change in plans: 38 gallon reef ?

josh11551

Member
i have a 38 gallon tank ( 36 1/4L X 12 5/8W X 20H ) and i figure this would be so much cheaper than the 55 i was planning, since i already have a 30 inch light fixture (24" bulbs 2 actinic blue 12k and 2 daylight 10k bulbs 24 watts each) what could i grow with this light? i was looking to do some softies like mushrooms and leathers and zoas and stuff of that nature. i also have 70lbs of base rock and planning on getting 10- 20 lbs of live rock to seed. also i have about 70 lbs of sand that was used in my last attempt of SW. i know a skimmer is recomended and will help with nitrates but i have a good HOB filter that will make into a small fuge to help with that. can you guys make some suggestions for (a) powerheads?
 
Your lighting will support mushrooms, zoas ans other low light requirement corals, but not anemones, clams or SPS corals. Two 500 GPH or 750 GPH powerheads will work well (Koralia, Tunze, ...).
 
wouldnt that much water movement be overkill for the softie corals? do leathers and stuff count as low light?

Two 500 GPH powerheads would give you 26 turn overs an hour, which is a good amount of flow for your tank with soft corals. Most leather corals are have lower light requirements so they should be fine in your tank.
 
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