is this enough light to keep soft corals

[new2scene]

CF Deluxe Lunar Series by Corallife 36"
65w actnic
10k daylight 65w
2, 3/4 watt Lunar Blue moon
with cooling fan

the tank depth is 24"

 

[luvmylo]

if you keep your softies midway or higher up the tank that should be good. I wouldn't try ANY stonies. also make sure you are careful with selection. Do research first on the particular speciman. The guy at the lfs will tell you anything to sell his product.

 

[fsn77]

Most soft corals, yes, but be sure to avoid the ones that do require more intense light.

You could easily keep some of the lower light LPS corals, also, but definitely none of the lighting demanding LPS or any SPS corals.

They make a 36" 2x96w PC fixture if you'd be interested in having some additional lighting and flexibility with coral placement.

 

[tagraham]

same question ut this light?
2 x 54 watt 14,000k
2x 54 watt actinic

all t6


but on a standerd 55 gallon

 

[GreyHawk1968]

Tag , thats 108 watts over 55 gallons. That equals out to less than 2 watts per gallon. If you put them up close to the surface you "might" have them survive with regular feedings but I doubt they will "thrive", i.e. grow. Go with at least 4 to 5 watts per gallon and you will have better luck.
Also low wattage increases the chance of nusiance algae growth which will also affect coral growth.
I know the cost of lighting is high but it's well worth it once you take the plunge and get adequate lighting . You will enjoy the hobby a lot more and spend less time fighting with it.
I learned this the hard way...LOL

 

[tagraham]

by my calculations thats 216 watts those are all over the tank or does the 14000 k just count?

 

[atty]

14000 k just means what spectrum the light preduces, i would change the actinics because they dont really make corals grow, there just athetics. And you have 14 k bulbs so they will make the water go pritty blue any way. And to answer your question i personly think you have enough light to keep softies and some LPS.

 

[tagraham]

so the watts still count right ?

 

[fsn77]

Watts are watts... be it actinic or daylight. But, the amount of PAR (photosynthetically available radiation) is quite different between actinic and daylight bulbs and not directly related to watts. PAR is what you want, but can't easily measure without an expensive meter. In general, 10,000K bulbs generate more PAR than an equivalent 14,000K or 20,000K bulb. The 20,000K bulbs produce more PAR than the actinic bulbs.

Actinics will help with some of the coloration of your corals, but that's about it. They are also useful in creating the dawn and dusk effect. Others say they wouldn't go without actinics because they don't want their tank to be so white or yellow looking.

Honestly, we grow softies like crazy with 4x65w PC lighting on our 90g (two 10,000K and two actinics). And, there's considerable growth on our LPS corals, but most of them are 1/2 way up the tank or higher (our 90g is 24" tall). We don't have problems with nuissance algae.

On a 55g, I'd seriously consider getting a 4x54w T5 HO fixture (or retrofit) that has the individual reflectors. We're getting ready to upgrade our lighting to a T5 HO retrofit (5 or 6 bulbs, not sure how many will fit, but I bought enough parts to do 6 if possible) so we can more freely place our corals in the tank.

 

[tagraham]

ok thank your for your help

 

[tagraham]

with the light i mentioned can i place some shrooms and zoos lower in the tank or do they need to be higher up too?

 

[fsn77]

I'm not familiar with T6 lighting and don't know anything about how well it performs, but I think there's a T6 lighting thread circulating in the Lighting & Equipment forum. If you haven't already seen it, it would probably be a good place to look for better answers.

But, if I had to just guess, I would say that shrooms would be good lower in the tank. We have some that are almost completely shaded and still doing well.

 

[dendro982]

For 65W 10,000K and 65W actinic, 24" depth:

Will work the next corals (my tank is 90g, 24" deep, light 2x 55W (10,000:actinic= 3:1):

White xenia, anthelia, green hairy mushroom (lower light, that bright red):

white lemnalia (even on the bottom):

Neon-green candycane on the same photo has highest low light tolerance, comparing to a cold-greenish/brown and bi-color:

Middle level and up - branching hammers and frogspawn:

Brown big Kenya trees (capnella) even at the bottom, will not multiply.
Scolymia - middle level and up:

Lobophyllia - even higher:

Will continue.

 

[dendro982]

Non-photosynthetic at the bottom, may work, may not, especially chili:

Sun coral - need feeding twice weekly, each polyp by turkey baster or airline tubing with syringe, good filtration and skimming:

Red finger gorgonian - tank have to be well fed:

In the tank with fine food (smallest parricles from the frozen cubes), and no nipping fish, can do good non-toxic (IME, checked in the tanks crash) Pentacta anceps filter-feeding cucumber:

Hi, fellow Torontian, East End here. If you find good sources, other than NAFB and chain stores (and not Mississauga), please PM me.

Best of luck to your tank!

 

[woodycb]

I have the coralife 36" 2- 96w bulbs fixture and my softies are doing great. Xenia, green striped mushroom, button polyp, hairy mushroom.