Soft Coral Lighting

[afmo]

Well, my tank is going well, and am thinking ahead to what corals i'd like to add. for now i want to stick to the soft corals. The only thing i'm worried about is my lighting. the tank is 10 u.s.g. 10.5" tall by 20 inches long by 10 inches depth. Right now i have an 18" coralife 50/50 15w. is this ok for soft corals? if not what should i be looking at?

thanks!

 

[Mr Miagi]

Id think youd be fine with morphs, maybe zoos, but its not REALLY alot of lighting. If you could upgrade to a fixture with T5 HO bulbs (maybe x2 bulbs) or a T8 fixture with x2 globes, your coral options would expand greatly, but the more powerful the better. 15W is probably really at the limit for corals IME, my 30W single T8 browns out morphs (not fazed, they are for trade), who are tough customers.

Something like this that Meso was thinking about, in his thread here. Nowe that would do the trick nicely.

 

[steelhealr]

I think the lighting is a bit on the paltry side, even for softies. I also think it's a bit early for you to be adding corals.

What's in your tank?
How old is it?
Any fish or plan on fish?

Go slow, man, go slow.

"Beauty comes slowly; disaster comes quickly."

SH

 

[afmo]

I think the lighting is a bit on the paltry side, even for softies. I also think it's a bit early for you to be adding corals.

my gut feeling was that it was too soon too, but my LFS owner said it was probably ok for a clump of striped mushrooms. I took his word on it, but after reading this, and thinking more on my lighting situation, i took the shrooms i had in there back to the store and used the money to buy a better light instead. I ended up purchasing a single satellite Compact Flourescent 20" fixture with 40W 10000K daylight and 460nm Actinic with a Lunar Light.

I did leave in my ocellaris clown though, as the water levels are stable and hes doing good.

thanks for the input

 

[steelhealr]

I like...I like. That is EXCELLENT nano reefing. Kudos. The reef will come. Get your feeding and nitrates and water husbandry techniques down. You must keep EXCELLENT water. Patience is the key. Good judgement there. SH