Best light for soft corals

[axoloti]

Unfortunatly I don't have any specification of neon tube that i am curentlly using but it was bought for a marine aquarium. Its white and very very bright.

I am not sure how much effect do light have on soft coral color such as Green star polyp but in the store it was much more greenish.
It has only been one day since I got it!

However if light is of essence please advise me which one to buy to improve lighting for my soft corals.

thx

 

[tom obrecht]

I think softies are much more forgiving than stonies. I think you can go VHO's, T5's or halides. I had both 400 watt halides and VHO's on my last tank and everything grew like crazy! Take a look at my red house for details.

 

[michaeldaly]

I doubt one probably normal output tube currently on your tank will keep the coral alive.

 

[axoloti]

Thx Tom Obrecht
I managed to scrap info from my tube and its
ARCADIA MARINE WHITE High output!
Is that good enough or should I buy something else?

Mishaeldaly not very helpfull

 

[Mariner]

That bulb is not widely available here in the States, but I take it that it is a 32 or 40 watt flourescent bulb...possibly a T8?
You will almost certainly need more light than that to keep even the easiest softies. And yes, bulbs of different color temperatures (Kelvin) help corals keep their color.
You want some "white" light (5,500 to 10,000 kelvin) as well as some Actinic (blue) light.
HTH,
Mariner

 

[illal]

defintly need more light...try t5's or pc's

 

[rstark33]

It looks like you tank os 4 feet long?? not sure on the dimensions of an 80 long. You wuld need more light than on hgh outpt bulb depending on depth. I would shoot for atleast 220 watts of vho, powere ocmpact or T5's.
VHO's or Power compacts are great for softies IME. I ran 4 110 watt vho's over a 75 very successfully.
Look at hellolights.com for some ideas on price.

You green stars don't look green because you have no actinic bulbs. The blue actininc brings out the florescence of the coral. (more green). Thats why it looked better at the LFS.

 

[rstark33]

Just found this special for $115 for 2 48" T5's. Get one 10K and one actinic and you will be set for softies, especially if your tank in farily shallow at 20 inches or less.
You could always add more later if you want to move up to tother corals like sps.
http://www.hellolights.com/482x54wt5hor.html

 

[Mariner]

Uh...that might be 80 LITERS.
He's in London. Do they even have "inches" over there???
Mariner

 

[rstark33]

oops. Not so good at Liters but it is definitely smaller than an 80 gallon!

 

[michaeldaly]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9299481#post9299481 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mariner
Uh...that might be 80 LITERS.
He's in London. Do they even have "inches" over there???
Mariner

Yes they have inches over there.

I don't live in england but from magazines they seem to use liters and gallons(UK gallons are larger than US G)

80L would be 20 US g