Highs and Lows

[ostrow]

Ok, so I've been getting some contradictory information while setting up the tank I aquired (pics in the Chicagoland group forum). Basically it amounts to this: should soft corals be placed close to the lights or lower down, and what about hard corals?

I'm interested in the general answer (if there is one) for each, rather than getting into particulars and exceptions to the rules.

Thanks!

[wizardgus®]

Pretty hard to get a generalized rule with that. Most soft corals require less light than most hard corals. Ergo one could say that softies low, hard corals high. But there will be many exceptions to that rule and depending on what type of lighting you have it may not be right for any corals. I'm afraid that this hobby is more exacting than that.

[ostrow]

Forgot some details:

75G tank with 2 250W Metal Halides at 10K.

The other part is water flow: some have told me to get SPS corals into the high water flow, others say not to.

Here's a pic of the tank:

[Typhon]

wizardgus.. is right.. that is the rule of thumb.. but with coral there are so many variations and they have there own specific needs.

No one can give you a definite answer..

[Typhon]

Rule of thumb.. most SPS require high water flow..

[ostrow]

So how do you get SPS high water flow AND lower light??

My water returns are mostly from on high.....

Surely this is normal???

[Typhon]

ostrow.. you suppose to give SPS higher light and higher flow..

[Typhon]

Can you give me some details on your system??

[wizardgus®]

Something isn't running right here. SPS = Hard corals. So, even though I'm still not subscribing to a general rule with what has been discussed thus far SPS would be high light and high flow.

Best would be to get a good book such as Eric B's which gives you requirements of each species.

[ostrow]

So SPS high light high flow (the light question was contradictory before now) as a rule. Here's what I know I've got (bought established tank, some of the stuff peeks out, as we all know, when you didn't know it was there...

4 unidentified medium size soft corals

Large head of Xenia elongata, and a couple smaller heads

Variety of smaller SPS frags.

Purple, green spotted, and green bullseye mushrooms

Green button polyps

Two large patches of green star polyps.

That's the bulk of it for now.