Question About Lighting And Soft Corals

[Lovesfish]

We have a 120 gallon tank thats 60" across, 18" wide and , 24" deep. We have a carpet anemone thats under flourecent light and we feed 2 to 3 times a week and it is doing wonderful. We planning to upgrade our lighting to Current USA Orbit Compact Fluorescent Light Fixture which will put out 260 watts about 2 watts per gallon and were wondering if we could keep soft corals under these conditions if we put them up on the higher areas of the rock closer to the light . we were also wandering if we could put higher wattage bulbs in this appliance to increase our wattage like going from a 65 watt bulb to a 96 watt bulb in the same appliance. Thanks for all the help in advance. dave

 

[crazyelece]

You can do some soft corals under those lights particularly the more hardy and less light loving. Zoos and mushrooms will probably do alright.

As to using different bulbs, nope you can't do it. You have to use the correct wattage because the ballast can only drive a certain wattage bulb. The only bulb/ballast combos I have seen that will work are the 55 and 65 flat four pin bulbs. Those ballasts will drive either but essentially the bulbs are the same so the ballast is what determines whether its 55 or 65 watts.

 

[CutieWitBooty]

I'm not really sure what can be kept under 2watts per gallon, maybe some shrooms or zoas if placed very close to the surface. As for the anemone, how long have you had it? It might be alright for now ,but i personatly don't think it's going to last a long time. Like i said though i don't know how long you have had it and if it is doing good, well thats good lol. I have 4 watts per gal now, and these isn't much i can keep in there, i'm upgrading to the orbit or the coralife fixute which will give me 8-9.5 watts per gal and even then i would be careful with SPS corals and anemones, because they need better light quality like MH rather than how many watts.

 

[fish_keeper2]

i currently have a zoo frag that is doing really well.......its my very first coral too. i only have 1.5 w/g

 

[Mr Miagi]

i currently have a zoo frag that is doing really well.......its my very first coral too. i only have 1.5 w/g

How deep is your tank? Dave's is 24" Deep.

 

[fish_keeper2]

i dont even know ) . its just a standered 10 gal AGA tank.

 

[Navarre]

Err... If you can keep[ a carpet anenome thriving under these lights then you have no worries about soft corals or even many of hte harder corals. Anenomes are very light intensive and require maximum lighting to thrive. So if the anenome can live with these lights then i see no problem with soft corals.

I dont use the watts per gallon rule as it simply doesnt work IME. A 50 gallon system that is 1ft deep is a completely different thin g to a 50 gallon system that is 2ft deep. The light will need to be far strong to punch an extra 1ft deeper than the shallower 50 gallon system.

 

[Lovesfish]

thanks for all the advice its helped greatly. Dave