LPS w/ Power Compact

[FishyMel]

Recently I decided to start doing some corals in my shark and stingray tank. Currently I have some african blue xenia, varying mushrooms, and alot of differing zoanthids and I'd like to try some lps. I have 17 years with FO but I am a complete newbie with corals.

My question can I keep open or closed brain corals with PC or would they not make it? Also, does anyone know if xenia is okay with PC? I just got this amazing african blue xenia and at $120 it better not die. The guy at the fish store said it should be fine and is a little less hardy than mushrooms but they'll do anything for a sale.

Here is the xenia

 

[desara3]

Yes you can.3-4 watts per gallon for brain, acan, bubble alveopora,frogspawn, ETC...Have had great sucess with lps under this light.!!!SPS need more though.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

The watts per gallon rule is a good rule to keep in mind, however I do think that sometimes (more often than not) the rule is not totally dependable; much like the one inch of fish per gallon of water rule of thumb.
3-4 watts/gallon is a good place to start, but coral placement in your tank is important as well. Even if you have 2 watts/gallon, I think an open brain coral can be done HOWEVER it must be kept way at the top as close as you can to the light source.

 

[tmz]

I have an lps tank , a 90 gallon with 560 watts of pc(60% actinic). All types do well in there. In fact I prefer to keep lps in this tank in lieu of the oters with mh.

 

[Texa$]

How much PC lighting do you have? I run a combo of t-5's and PC's and have no issue with what you have. I have nearly the same stuff. I'm currently running 5.6 watts per gallon.

 

[Mental1]

That xenia is beautiful! I wish you weren't in Texas 'cause if you could get it to grow I would want some! I had pc's and my LPS did fine but I did shift over to T5's so I could grow some SPS too.

 

[FishyMel]

Yeah, I dont plan on any sps, I sind the fleshy softies and lps more interesting. Does anyone know the hardiness of heliofungia? A couple monthes ago I passed up a gorgeous bright green plate with purple tipped tentales and am regretting it. Can I keep one if it is close to the surface? I hope i can find one as pretty as that specimen I passed up...

The xenia is already growing like wildfire. Once it is more established I plan on fragging it to the lfs I bought it from. Before you know it it will have paid for itself.

 

[tmz]

The heliofungia should be on the bottom. It can move a bit and is likely to fall from a perch. Careful, in placing it, it reaches out and has a strong sting.

 

[FishyMel]

I just got one, it is not a super rare one, it is just a bright green one with light lavendar tips, but it was in really good condition(which is alot for a heliofungia, since they are horrible shippers) and it was only $45 which isn't that bad for a plate. I'll post pics when it is acclimated, it was just introduced and right now it's in its shriveled unhappy state