low light coral tank?

[Robka]

Does anyone have ideas on keeping a low light coral tank? I currently am running 440 VHO and do not want to increase due to evaporation and heat restrictions. My tank is a 100 show, so the depth is not the best for running a traditional reef. I don't want to go cold water, so is there any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Robka

 

[Robka]

anyone?

 

[JamesJR]

440 watts is actually a decent amount of light. It is certainly enough to keep a lot of corals. With good reflectors and excellent water conditions you could even keep a few sps corals and possibly a a clown hosting anemone (bta should do fine at least). I ran 4 95 watt vho on my 30 gallon tank and had a few acros and montipora corals, albeit the growth wasn't fantastic.

With a system like this LPS and soft corals should have no problem thriving. I would feed the tank a lot and would do lots of water changes.

This is a non-photosynthetic coral forum and for these corals you don't need light. The reason you don't see a lot of action around here is that many of these corals are very challenging to keep and little is known about their needs relative to their photosynthetic varieties. If you have never kept corals before I would definitely not start out with non-photosynthetic corals.

 

[Robka]

Thanks for the info I guess I was under the perception that most corals require MH lights in order to grow. are these non-photosynthetic corals difficult because of their feeding needs?

Thanks again,

Robka

 

[JamesJR]

I am of the belief that non photosynthetic corals are much more difficult to keep. We don't understand much about what many of them eat and many of them have very specific diets that may be impossible to duplicate in captivity with our current knowldege. It is much easier to meet the needs of photosynthetic corals simply for this reason.

 

[dendro982]

You have a good light
In 90g tank (24" deep) with 110W PC was possible to keep: Kenya tree, hairy mushrooms (grow big), red mushrooms (upper half), branching frogspawn and hammer, white pom-pom xenia and anthelia (upper half), green star polyps, bright green candycane, open brains (scolymia, lobophyllia) survived, but not expanded as at higher light and were moved out.

Non-photosynthetic corals require regular feeding and this pollutes water very much. You will need advanced filtration and - unless you will be using advanced equipment - it may or may not work good enough.

HTH

 

[Robka]

Thanks James & dendro I really appreciate the feedback.

Have a great weekend,

Robka

 

[Robka]

P.S. Is there a beginner type of soft coral that a clown fish would host? I love the relationship, but would rather not do a traditional anemone.

Thanks again,

Robka

 

[dendro982]

Depends on clown's personal preferences - my percula ignored more usual coral-hosts and chose the hairy mushroom:

It lived, grew and divided at the bottom third of the described 90g tank. Beware, it grows big, 6"+ (up to 10", as they said at mushrooms forum), but when you see it in the store, it's small - 1" or so:

With your light it will have much better color.

 

[JamesJR]

I had a pair of tomato clown that went into a large sarcophyton leather coral.

 

[Robka]

Thanks again guys

 

[stunreefer]

Robka, you could also try some Euphyllia species, as clowns tend to host in them regularly, they're an easy coral to care for, and would grow under the light you already have assuming appropriate placement :thumbsup:

 

[Robka]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14683116#post14683116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stunreefer
Robka, you could also try some Euphyllia species, as clowns tend to host in them regularly, they're an easy coral to care for, and would grow under the light you already have assuming appropriate placement :thumbsup:

Thanks I will do a search for the Euphyllia species and see what they look like.

Have a great day,

Robka

 

[dendro982]

Euphyllids: hammer and frogspawn:

 

[Chibils]

Don't forget torch!

My clowns hosted in both a sinularia leather (killed it) and an elegance coral (currently; irritating it). My btas are still settling in, so they're wedged in rocks and my clowns don't even notice them.

 

[Robka]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14714092#post14714092 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Chibils
Don't forget torch!

My clowns hosted in both a sinularia leather (killed it) and an elegance coral (currently; irritating it). My btas are still settling in, so they're wedged in rocks and my clowns don't even notice them.

Is it common for Clowns to irritate corals to death or is that unusual?

Thanks,

Robka

 

[JamesJR]

It depends on the coral and the species of clown. My experience is that some species of clowns tend to be a lot rougher with their hosts than others. I had a pair of saddle clowns that were just viscious and beat the tar out of a bubble tip anemone I put them with.

Generally, I don't like to let clowns host in corals. I think it tends to irritate them. Some corals like goniopora can be especially irritated by the clowns being hosted in them than others. Generally, the larger the host is compared to the fish the better they can handle it.

 

[daudelus]

I would agree with JamesJR... my gold stripe maroon has killed a goniapora and a colt coral and now is chewing up and spitting out a couple torch corals that he is moving back and forth between! The clown is biting the tips off the polyps, but the torches haven't succumbed to the punishment yet.