Coral ranked by lighting needs (esp Par)

[oakengineer]

I've been trying to figure out what kind of coral my tank can support, and I'd really like to take as much of the guesswork out as possible. I think I've decided I'm asking the wrong questions. Is there a site that ranks coral based on par needs? I found this, but it uses the somewhat meaningless watts/gallon numbers:

http://homeaquaria.com/11-easy-low-light-corals-beginners/

 

[gone fishin]

I have not seen a ranking like your looking for. Unfortunately I have always went with trial and error. Moving them around until I find a spot you like.

All the different lighting types have their pros and cons. To really know how well your light is doing, IMO, one needs a par meter to measure at different areas of the tank. good luck in your search.

 

[pyithar]

it's not exactly what you're looking for but it's useful. just a bit outdated

https://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/caresheets

 

[xanthurus]

One of the sponsors, Vivid Aquariums has that type of info. It is not in a single place, but if you select the individual coral you are interested in it will give you a PAR range. For example, a Maze Brain they list it as needing 120-250 PAR

 

[oakengineer]

Perfect! thanks for the help

 

[Timfish]

It really depends not only on the individual species, some are found in much wider depth distributions than others but also what variant you may be getting and the conditions it was grown under, changing the light field on a coral can cause it to produce very different coloring proteins to adjust to different intensities and spectrum. Do not go by type and especially the scientificly invalid labels of SPS, LPS and softies. Just in the Acropora genus there are species that are found in mutually exclusive environs including light field. If you're interested here's a research paper looking at corals "learning" their environment:

http://www.mendeley.com/catalog/experience-shapes-susceptibility-reef-coral-bleaching

 

[tmz]

Thanks for the link.

I'd add turbidity of the environment as well as depth which you already noted. Unfortuantely, for wild collected corals we usually don't know precisely where they lived; improved information from those who collect and sell them would be very helpful. Researching their likely natural environment species by species in references like "Corals of the World" often gives a good clue on light as well as needs for organic sources of energy to supplement irraditation