What Corals Is My Lughting Not Suitable For...

cuticom

Fish Addict
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
992
Reaction score
0
Location
Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia
So I agve in, I'm switching my 17g FO over to reef. I've ordere a 150w MH light, which will be the only lighting on the tank, no supplementary flouros.

My nano is the Aqua one 500 Bowfront, so about 40cm deep, 35 cm wide and 50cm long... Which will be lit by a 150w 14000K Metal halide light

So I just want to check what corals won't be suitable? like would shrooms and zoas be okay? or too much light?

The centrepiece will be a gorgeous Torch coral (Euphyllia Glabrascens) which isn't doing too well in my big Reef tank, and a smaller tank would make it much easier to place (long story short some idiot fragged the coral so it won't fit into any of the crevices in the reef, and won't stick to putty) as the aquacsape has yet to be done, so I can design it around the Torch.

But yeah, just wanted to check what low light corals won't be happy so I can stick them on my do not buy list...
 
With a tank just over 1 and half foot long and 15" deep I would say that a 150 W MH would be intense lighting which would suit SPS. Mushrooms and Zoa may adapt if placed at the bottom preferentially under a ledge. The torch coral is normally found in deepish water so likes a little less light than what will be in your aquarium. However if you place it on the substrate and see how it goes you'll probably find it will adapt well too. Becareful not to stress the coral with too much light or it will bleach and ultimately die. You could get some montipora caps for the high up areas which when they grow will create some beautiful ledge and overhangs that will allow for some shaded areas.

Good luck with your new venture

Regards
 
The torch should be okay, it was directly under a 250 w MH when I bought it and I'm not getting anywhere near the amount of polyp extension it had in its previous owners tank, but will watch it just in case it isn't happy...
 
As mentioned by Crazy fishes, that is going to be heaps of light on the tank and you can pretty much keep anything include acroporas. However, make sure you keep the light well above the tank to prevent it heating up the water. Halides can quickly raise the temperature in small tanks.
Make sure you have plenty of water movement and keep the calcium levels up. If there is lots of light the corals will grow faster but need more calcium to do so. This only applies to hard corals and not soft corals.
 
LOl yah, it was on sale and cheaper then the 70w so i figured what the heck. The tanks open top with a large amount of surface movement, so I'm expecting evaporation to increase a heap, but the tank shouldn't overheat, I'll keep an eye on temps and add in a fan if needed.

Oky dokes, thanks for that
 
Lights are funny in that respects, a 150w halide is cheaper than a 70w. 4ft fluoros are cheaper than 3ft. I spose it comes down to supply and demand. The more demand there is the more that are produced and the cheaper they become.

Regarding huge amounts of light. One of the guys at my LFS set up a marine tank for acroporas. It was 5ftx2ftx18inches high and had over 1000watts of halide lighting above it. I think he had 3 x 400w halides. Anyway he stuck all these nice acroporas in the tank after it had cycled and turned the lights on. About an hour later all the acros started falling apart so he ran around and got his test kits to check the water quality. As soon as he stuck his hand in the tank he knew what was wrong. The water was about 40C. It had heated up from the lights. He has since raised the lights another couple of feet higher than they were and stuck a chiller unit on the tank.
 
dont worry about heat. A 150 watt isnt serious heat wise.
 

Most reactions

Back
Top