SPS, MH and bulb distance

[mike31154]

My 250w SE bulbs are about 8.5 inches from the water. They are in DIY Lumenarcs. I use plastic chain to suspend the fixture from the ceiling. This allows for relatively simple height adjustment by using a different chain link in the ceiling hook to raise or lower the assembly. Just need to make sure the chain is robust enough to handle the weight and so far so good for me. Might be able to rig up something similar inside a hood with a shorter length of chain. May not be as elegant a solution as an elaborate sliding or even automated rig, but on the plus side, it's simple, inexpensive and easy to set up.



I only have a couple of small SPS frags at the moment, so can't really provide any useful info as to growth. What I have is doing well. Down the road I'll definitely be looking at LED lighting to replace the MH.

[Hangfire]

I have one 250 Watt MH that's somewhere between 6 and 8 inches off the water surface. I have but one SPS that's probably only 8 to 12 inches under the water and it's doing great, so far.

[Lampshade]

I"m running 2x250W moguls about 8" above the water. SPS is doing great all different levels. I'm debating getting cheaper bulbs and adding a third ballast because it's a little too intense right now in some area's and i'm running out of shady room to put some not-as-high-light SPS.

[StirCrazy]

mine were 6" above the water.. that was the majority from that old poll if I remember that far back corectly.

is there a way you could put them on a slide inside so you could lift them when yuo have to be in there? well I am sure there is if there is room in the canopy. I might be able to give you an idea when I come down at the end of the month.

I had mine on drawer slides so they would slide out the end when I needed to work on the tank.

Steve

[Aquattro]

I think mine are just too close for the corals. The tops of the rock towers just get blasted, to the point it's distracting to look at. With the new reflectors, I think they should be up another 3 or 4 inches. But do do that, I need to probably at least build new sides for my canopy

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I think mine are just too close for the corals. The tops of the rock towers just get blasted, to the point it's distracting to look at. With the new reflectors, I think they should be up another 3 or 4 inches. But do do that, I need to probably at least build new sides for my canopy

what about surface mounting them on the top of the canopy? this will also allow more of the heat to be radiated into the room instead of staying int he canopy.

[Aquattro]

I've got the canopy well vented now, with the ability to pump the air outside if I need to. Dispersing the heat into the room as you stated might make it a bit too hot around the house, if you know what I mean

[Parker]

Reviving an older thread. I have my lights about 6" off the water surface. 400W DE and after talking with Lance and looking at some other threads I think they are a bit too low. I'm proabbly going to raise them up to about 12" or so

[jostafew]

I'll pitch in; I don't have a lot of SPS experience but passing on info that I read (and am currently using as a guideline) my single 250w DE bulb is currently 12-14" off the surface, with the bottom of the fixture about 6-8" up. Like others my fixture is suspended by chain that allows for about 6" adjustment to accomodate varying light levels as the bulb ages. I try to keep a minimum of 12" between the bulb and the water surface to minimized the amount of heat that ends up in the tank. With the pheonix 14k bulb in my DIY fixture I get about 40000Lux at the surface, about 13500Lux just into the water, about 8,000 mid-tank and about 4,000 at the bottom. My tank is 24" tall.

[MarkoD]

I have 4 x 250 watt about 6" above the water. No problems at all, I have corals 5 inches under water and they're doing great