Distance from water to lights

[99taws6]

How high should my T5's be from the water surface? What is the minimum? What about MH's? Thanks..

btw this is on a 180

[TexasTodd]

About 9" bulb surface to water oh MH is best...but a little higher will cut down on some heat.

Florescent bulbs can go as close as you can get them. 2" -3"

Todd

[Ping]

I recently recieved the same distance advise from Ace and Mike. My coral color has improved with less MH (par?) shorter period, as I cant raise my MH -- and the increasing of lighting from my actinic VHO's ,lowered.

We can have too much MH light & not enough actinic light and our corals therefore may present with a brownish hue, as many corals do in nature.

[erikharrison]

To follow up on what Ping said, from what I have read alot of the brown color that we see is from the zooxanthellae in the coral. Essentially the zoox is breeding rapidly causing the coral to turn brown due to an increased amout. With less light, you are essentially causing less breeding of the zoox, which causes the coral to show more pigment and less zoox . Google SPS coloration, and prepare to get lost! :)

[caferacermike]

I run my halides 6" above the water.

[MissT]

Yeah halides should be around 6-10" from the water, T5's and PC's dont really have a min.

[alton]

On my 158 g I have glass tops and my halides sit 3" above them, with a fan blowing across the glass tops to keep it cool. The tank stays around 79 degrees. On my 200 g I have a canopy with out glass tops and I keep the MH at 8" because if there is a splash hopefully it doesnt hit the Lamps and explode.