clam. I have a green monti with purple rim that has grown incredibly fast as well as a branching monti that grows very fast. The acros grow slower in my opinion. The clam and two montiporas are over a year and a half old and growing very well. So yes, it can be done very easily. The clam is about halfway (about 9-10" from the lights) and the SPS are about 6-7" from the lights. Link to comment
OxInYourBox Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 fade-You reminded me of a guy who had a VHO only tank and grew a bright orange (I have a few frags around ) monti from a 3" piece I believe into a massive show piece. 18" or so in a year. The real question is what type of SPS do you want to grow earwicker7? As fade pointed out some do quite well and others go slower. Link to comment
EtOH_is_good Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 well garf.org doesn't use mh on their bullet proof tanks. like all things in reefing, it can be done with good planning. Link to comment
onthefly Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 Check out a guy name "flatlander" at RC. He not only advocates VHO's, but says.....with all things the same......corals show the same growth and have way better color. Not just monti's, but acros as well. He's done some swaps between exact set ups, except one has VHO and the other has MH. These are also big tanks too, like 120ga and 280ga. Very doable! Link to comment
Narkon Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 What I have heard, is that Monti's do wonderful under good VHOs, but acro is browner. That is at least what I heard. But agian its also about where in the tank they are, if you wanted a two foot tall tank, with SPS top to bottom you would need to get MH, but if you just want a few up top, then VHO is fine, from what I have heard and seen in some peoples tanks. But we are talking about full hood of VHOs not just a couple. Link to comment
earwicker7 Posted September 21, 2004 Author Share Posted September 21, 2004 What about seriatopora and pocillipora? Link to comment
onthefly Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 I think one of the things we have to realize is lighting is only one component. Having MH is nice.....but if you have MH and crappy water flow and quality......1000W of MH is not going to give you beautifully colored coral. With good random water movement and rock steady water quality......VHO's can grow most SPS shallower than 24" Here's a VHO thread at RC: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...cs&pagenumber=1 Here's a good lighting thread. Flatlanders comments are on page 2: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...threadid=380913 Link to comment
mattie Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 vho's will do the job fine just with mh lighting you can get more growth and more color.. for less watts used even but a friend has a 55g with 4 48" 110W wach vho's and he can grow anything anywhere in his tank.... so don't let the vho thing scare you off sps but there are several acropora and a few clams that would definitly grow better under mh so if you have a hook-up on a decent set of vho lights go for it and just know a little about the corals lighting need before you buy and you should be fine.... Link to comment
mattie Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 i also have to agree with on the fly in the fact the light is not the majic i had all pc's on my nano and had great color i took the light off and replaced it with mh.. the color didn't change but growth increased slightly... i took these pc lights and started a new nano and put frags in it everything browned up becouse the water quality was not the same and only now are things coloring up in the second tank..... so don't be overly concered about vho's if you have enough output Link to comment
myelin Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 From my experiences, poor lighting is usually blamed when dealing with SPS issues. There are many, many other factors that can/will affect the growth of a species of SPS. I can say that I had great water conditions, and great flow, but my lighting wasn't that great. I have upgraded from 130w pc to 260w PC and my blue tipped acropora went from light brown with light blue tips, to dark brown with bright blue tips. In my instance, the lighting was the case. Many others - you just never know. Link to comment
Narkon Posted September 23, 2004 Share Posted September 23, 2004 Well one of the guys that does major SPS told me that to get great growth besides light your water should be high nutrient rich, but controlled, but to get great color, needs to be nutrient poor. Now this is a guy that has his 200 gal tank having enough flow to turn the whole volume of water 12 times an hour. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.