LED's and corrals How much do I need in a 30 Gallon Tank

Douden996

New member
Hi there Folks, glad to be part of the community. I am new back into having a tank, and have Sooo many questions. Before I had a 30 gallon tank. I ran a Penguin 330 filter as well as another Penguin single filter, ran a Marineland Protein skimmer, and had a light setup with a HID Flourescent and Actinic U-shaped bulbs, think they were 18" 55 watt, I had a yellow Tang, a Puffer, a nice Lionfish, and Royal, and Flame Angel, and a few other fish from time to time. I had a blue Damsel that was cool, and a Black and White striped Damsel that at 2 years old became a serial killer, He killed a Singapore Angel, a Rusty Angel, and a few others before I figured it out. May he swim forever in the toilets of hell. I learned many things, Decorator crabs are so named because they will shred a $50 leather corral to decorate themselves, Lady GaGa had nothing on this crab. Large Hermit crabs love escargout at .65cents a piece. Anywho, fast forward
I have set up a new 30 gallon tank, I am running the Marineland Protein skimmer, and a Fluval 405 with Bio Max ceramic balls, and Charcoal filtration, as well as the 2 different polyester filters. One for basic, and the other polyester fiber batting from Wally world for polishing. So far so good.
Now the concerns, I am using a 27 bulb Marineland LED setup with White/Blue leds and another bank of Double Bright with 12 LED's 8 Whites, 4 Blues. The 27 bulb setup is advertised as a "reef" compatible, and does great on bubbles, and mushrooms, and leathers, but even running both banks, my Green star polyp and Candy Cane corals are all washed out, I have bumped the light cycle back up to 12 hours after a bad Cyan bacteria bout, and the star is getting more alive, but the color hasnt came back. The Candy Cane at night under the blue leds glowed orange from the centers., and now its just brown all the time. When I cut the lights back, the star polyp just didnt come out at all hardly. My question is, what the deal with LED's Lumens? Light spectrum? Light cycle? I have thought about changing the 12 LED with another 27 bulb reef light, but if its a spectrum, I dont think that will help. I have looked at a HID with 2-55 watt white/Actinic bulbs, but with my custom made Cherry wood hood, might be an issue, and I love the fact that the LEDs dont heat the water at all.
I have a question about a product a local vendor showed me thats the AquaMaxx Biomaxx pellets to eliminate Nitrates. Could I run the pellets in an unused chamber of my Fluval with the same results as buying the stand alone unit? I think I would have to use a fine mesh bag, but has anyone done this? In a 30 gallon tank, dont want to have to add another pump, and plumbing, and with ethe Fluval 405, should have more than enough power to push it.
Any thoughts? Ideas about corrals to stay away from. I live movement, and colors, and want to build a nice setup. Also any recommendations on supplements. Thanks D
 
I run a kessil 150 and a panoramic all blue and have had no problems on my 30 gallon.
Nice to hear your back in the hobby, sounds like it's changed a little.
 
Can't help you a whole lot. But you just helped me determine the fate of my striped damsel. His domino buddy is already a jerk. I was thinking of keeping the striped long term, but guess he'll be getting a car ride back to the store also.

I have the Skkye LED 92W on a 38G. I am really new to the hobby, so I can't tell you how it effects anything yet. So far (1 month) I haven't had any issues.
 
Ive also seen numerous accounts of good growth and healthy aquariums with the 30W Skkye light on both the 30 and 38 gal.
 
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