Lighting for Montipora

[kmc]

Hello Eric. I've read your "Aquarium Corals" twice now cover-to- cover in preparation for a 90-gallon reef tank I'm setting up. Thanks for providing such an excellent resource. The one issue that I'm still struggling with is what lighting would be appropriate for my tank. I'm mainly interested in montipora (capricornis, digitata and the encrusting species), though I also plan to add some green star polyp colonies, zooanthids and ricordia mushrooms. I'll segregate these from the montipora and from one another. I know that none of these corals need a ton of light, but I've been told that both montipora and zooanthids will show more intense color with strong MH light. I definitely want to see intense purples, pinks, oranges and greens in my Montipora. With this in mind, my LFS is setting up the tank with a retrofitted light that will include four T-5 bulbs (I'm told the ballast will fire them at about 80 watts each) and two 150 watt HQI ice cap pendants. In reading through some of the FAQ's on Reef Central, I'm getting the impression that some Montipora may actually not do well under direct intense light. Although I know Montipora doesn't need intense light, I wasn't aware that it could actually be harmful. Is this true, and if so, do you think I'm overdoing it with the light? I'm also anticipating that in a year's time, I may want to try my hand at acropora species. Thanks for any help you can give.

Keith Carlisle

P.S. I'm also an Alabama native (Birmingham), though I've lived in New York City the past 13 years.

[MiddletonMark]

I'm not Eric, but I'll chime in.

A 90 is a fairly tall tank ... meaning that it will take fairly intense light to reach the bottom. IMO, 150w MH's will not be too much light for what you're doing.

So much is `coral to coral' dependent, along with water conditions [and movement]. I have a half dozen different kinds of Monti in my tank ... with one [plating Monti, green w/ purple rim] that seems to demand more than my 2 175w MH's on my 3' long tank. And I have some that grow like absolute weeds.

My feeling is that your light sounds just about right. Maybe 250w would be better, though might run you into issues acclimatizing things ... but I doubt you would have `too much' light there.

To me, sounds just about right.

[EricHugo]

Agreed, but you will need to be careful with Montipora. Many tolerate and gain bright coloration under very strong light, others will bleach and do poorly under strong light. You'll want to start deep and move upwards slowly. The species can be very difficult to tell apart, although M. digitata is disitnct and pretty much a very shallow water species...

[kmc]

Thanks for the help, guys. I'll stick with my lighting plan.