Low/no light corals

[amonhen]

I'm considering adding some corals to a 55 fowlr, but don't want to upgrade the total of 30 watts (I know, might as well use a pen light...) of lighting already on canopy. I've read/been told that tubastrea (orange sun coral) and alcyonium (chili coral) are non-photosynthetic (i. e., have no photosynthetic symbiota) and would tolerate the low light presently in the tank. I've also read that dendronepthea and others are also non-photosynthetic, but have poor survival rates in aquaria.

So:

1. Anyone here experienced in keeping these or other corals in low light conditions?

2. Do these corals do well in low light?

3. Are there other corals that do well in low light?

TIA

--Jeff

 

[Pandora]

Jeff, to your 3rd question, many gorgonians (usually the red & orange or yellow kinds, not so much the brownish purple ones) are non photosynthetic. Might want to consider nonsessile inverts of the noncoral kind, such as feather dusters, etc. It's an interesting concept to consider--a low/no light reef tank.

 

[Monkeyfish]

Alcyonium and tubastrea need to be target fed after the tank lights are off. Tubastrea prefer small meaty foods such as cyclopeeze or mysis shrimp. Gorgonians will eat whenever there's phyto in the water and the current and water conditions are optimal. All will do fine in low light conditions.

I'd avoid dendros as they are very difficult to maintain and need an established tank with an almost constant drip of phytoplankton.

 

[mr pink floyd]

mushrooms, i saw chocolate mushrooms in a LFS under a NO light, so i bought the small peice of live rock it was on, it was doing fine in their NO lights and it is prospering in my power compacts, along with some yelloe poylps and other mushroom ( recently started)

so mushrooms will tolerate low lights if the water is good, heck you could put a muchroom in a tank and use the room light and it will survive, very hard to kill 'shrooms

 

[amonhen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6593872#post6593872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pandora
...It's an interesting concept to consider--a low/no light reef tank.

My first tank was a 55 fowlr with this much light. My favorite organism was a 13" red serpent star that loved lounging out on top of the rock. Then I put some MH lights on the tank and rarely saw him after that. My guess/hope is that I'll get to enjoy some things that the sps crowd never does!

--Jeff

 

[Pandora]

Jeff, I was thinking it might be interesting to put in some other sessiles in there as well... such as sponges & turnicates; and hitchhikers you don't ordinarily see, like chitons... I love those things!