ricordea and lighting

[motohead]

allright i got my 8 rics in today.i have 360 watts of vho/two whites,10k, one actinic.all uri lamps.question is i have placed all the rics within about a foot to a foot and a half from the lights,about mid tank.is this going to be too much light for them?should i place them lower?i do have some other rics in the tank and they are towards the lower part of the tank and they have always expanded beautifully.the problem is i have no more room down there.i just want to make sure i am not blasting them with too much light.thanks for your time and responses.

 

[twilliard]

they will close up and shrink if there is too much light. So you will be able to notice when they are happy.
More than likely you will need to make room down low, even mine like it down low.

 

[wrightme43]

I have my rics 14-15" from 250watt M.H. bulbs. They seem to love it. Orange, blue, and purple/greens.

 

[Macbeth417]

Remember these are not your run of the mill corallimporphs, we are talking mushrooms that tolerate from much brighter light than Discoma sp. I have always kept my ricordea under MH and happen to think many of them look better under halides. You will notice if some begin to fade in color, but I have never seem then refuse to inflate under halides at reasonable levels and you can easily move those as needed. But truth be told, I keep my bright oranges and blues about 15-18 inches from a DE/HQI 250watt 14K and have kept them under 10K and they look fantastic. Though you may get less growth at those hieghts. If your goal is color over growth then no worries on ricordea under halides, especially R. florida.

-Erik

 

[Macbeth417]

sorry, I misread and thought you had MH, vho will never be too much light for ricordea and I actually think they look better under halides.

-Erik

 

[Anthony Calfo]

quite so... Ricordea are atypical for corallimorphs. Less organismal feeding and more lighting tolerated if not required. They occur quite shallow at least for Florida species.