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Halide Placement


pantherguy30

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Wanted to know if there was a "standard" height to place my fixture. I'm gonna be changing my lighting over to a 400W Radium. In a Sunlight Supply Lumen Max Elite fixture, with a Blue Wave Hqi ballast. Since I don't have a par meter I have no idea where I should place it to get the best results. My tank is 20" tall x24"wide x24" deep. I have an enclosed hood now but can take it off to accomadate the placement of this new fixture. So If anyone either has a par meter they wanna play with or knows of height estimate please let me know.(scratch)

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I agree that you are going to want to be fairly high above the water level. I would think that a 250w would be better suited for that size tank to keep everything, including SPS, from going into light shock. I keep my 2x 250w about 6" off the water, but it is DE style bulb and has a glass cover, which prevents too much UV, and splashing water on the bulb.

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I have a DE Xm 250w hqi setup now and I cant seem to get the color I want out of it. I suppliment with 2 vho super actinics and my zoo's in the tank have lost some color. I even had them towards the top for a bit. I purchased them out of a tank that was running 400w bulbs so I just assumed that this would be a better choice. I have a ton of sps that are doing ok but don't pop like they did when they had been under a 400w setup.

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i would say that you are probably just experiencing a little bit of light shock. i would just give it time. in my experience zoas are lower/mid light corals. i keep mine in the bottom 1/4 of the tank under 2x250w phoenix 14k. what kind of time frame are we talking about for the 250w? how long have they been on the tank?

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I just purchased an acan from OIAB and placed it at the bottom of the tank. I have had it since probably Thursday and it has fadded out a lot! I just looked at my fixture and noticed its 4" off the water and the light is probably another 2" higher so total of 6" to the water surface. Btw it's a 20k bulb. Joel at waves suggested a pheonix bulb but he wont have any untill Tuesday. I guess I'm just a bit confused??

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i too get some shock from my acans. they are lower light specimens and you are right by putting them at the bottom. i would say that what you need is to let things have more time. the zoas should be at the bottom. move them down there, and give them a couple more weeks to a month and they will start to turn around. my tank is 27" deep and i use 250w phoenix. i will be using 2x250w bulbs on my 200 gallon when i set that up. i would say you dont need 400w bulbs unless you are trying to penetrate over 30" into the water.

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