Too Much Light? Too Little Light?

[Blodlizrd]

I am about to make the jump into a full fledged reef and I am doing to research for my lights. I'm going to go with a VHO retrofit with an IceCap 220 Ballast in a custom hood that I am building. I was wondering how many lights to run on it though considering the option of 2-4 lights. I have a 29 gallon tank and I was thinking of going all out and getting 4 tubes which would equal 300W of light. That's about 10W per gal. I'm going to start off with some soft corals and I was wondering if this was too much light for the softies. Also, is it too little light for SPS coral that would be positioned at the top? As always, thanks for the help!

[david]

I'm no expert, but i would think, thats a bit much for many softs
I think i would set it up for 4 bulbs, an just add 2 bulbs to start, an add softys.
slowly add 3rd, 4th bulb. then move softys to shade if needed.
and sps should grow well it the top 50% of tank.

[Pineapple House]

It might be fine as it is for softies. Try to position them towards the bottom of the tank. I agree with what David said. ust add 2 bulbs to start, an add softys.
slowly add 3rd, 4th bulb. then move softys to shade if needed.

I stick with my word when it comes to SPS corals. I would try not to be keeping them under florecent lighting! Most of even the most colorful SPS will likely turn a dark dull brown within the first week of being in the aquarium. This is becuase the zooxanthellae inside their tissues must reproduce to catch as much lighting as posible. If the lighting won't keep up the zooxanthella, it will slowely die off, turning the corals bright white (bleached) and it will be dead.

I would go with more 'Low light' SPS corals. These include some species of the pavona, hydrophorna, anacropora,porites and some montipora varieties. These likely would do okay in the upper part of the tank, preferably at the top. I'm not saying that the SPS can't live, but why add them to anything but the best?- Being under MH lighting, and good water conditions. :)

PH =)

[Blodlizrd]

I was considering SPS with flourscent after seeing all the beautiful coral at www.garf.org. Is there something that I am missing in my evaluation?