How much light is enough?

Contrary to that mentioned above...Clams do require nitrates for their success!!! As for the metal halides, they are point source bulbs meaning that they are very intense bulbs but will only be disbursed in a small area unlike pc.'s and t5's which emit light, though less as far as PAR is concerned, because it is disbursed over the length of the whole bulb!!!
Your SPS' will in fact live on the lighting that you are providing, however as for the vibrant colors of these corals, you may not see their true coloration due to subdued lighting intensity!!!!!!
Keeping the sps' closer to the top of the tank will aid in this, however, be careful not to move them to quickly or you run the risk of bleaching the coral.
Adequate water flow and proper water parameters will also need to be addressed for the long term success of your corals and Clams...

 

mamachipy - I have a setup not to dissimilar from yours- a 55 gallon with an Ehiem canister filter and a protein skimmer . I am running 250 watts metal halide and 260 watts power compact.
I have recently added five acaporas ,three montipora digitas and one montipora capriconus -they all seem healthy (with exception of a couple I put up to high to soon (those have bleached but I moved them back down and am hoping for a good recovery)so at least in my case I don't think water flow is an issue. Did you mention how long you have had your tank up ? I would like to reccomend you take an water sample to the most knowledgeable local coral shop tell them about your problem and have them look it over !

 

Well I fixed the heater problem this morning. Went and repaired the controller and it ended up the element was bad too. So I had to run to Petsmart and I picked up a Hydor Theo 400 watt heater. Now the temp is steady at 77 degrees. It that to high, to low or just right? I also added one more powerhead. Now the sand is blowing around but the red slim is gone.

Since everyone is saying that the lights are good, I can only assume that I have a water quality problem. The tank has been up since Feb 2003 and the water used to awsome all around but as we added more fish and coral and it began to deminish. My question is will a refuguim fix this? And if so, how big should it be? Under the tank I can only go as big as 40"Lx12"Wx18"H. If I go with the refuguim can I get rid of the canister?

Keep the comments coming, learning alot. Sould have joined 3 years ago!

MIKE

 

I have a glass 55 aquarium and read covy's thread on diy pvc overflow. I decided to make one of these and it works perfect have been running it for a couple weeks now. I used a old glass 35 to make sump fuge. Even if your not mechanically inclined the PVC overflow is very easy to put together and fairly cheap. Some say they don't want a pvc pipe in there aquarium, but consider one it will cover with corraline, and two you will be able to get rid of heater in your tank, hang on filters, and protein skimmer all will go in sump/fuge where it will be hidden and it ads another 25 gallons to your tank size or what ever size you make your sump/fuge. This extra water will only help keep your numbers better and allow you to put all chemicals and water changes in sump without affecting main tank also can keep chaeto in fuge to help with nitrates. The PVC overflow can be found here just search DIY PVC overflow There are a bunch of different variations on here and they work great.;D

 

Build a sump/fuge yourself. I was hesitant to build one but took on the challenge and got a 30L and made a nice one with my own touch. I am pretty proud of it, check it out on this link. It is done and cycling with a power-head from the return chamber to the inlet side for a few days until I finish my plumbing to the display tank and test the water.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/diy-sump-refugium-advice-measurement-help-38460.html
I will post my final pics when the plumbing is done. Try a DIY you'll feel good when it's done and it's a lot cheaper.

 

Where do you get the egg crate from? I cant find any!

 

I agree with Jason M.. You have plenty of light for your corals. I kept a trumpet coral, open brain coral and frog spawn in a 30g with only 90watts of power compact light for 3 yrs, so watts per gallon does not matter as much as people think. Its PAR that counts. Also, how old are your bulbs, they should be replaced every 9 months or so. I agree with others about increasing your water flow along with having a constant temp and good water parameters. I would shoot for a constant temp between 78-80F. 75 is too low and the swing in temp from 75-78 is very stressful of reef inhabitants. Just look at the ocean temps around the world, they are very constant with slow changes as the seasons change. In fact, look at the coral reefs that are dying because of rises in ocean temps because of global warming. Sorry to go off the beaten path.

You need to lower your nitrates as others stated. And one last thing. Do you feed your corals?

You can buy egg crates from Home Depot or most othe hardware stores in the lighting department. They are made for flourescent ceiling lighting.
Good Luck!