[mikeMersot]

ok I am planning on taking down my 90 FO and moving my 75 reef into the 90. I plan on building a new stand and conopy so I can put the 75 under the 90 to use as a big refugium/remote sandbed since it is mature. Now, what would you suggest as far as lighting upgrade. I am currently running 2-250 sakis and 2-vho actinic on the 75. I would really like a little bluer look, plus I am having trouble with blue acro "brown out", which I think may be due somewhat to my lighting from reading others experiences. So, I was thinking about adding 2-400 radiums into the mix, but I am hesitant for 2 reasons, heat, and burning my softies. Will going with 250 radiums still be ok, I plan on keeping all sps near the top anyway. Would I be better off to just add more vho or maybe switch to 10k? I put an ushio I had lying around in one side of the tank and I do like the look better, but I'm concerned about growth rates. Any opinions/experiences would be a great help. I won't be doing this till July probably, hopoefully my fiancee can keep everything alive while I'm in Europe for a month.

 

[Casey]

Mike I would add more vho like maybe 2 more I like to pump that blue in there The brown out is just what some acros do I would not blame your lighting completly alot of time this can not be avoided when putting acros in an aquarium sometimes they brown sometimes they dont lots of things are involved I have been reading alot about this lately,Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman is a good one Im reading now .

 

[Joel]

If you are changing lights all together I would go with HQIs. I recently bought a complete setup with 150W 10K hqis and am extremely happy with them. I only have 3 sps frags that browned when I put them under 175W 10K mh in my old 75 (placed near the top). Since I've put them under the hqi lights even though it is less wattage the growth rate has greatly increased and there is actually a lot better polyp extension (polyp extension almost none with old setup). The hqi bulbs are a lot whiter though and even with 2 30W actinics there is not near enough actinic to suit my taste, but the light enclosure won't take anything bigger than t-8 bulbs (hopefully t-5s soon). The bulbs are supposed to last longer than regular MH bulbs (15-18 months as compared to 8-12 months with MH) and the bulbs are $15 less each at my lfs. My new 90 is 28" deep and I would probably go with 250W hqis if I had bought this new but as it was used I took what I could get. btw my lps and softies don't seem to mind the new lights at all. just my .02