What are folks experience with MH lights and Ricordea?

[RussC]

I just bought some ricordea this past friday. Beautiful. I'm acclimating them in my 45 hex to my lighting by starting them on the bottom of my tank. With the 250MH and 2x55PC lights how high can I expect to place them in the tank and still remain safe from overexposure? Also, what type surface do you think I could get away with attaching them to? I would really like them to attach to a more verticle slope? Any success/failure stories? These are new for me, but as with all the rest of my inhabitants, very important they have the best opportunity to thrive.

[Typhon]

I have had ricordea in my 90g tank for about a year now. I have 2 X 250w MH. And I have been able to keep them almost anywhere in the tank. I have some sitting about 6" from the top of the water. Just have to start them off at the bottom of the tank and move them upward.

I usually recieve them already attach to a rock. I am guessing you could glue them (but I have never tried)..

[acroporas]

I posted a thread showing how my ricordea reacted to MH lights. It is quite impressive how well they responded.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=196005 (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=196005)

[RussC]

So it sounds like they could be just about anywhere I wanted them. Ideally, I would like to put them at the top of my LR which is located about 6-8" under the water level. What would be a warning sign to look for if light is too much? Also, I've been really trying to determine flow amount on these guys. Every where I've read has said moderate. What is moderate? I noticed the edges of the shroom were pulling up sometimes. Would that indicate too much flow?

[Typhon]

If the ricordea retracts or starts to move downward away from the light. Those are sights that the light is too intense. Mine are under low-moderate flow. All they really need is some water movement to remove waste. If the edges are begining to fold than that is too much flow.

[johnrags1234]

I hae a number of rics under dual 400w. They are on my sandbed, about 8" from my lights.




John

[johnrags1234]

Originally posted by johnrags1234
I hae a number of rics under dual 400w. They are on my sandbed, about 8" from my lights.




John



***18"***

[Anemone]

Originally posted by johnrags1234
***18"***

Was wondering about that...I thought that was one very shallow tank! :D

Kevin

[TIGER SHARK]

acroporas - how far from the 250MH did you have them?

I have had mine under 440W VHO and just upgraded to 2 x 175MH. They have been fine directly under the VHO's but seemed to expand much better about 12-14" below the lights. I am going to re-arrange my rocks so I can try them out directly under the 175MH and see how they do.

[wthorpe]

re: water flow with rics, i'm new to the hobby, and have only had my rics a couple months, but here's my limited experience for what it's worth:

after first getting them, i placed them all on the sand bed where the flow was gentle, but rather constant. i would consider this moderate i guess. maybe on the low side of moderate. i figured this would be a good start. my orange detached from its rock, however. it floated to a spot it liked, which was receiving a very low flow. in fact, there was almost no movement at all. the orange has since displayed behavior that confirms its strong distaste for anything but low flow.

on the other hand, the tricolor (7 mouth) and the blues seemed to be fine with a moderate flow, but it was clear that anything greater was unacceptable to them. e.g., one day, my LM blenny became somewhat fixated with his reflection (more adversarily than narcissistically) and began moving his head quickly from side to side (attempting to outmaneuver his newfound doppelganger, no doubt). unfortunately for the tri and blues, it was only about 2" away from where they were basking. the additional water disturbance created by his tail prompted the tricolor to relocate. the blue, which actually was closer to the action, stood his ground, however.

the blenny's comical behavior continues with slight variations. it reminds me of that old comic gag with a mirror that wasn't a mirror... i think groucho and harpo did it in duck soup.

my conclusions: that water flow, more than light, will determine a ricordea's sweet spot and that LM blennies are highly entertaining.

[acroporas]

Originally posted by TIGER SHARK
acroporas - how far from the 250MH did you have them?

I have had mine under 440W VHO and just upgraded to 2 x 175MH. They have been fine directly under the VHO's but seemed to expand much better about 12-14" below the lights. I am going to re-arrange my rocks so I can try them out directly under the 175MH and see how they do.

About 3 inches under the surface of the water, directly under the bulb.