That sounds like a great idea. Say I go with a simple 175 MH, and I start out with corals that need low to med light. Would I run the MH all day long, or would it be best to run the MH for part of the day and a supplemental light for the beginning and end of the day? I know the MH put out a lot of heat, are the mogel base and pendent house the type that would go in a canopy or is it the hanging kind? If they are the canopy type like retrofit, I hope I would be able to remove the extra heat with fans.
Thank for the help and offer. I would like to try this setup. Let me know what you what for the equipment?
Andy
You would still run it all day (8 hr or more). Just keep an eye on the corals, if they don't look happy, you may need to move them to a different location (even true with SPS, to get the best color, you have to play with positioning...some like being high in the tank, and right under lights...others want to be deeper down, or out from directly under the light). If your softies are staying retracted, try placing them somewhere where they aren't in as direct light (off to the sides, under a rock shelf...etc). Just be sure to give them a couple days in a given location to settle in before you move them again. Sometimes it'll take them a few days to get used to the location, but once adjusted do really well.
For example, we have a colony of Purple Montipora Digitata that we got from John. We had it too high and directly under a light and it started to wash out on the tips very badly after a week or so. We moved it to the side just a little, and down maybe 4-6 inches and left it for a month (watching to make sure color fade wasn't advancing further), it's been there ever since (almost 3 months now) and has colored up again, and is growing great.
