pc lighting

[kjswift]

this might sound stupid, but is power compacts strong enough for sps?

[Instar]

It can be, but there are constraints and its 2x as expensive as halide + vho because you need so many. And the colors are horrible overall. They fail to develope some blues and some reds in the zoozanthellae in both softies as well as the sps. I won't do another one for sps with pc's alone as the cost vs what they lack is not to my tastes at all. The bottom line to your question though is yes, they are strong enough for some colors and species of sps. But, if you get one that doesn't adapt to that well, it will die on you and you won't have anywhere to move it that has better light. Also, growth is much slower to non-existent with the pc's, depending on the species and color of the coral. (I do use a pc unit for a few softies and mostly a fish only tank though, just not my preference for sps after trying it.)

[JimD]

PC's are typicly the first step in the evolution towards metal halides, do yourself a favor and dont make the same money wasting mistake many of us have aleady made, go directly to halides and dont look back. Yes, you can keep sps alive under PC's, but thats about it.

[Nano_Steve]

i agree with larry and jim,

i just recently made the switch from 4x 96 watt pc over my 30 gallon long to 250 watt metal halide with 1x 96 watt actinic supplement. the montiporas i had prior to the metal halide showed growth and a bit of color but after 2 weeks of having my halides they are COMPLETELY different! absolutely go straight to mh if you can afford it, if not i would say save up rather than wasting money if you already know that you are going to want to do sps corals. :)

hth,steve