Do I have strong enough lighting?

[Futurecanadian]

Hey guys,

I am trying to add some frogspawn or perhaps hammer coral to my tank in hopes of offering my new clowns (2 true Percs) something to enjoy. I currently have a 65 gallon tank which can be seen at my site. www.shawngustafson.com

The lighting is a JBJ PC with (2) 65w bulbs one blue and one daylight. All of my mushrooms and anemones are thriving, should I try to place some one of these up high?

Thanks,

shawn

 

[AD87]

no u need to get better lighting

 

[serpentman]

I would second that. Not sure what the dimensions of the tank are, but I would consider running some T5's over it. Would give you a lot more options for corals.

Your nem is likely to struggle also. Although they get a lot of their nutrients from feeding, they need decent lighting.

 

[Futurecanadian]

Thanks guys. The hardest part of lighting for me is size. I have a 3.5" tall x 30" x 8" area to work with that the lights have to fit into or the lid will not stay on. Are there any great compact size light systems that I should look into?

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

I have 3 percs....and four large heads of frogspawn and a smaller 4 head hammer.....none of the percs ever go close or try to host in them....

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

I like your tank, but you need better lighting....i would suggest t5's or vho....they are most inexpensive to run....if money is no object....get some mh's...the electric company will love ya....

 

[AD87]

t-5's. VHO is very outdated and will be fazed out.

 

[serpentman]

Given the tight squeeze, I would say MH are out of the question. That close to the water would cause lots of problems, mostly exploding bulbs. T5s should fit nicely. They typically don't take up much more real estate than PC bulbs. In the long run, you will save on replacement costs too as PC need to be swapped out more frequently.

 

[itZme]

I don't see why you couldn't grow frogspawn with 130w of PC light. You would do much better with a T5 fixture there but you will be looking at parting with around $200 to get one.

If you invest in an inexpensive T5 fixture like a Nova Extreme 4 bulb you could probably leave your PC lighting under the canopy and just add the 4 T5 bulbs along with it for a nice amount of light for almost any coral, clam or anemone to stay healthy.

I would say to try a small frag of frogspawn and see how it does in your tank before deciding to spend the money on the new lighting.
About 6-8 yrs ago your lighting would have been state-of-the-art and would be considered safe to "grow anything" but now there are much better options.

I have some anthelia that will grow under any lighting and my clowns like to host in it. If you keep it from growing out of control it is a nice waving coral but it could potentially grow to cover other corals. If you want a free frag of anthelia just let me know.

Hope that helps
-- Kevin

 

[serpentman]

The frogspawn might make it but I doubt that Sebae listed on his webpage will do too well.

 

[itZme]

Re: Do I have strong enough lighting?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13987806#post13987806 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Futurecanadian
I am trying to add some frogspawn or perhaps hammer coral to my tank ...
The lighting is a JBJ PC with (2) 65w bulbs one blue and one daylight.

True Jeff. :thumbsup:

I was going by the info given. I didn't check out his system on the website and was answering the question as it was asked here.

You guys are right about needing more light to keep a sebae anemone happy.

 

[Futurecanadian]

thanks guys... Does anyone want the Sebae? I would gladly trade to a home with better lighting for something more appropriate. I have had him since June and he seems fine, but his safety is important to me. I live in Cleveland Hts. Let me knwo if you are interested.

This tuesday my Sebae clowns and my coral beauty will be traded out for the percs. If you have a better trade offer let me know. I just want a peaceful and healthy tank

 

[aerius007]

I can give you a frag of frogspawn to try if you want to come down my way

 

[fliynhi]

Here's a pretty decent deal for some t5's. I just got the 8 bulb version and it has individual reflectors and comes with bulbs.

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1718

Here's my lights.

 

[crazyseany]

in my 75 I had I had percs and they hosted in a rock with some big hairy mushrooms on it. they were neat looking when they would just lay in the mushroom.....

sean

 

[Futurecanadian]

Those lights wouldnt fit under my lid. I will post some pics of my set up tonight to show you guys what I am deaslin with. I have two internal filters that take up a lot of space inside, so I need lighting that meets that size issue. I will post a pic.

 

[serpentman]

Looking forward to seeing pics. Based on what you have provided, I would say T5 retrofits will probably fit and be the most cost efficient.

 

[crazyseany]

to grow sps or clams etc..... will HO T-5's be good or do they need to be overdriven with something like a IC660?

 

[fliynhi]

Sorry for the confusion. The link was to a 24" 4 bulb version of what I bought. Same quality but smaller.

 

[Aadler]

I don't agree with most people thus far. Your lighting is not strong enough to get a lot of color out of most SPS, but frogspawn or hammers will do perfectly fine under that light. I have frogspawn under a 48" 130w fixture and I have 7100k (very blue, not much light penetration) bulbs and they grow fine, well two of the heads get virtually no direct light, but the rest are fine. The corol is 3 years old as well and has been under as little as 64w of PC, 32w pc and 70w MH, 250w MH, and now the 130w pc.

I understand your concern for the Anemone's and they are generally a high light invert, but 6months is awhile, the pics on your site don't look the greatest, but I don't know too much about nems anyway, not enough to give you a fair assessment of yours at least. I know some people have kept them in lower light settings and feed them (raw seafood from the grocery store) twice a week from reading RC.

If your tank is healthy I don't doubt that you could keep them well enough for many years.

Just don't go spend $200-$800 on a light to get a frogspawn.

And if you do, run the new lights for 2 hours the first day then add another hour every day until you are up to 8-12 hours. (or where ever you want to be).

I am in lyndhurst if you ever need anything.

Mike