What can I keep under 15w of light?

[newguy1983]

I have a 15g FOWLR and I want a simple coral. Was thinking GSPs or Xenia. I have a 15w REGULAR Flourescent 50/50 Coral Life bulb now.

Will either of those work?

[RyanDragon]

u might want to upgrade the light to either PC or t5,,, cause no corals will survive under those light that u have, unless if u only want mushrooms,, then u can go out and buy 2 more regular Flourescen bulb,, get a 10000k one and a actinic one,, then I think it should be enough to keep mushrooms,, since they doesn't require alot of light, Note: do not get ricordia mushroom,, get discosoma mushroom, because ricordia required lots of light and very hard to keep.

[newguy1983]

What about Sun Coral?

[RyanDragon]

like I said before,,, u can only keep mushrooms with 3bulbs of normal flourescen light,,, but if u want to keep sun corals or other corals, u will want to considered upgrade ur light to Power Compact or t5 HO...trust me don't waste ur money buying colorful corals only to find out that u don;t have enough light for them and it sucks to watch the corals die and there's nothing u can do,,, I've been there... :)

[newguy1983]

I knew I should have just gotten the Nano-Cube with the Powercompact Lights...

[RyanDragon]

the nano cube can cost lots of money
wat are the demension of ur tank ?

[newguy1983]

It's a 15g by AGA - so 24 x 12 x 12

[RyanDragon]

If u have money to buy a PC fixture I think this is good enough,, it's affordable and a decent quality light fixtures.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~action~view~idProduct~ES53102~idCategory~FILTFIPCTF~category~24_Inch_Fixtures-Power_Compact-Light_Fixtures-Lighting-Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies~vendor~.html

[RyanDragon]

or if u have more money to spend, IMO, it's better to get a t5 HO light fixture because it runs more cooler and produce much more light than the PC,, but there are others here that will prefer the PC fixture over the t5..anyway here's good t5 HO fixture
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~action~view~idProduct~CU01120~idCategory~FILTFIT54U~category~24in_Units~vendor~.html

[newguy1983]

Yeah I saw those - it's just hard to drop $150.00 right now with a baby on the way. My wife supports my habit, but I doubt she'd let me drop $150.00 on lights...

[RyanDragon]

well, u could always save up money,,, I know it's very tempting to go out and buy corals,, but in this hobby u have to be patience,, and always it right otherwise it will be a waste of time and money.

EDIT: yea it's hard to spend $150 when u have a baby coming and in this hard economic time... :|

[SALT WATER CRAZ]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14706439#post14706439 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by newguy1983
What about Sun Coral?

you can keep a sun coral under any lighting it is a non photosynthetic coral..... Just make sure to feed it. :D

[newguy1983]

Yeah I know - I had a Nano-Cube a few years ago and had some Xenia and some GSPs and some other stuff in there and it thrived - only under 12w of light - so I was figuring it would be the same in this tank...

[RyanDragon]

hmm,,I thought sun corals are photosynthesis,, well guess I as wrong,, but other corals u definitely need good lighting for it to be able to survive and thrive... then u can go sell the frags for money to upgrade to a bigger reef tank...lol :)

[RyanDragon]

15w of lights for a 24 X 12 X 12 is definitely not enough for photosynthesis corals... I think the good amount of light for soft corals is 3-4 watts a gallons

[newguy1983]

I know what you mean. When I got back into it this time, I vowed I would just keep it FOWLR, and as you can see, that didn't work.

I definately have the itch to go bigger - but have other priorites. Don't get my wrong, my tank gets a ton of TLC, but I can't go dropping $160 like that. But thank you for your input.

From what I read about Sun Corals, they are relatively easy to keep - just require daily feedings which is fine. I read they don't like a lot of light...which is nice... :-)

[RyanDragon]

tell me about it,,, I got hooked into buying corals the first time I went to my lfs and see these beautiful corals,,, and I can't quit this hobby, it's so addicting lol,,, btw,, yea no problem,, I always like to help fellow reefers to do it the right way to avoid unnessecary spending and all those other bad stuffs... :D

[newguy1983]

and it's appreciated.

I just wish I had the $$$ to get a nice tank...like a 120 or something...but, yeah...

I'll get the lights before I get the corals - it just is going to take a good amount of time...

[Lotus99]

You can grow mushrooms under that light, and a sun coral would be fine. I think that's really the limit with that lighting.

I have a 65w PC over my 15g tank, and it does fine with zoas, LPS, GSP, etc.

Check the selling forums, there are always people selling PC lighting pretty cheap.

[dendro982]

If you have arm desktop lamp or high gooseneck desktop lamp (office supply, discount, thrift stores or garage sale $10-$2) and HD has 45W compact fluorescent daylight bulb ($10 or so, and soft white 2,700K is not good) it will work for this depth. If 27W only - then two desktop lamps.
If cost of electricity is a concern - calculate how much it will cost you a month. Here administrative charges make significant part of the payment, kW independent.

This grows under 27W CFL, same depth, but tank is shorter - 10g:
http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/71/71/1/21/30/2563121300081040121vvOPeI_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2563121300081040121vvOPeI) http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/55/755/8/67/99/2051867990081040121LbnYDg_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2051867990081040121LbnYDg)http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/55/755/7/78/50/2908778500081040121YluJFL_th.jpg[/URL]
Algae: chaeto, caulerpa, red fern kelp, ochtodes.
Red and hairy mushrooms, yellow polyps, gsp at the top, kenia tree.

[balachel]

im new to reefing but aren't sun corals non photosynthetic, so he could keep those under the lights he has right?