Coral Advice

[andrewflavell]

This might might seem a really stupid question, But according to my LFS I need to upgrade my lights system to keep corals of any form. Is this true or is he after another £300?
If it is possible to keep a certain variety under the normal lighting (ie marine blue and white)
What are they?

 

[SkiFletch]

Depends on what you have... Are they T8 flourescents? T5? Power Compact? If you dont know the tybe but do know the length and watage we can give ou an idea on if they're enough. If they're T8 you're lookin at mushrooms and hardy soft corals only. If T5 you could add some hardy LPS like zoos, and if they're power compact you could cover most soft and LPS and MAYBE get an SPS if its right near the surface after your tank is very mature. Something tells me if you've got a run of the mill fixture you're dealing with T8s, or even T12's which I would not reccomend under any circumstance for coral keeping. If you do find you need new lights, check out ebay as you can usually get lighting for close to half the price at your LFS.

Edit: Metal Halide lights which you clearly dont have (otherwise you wouldnt need new ones ) are the best thing out there in lighting for coral keeping. They of course are the most expensive and use the most energy but you can keep just about anything under them.

 

[Chac]

Wot you thinking of keeping ?