Will corals thrive in my current setup?

P

PAXpress

New member
Good morning everyone! I have a 75 gallon tank with over 100lbs of rock. Tanks been up and running for probably over 3-4 months now. Have a small cleanup crew and two firefish and 3 cardinals in QT for another few weeks.
I have an upcoming birthday and my wife was asking what I wanted... I of course told her what I really wanted... which was a bit of color for our marine tank. I told her I'd really like a beginner coral or two or an anemone and a coral. Of course I'd QT all new comers before putting them in my tank. What I'm really worried about is lighting. On my tank I have two Marineland Advanced LED Strip Light (heres their amazon link if that helps http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KL8TQME?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage ) These don't allow me to lower the intensity which I know is necessary in the beginning. I recently ordered Salifert Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium test kits and will test for all 3 tonight. I was also planning on setting up a Kalk dripper soon to maintain healthy levels of alk and calc. I've done quite a bit of research, of course theres always more to learn.
I guess what I'd love from you guys...
Will my two lights be sufficient to have corals that are healthy and not just hanging on for dear life or bleaching?
If not whats a good light fixture for my tank at a reasonable price point?
If my fixture will be sufficient will simply lifting the fixture a few inches from the beginning and slowly lowering it down suffice for intensity ramping?
I've been reading alot about vodka dosing and was thinking something like this may help me lower my phosphates and nitrates (haven't tested these in a bit but I will tonight) so I may begin boozing my tank sometime soon if thats recommended...
Am I biting off more than I can chew?
I'll post some whole tank pictures tonight or tomorrow AM if that will assist anyone in helping me with my questions. Thanks again everyone for your time and expertise.
 
The light is the lower version of the marineland led's. Better ones are the reef version. Still would need two fixtures for corals. Xenias or leathers might do alright, but def not an anemone or any lps /sps.
 
nuttyd said:
The light is the lower version of the marineland led's. Better ones are the reef version. Still would need two fixtures for corals. Xenias or leathers might do alright, but def not an anemone or any lps /sps.
Click to expand...

I do have two of that fixture. Thanks, I'll take a look at what you've mentioned. I did plan to eventually upgrade the lights but that may make me wait a bit longer before adding anything due to budgetary issues (having a baby is expensive just fyi). I think when I bought my 2nd fixture it was marked as "reef capable" which means its not really good enough for a reef tank haha. And I knew that when I bought it, but wasn't planning for corals at the time.
 
If you upgrade your lights with a budget... I recommend the Marsaqua (chinese leds) from amazon/ebay. You can dim them, and you will need to, because at the max they are insanely bright. The only thing I did was buy different fans and replaced the stock ones and now it is almost silent. They will be able to have just about any coral under them.

Just my 0.02.
 
Rubasu said:
If you upgrade your lights with a budget... I recommend the Marsaqua (chinese leds) from amazon/ebay. You can dim them, and you will need to, because at the max they are insanely bright. The only thing I did was buy different fans and replaced the stock ones and now it is almost silent. They will be able to have just about any coral under them.

Just my 0.02.
Click to expand...

Interesting, will take a look. Were they ridiculously loud before replacing the fans? My tank is in the living room and the noise may be annoying haha.
 
Rubasu said:
If you upgrade your lights with a budget... I recommend the Marsaqua (chinese leds) from amazon/ebay. You can dim them, and you will need to, because at the max they are insanely bright. The only thing I did was buy different fans and replaced the stock ones and now it is almost silent. They will be able to have just about any coral under them.

Just my 0.02.
Click to expand...

Took a peak at these and they look good, however I have two concerns. I have glass tops on my tanks because I live in colorado springs where it is VERY dry and I would lose more than 1/2 gallon per day of evaporation which would probably also make water params less stable. Also they look like they need to be put on a hanging fixture which would also be a problem because of the really high ceilings where my tank is...And this tank doesn't have a canopy.
Also how do you QT the corals? Do you put a good reef light on the QT temporarily and ramp up the intensity while in QT?
 
Was doing a bit of thinking. Possibly for the time being I could add a single Kessil LED and just keep the corals on the side of the tank where the Kessil is directly illuminating, and add another when I expand to use the whole tank... Might look a bit funny... Thoughts on this?
 
Alright so on my lunch hour I ran some tests.
These tests were done with Salifert (and this is my first time using these so hopefully I was as accurate as possible)
dKH ~10
~360-370 ppm Calcium
~1300 Magnesium
So it looks like my alk is ok? calcium and magnesium could stand to be raised a bit? Haven't dosed anything to my tank so this is just from salt mix.
The current fixtures on my tank are 36" which means they really only fill MOST of the tank considering the tank is 48" long. With the glass lids I'm sure quite a bit of the light is blocked...
I was thinking I could move the lights to one end of the tank and with the other 12" mount a Kessil LED and put corals underneith this until I upgrade to 1 or 2 more kessil LED fixtures to finish the tank...
As promised heres a whole tank shot.

And yes that is an anchorman 2 movie poster behind the tank lol.
Thanks again for the time everyone
 
Yeah, you will need something to hang them from. I have some pipe coming from behind my stand like an upside-down "L" and hang my lights from those until my canopy is finished. If I spraypainted them black, they actually wouldn't look bad. There are other ways to hang them above the aquarium (brackets on ebay) that will also work. You could leave your glass cover on there if you want.

