High Low High Low Light For Zoas?

[bollands]

ive heard they needd really good light and ive also heard they can live in low light i got 2 power compacts from my orca tl550 will this be fine and flow is about 22x is this ok for them to thrive also i use liquid feed with nutrients for the softies will this be ok?

also what about Ricordea?

 

[Anguilla82]

i've found zoas to be very tolerant of pretty much all conditions, except very high flow.

your light will be fine and just try them in different areas in your tank as regards flow, but there should be no problems.
as for food, there's nom need to actually feed them as they'll get all they need from the light, however some people do feed them Ii presume to get better growth rates) but i've never needed to so can't be of help there.

as for ricordea, they like similar conditions to zoas and mushrooms so low to medium light but lower flow than zoas can tolerate

 

[bollands]

thanks that was the answer i was hoping for too know a good place to get them from ?

 

[Buddyboy67]

Try stuart at zoaphoria.co.uk or chris at fishmans frags, both online shops happy to post and have pictures up of each item for sale.

 

[SkiFletch]

That lighting in that shallow tank should be fine. They may not color up brilliantly or may not grow that fast, but they'll do just fine.

 

[bollands]

oh coz i was expecting to buy a frag to grow of my rocks u saying i should start with a large colony? And my orca tl550 is a cube and not so shallow is this still ok? Need halides desparatly !!got ay ideas where to get a clamp on small one? and i still need actinics too dont i?

 

[Anguilla82]

power compacts are fine for that type of tank. if you go down the halide route you'll suffer with heat issues and as you say also need to add actinics to bring out the colours of the corals.
FYI corals don't NEED actinic light, it is purely used to bring out the colours more.

 

[bollands]

but i cant get the growth and all the corals i want http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/CLAMP-ON-METAL-HALID...id=p3286.c0.m14 will that be ok?? will i get a lot more evaporation?

 

[Anguilla82]

yeah you're gonna get heat issues with that.
options would be to have a fan pointed directly at the surface. you would lower the temp, but get quite a bit of evaporation which you'd need to keep on top of so as to not increase salinity.

other option would be to get a small chiller. is less obvious (visually), you'd get less evaporation but it would cost more to run.

 

[seffieuk]

As you have already been told you don't need halides in the orca 550 unless you are going to have certain sps corals

Seffie x

 

[SkiFletch]

oh coz i was expecting to buy a frag to grow of my rocks u saying i should start with a large colony? And my orca tl550 is a cube and not so shallow is this still ok? Need halides desparatly !!got ay ideas where to get a clamp on small one? and i still need actinics too dont i?

Oh no, you can grow from a frag for sure. Just dont expect any really quick growth. Expect it to take at least 6 months for the frag to start looking like a colony

 

[bollands]

reli coz its about 2 foot deep and my hood is breaking and faulty just blown another bulb! i thought it would be a future proof investment and would allow me to have almost anything like clams etc? my hoods reli quite old now i think and its got through two new bulbs in 3 weeks so instead of new bulbs i feel i should invest in the proper equipment itll be 8in to a foot above the water i really like sps too and i can live with toping up every so often but what does a tank loot like under no actinics is it drastically worse?

 

[Musho3210]

Go with halides, a fan will take care of the heat problems, a single fan sucking the hot air out of the light fixture will keep it cool. I had a 150 watt halide about 3" from my water surface on my 20 gallon, a single fan on the fixture kept my water temperature in my control.

No matter what you would not need a chiller on that size tank, unless you are running 1000 watt halides and your room temperature stays at 90 degrees (F).

Remember, if you are running a 150 watt halide will produce less heat than a 151 watt compact fluorescent fixture, and the halide will have more PAR as it is much more efficient than fluorescent (if i remember correctly, halides have a 25-28% efficiency rating while fluorescents have a 17-19% efficiency rating).

 

[bollands]

thank you and will this be ok <a href="http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/CLAMP-ON-METAL-HALID...id=p3286.c0.m14" target="_blank">http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/CLAMP-ON-METAL-HALID...id=p3286.c0.m14</a> ??? how and what fan should i have??? not electician so dont tell me to wire some kind of pc fan will it frazzle my softies ill sell them if it does and how much water will i need to top up every week small surface area sooooo

 

[Musho3210]

The light you linked to says it has meshed ventilation, ask if it comes pre built with a fan, if not, just buy a regular 1-3" fan, well, not sure what the fan measurements they are in the UK....