Yeah, they are pretty loud if you have the intensity set past 10-15%, but replacing the fans is VERY easy and well worth the $20 or so for 3 new fans.

Your idea with the single Kessil would be fine, I think. I don't think it would look THAT awkward.

I don't typically QT my corals. I do a coral rx dip, then put them near the bottom. If they require more light, I step them up in the tank until I have them where I want them. (Or wherever they need.) If I think I need to, I dim my lights down for a week or so - slowly ramping them back up.
 
Rubasu said:
Yeah, you will need something to hang them from. I have some pipe coming from behind my stand like an upside-down "L" and hang my lights from those until my canopy is finished. If I spraypainted them black, they actually wouldn't look bad. There are other ways to hang them above the aquarium (brackets on ebay) that will also work. You could leave your glass cover on there if you want.

Yeah, they are pretty loud if you have the intensity set past 10-15%, but replacing the fans is VERY easy and well worth the $20 or so for 3 new fans.

Your idea with the single Kessil would be fine, I think. I don't think it would look THAT awkward.

I don't typically QT my corals. I do a coral rx dip, then put them near the bottom. If they require more light, I step them up in the tank until I have them where I want them. (Or wherever they need.) If I think I need to, I dim my lights down for a week or so - slowly ramping them back up.
Click to expand...

TBH I don't really care how ugly things are outside of the tank, not really something I or the wife are bothered by... I'm trying not to spend an arm and a leg on this...
Thats a good idea about moving them closer to the lights slowly to ramp up the brightness...
Would my current lights not be sufficient for a coral that would be near the top of the rocks where flow and brightness are at their highest?
 
I started my reef with the Fluval m48 on my 75 gallon. It did fine with the blasto, digitata, and war coral. I recently changed to the mars aqua lights and they are great. The fans are kind of loud reminds me of my xbox 360 when the fans are on. I replaced the fans with some from amazon at about 9 bucks each. I originally bought flower pot hangers from lowes that were 13.75 inches long and mounted the lights from that. Very easy and looked great. I got the idea from a thread on the forum for mars aqua. They are now mounted on my canopy. I don't know about keeping a Nem as your tank is fairly young but every tank is different so....Good Luck!
 
PAXpress said:
I do have two of that fixture. Thanks, I'll take a look at what you've mentioned. I did plan to eventually upgrade the lights but that may make me wait a bit longer before adding anything due to budgetary issues (having a baby is expensive just fyi). I think when I bought my 2nd fixture it was marked as "reef capable" which means its not really good enough for a reef tank haha. And I knew that when I bought it, but wasn't planning for corals at the time.
Click to expand...

had an office system that had two of the reef capable lights on it and it had all kinds of lps and softies. Could run sps too if you place really high in water. I have similar lights to the reef capapble on my 55 from zoomed and have no issue with softies, lps and sps.
 
nuttyd said:
had an office system that had two of the reef capable lights on it and it had all kinds of lps and softies. Could run sps too if you place really high in water. I have similar lights to the reef capapble on my 55 from zoomed and have no issue with softies, lps and sps.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I may try with my current lights. Worst comes to worse I overnight a better fixture.


What is a nem?
Edit: oh duh anemone, ya I will wait on this.
 
Paxpress, what is your filtration system? I couldn't see but one power head on the right. Sump, protein skimmer, fuge , ATS? How will you replenish evaporated water?
 
Last edited:
Boom said:
Anemones "nem" for short, are NOT beginner or new tank corals!!! Plenty of other choices to start your reef ;)
Check this out www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com has great article on nems and care this month.
Click to expand...

Thanks I will! That is why I asked, definitely don't want to slowly kill whatever it is that I get.

Paxpress, what is your filtration system? I couldn't see but one power head on the right. Sump, protein skimmer, fuge , ATS? How will you replenish evaporated water?
Click to expand...
You will probably kick me for this answer haha. I have a remora c protein skimmer, no fuge, hydor canister filter rated for up to 120g tank.
I recently ordered an "all in one" sump skimmer type thing
http://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcos...009729417338&gclid=CL6go_bBossCFQ4zaQod84kKhQ
is the link. I got it on sale for quite a bit cheaper. I was planning on keeping both the canister and this "sump" hooked up. I also am pretty diligent about cleaning my canister at least once a week (i know they recommend more for a canister but once a week seems to keep nitrates in check etc considering such a small bioload for now)
As for evaporation the glass lids prevent ALOT of evap. My freshwaters need 4 gallons added a week during winter and more during summer, as for this SW tank only about a gallon a week I think. I add fresh RO/DI water.
Forgot to mention my circulation pumps. I have 3 Nano Koralias two are 425 gallons 1 is 565 and then I have one 1050-1150gph Koralia Evo
So with just circulation pumps moving ~2565 gph so turnover is about 34.2x per hour + whatever my canister and skimmer do.
links for those circulation pumps
hydor evo 1050-1150
http://www.amazon.com/Hydor-Evoluti...&qid=1456939544&sr=1-2&keywords=hydor+koralia
nano hydor koralias
http://www.amazon.com/Hydor-Koralia-Nano-Aquarium-Circulation/dp/B0036S70ZG

Thanks for taking the time to listen and assist me I really appreciate it.
 
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