Good Low light Corals?

[popomon]

Hey guys, total noob to the reef world, although I've kept several planted tanks in the past. I wanted to setup a small 20gal long mantis tank, so i won't be running insanely high lights, but was hoping maybe 2.5wpg with the coralife 30"t5ho. any suggestions on easy to keep corals? I'll be getting a tunze 9002 protein skimmer, 2 koralia nano's for water flow and cal+kalk dosing with mg. I should be able to afford the equipment (hoping its around $800 initial) within 2 months. I thought maybe there would be more leeway with the shallow depth and moderately high LR placement. Had a layout mapped on paper, but no scanner. Any more necessary information required and tips will be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

[AeonPhoenix]

My Kenya Trees did great under 2.5w per gallon. The light was even 2 years old and devoid of spectrum. This is even before I used RO water and that Kenya Tree got huge under terrible conditions.

Other species that do well under medium lighting are various zoos, mushrooms, hammers, frogspawn, and a select few LPS like caulastrea or acanthastrea.

SPS like Acropora, Montipora, or Capriconis is pretty much out of the question.


A good practice with lower lighting is to build a "shelf" in your aquascaping to bring the corals up closer to the light. This creates awnings and caves below which are great habitat for fish and inverts. The trick is finding a peice of rock that is long, wide, and flat that will serve as your plateau. I actually ended up having to use a peice of lace rock for this that had lots of little holes in it great for pluggin in frags.

If you have T5 HO lights with good par, you might be able to just set the corals at the bottom.

[stevie-o]

sun corals they don't need much light and they are awesome looking you should also be good with most softies and leathers. I whent from planted to reef i love this hobby unfortunately the planted is getting a little neglected probly takin it down soon

[jeff@zina.com]

Those lights will support pretty much any soft coral, most LPS and some SPS.

Jeff

[PattersM]

I have a fox coral that looks great and it sits at the bottom of the tank quite happily under normal reef lights. The sun coral should be good also, but will need feeding twice a week as it's non-photosynthetic.

[popomon]

thanks for all the feedback. where exactly could i buy liverock to see the pieces in person?
not very many reef stores in my area except for a place called barrier reef aquarium and thats an 1 1/2 hours away. Or do i just hope for the best pieces haha. Well, coralife has shown me good results so far on my planted so hopefully this will be good too. You guys know any better bulbs though? I know geissman is the king of planted tanks, but what about reefs? Or are coralifes pretty good.

[AeonPhoenix]

All I know is that I see ATI talked about alot on these forums. They seem to be the most popular. I just got some new UVL bulbs, and I'm pretty happy with them. I've heard mixed reviews on Coralife's par ratings, but that was a while ago. They may have caught up in the market.

[popomon]

the ATI and UVL bulbs look pretty good. Is it better to go with a setup like 2 blue plus? 1 blue+ and a fiji purple, blue+ with white? just so many combos. i've noticed some people having all blue colors without any white. Would the white and blue+ combo be the best? only 2 bulbs can be used so im just not able to get as wide of a spectrum

[billdogg]

It is actually the "whiter" part of the light that the corals use mainly. The actinic lighting is more for looks - to make the colors pop more.

[AeonPhoenix]

I think a 12k daylight and a 420nm actinic make a tank look great.
The 12k is a bit too blue for some people though, which I believe is why 10k is the most popular.
For actinic, the 460nm is gaining popularity, but those are more purple and are usually a 1-of in a lighting system with 6 bulbs.

But yes, 1 actinic and 1 daylight bulb is the way to go. Not sure how the ATI bulbs work though. Their description seems different than all the other brands.

[popomon]

that sounds good, i was thinking of investing in the sundial quad bulb, for when my mantis dies i wont need to buy a new light for when i convert to a reef. is it safe to run a fixture with only half of the maximum bulbs running at the same time? I know the ballast is designed to keep from overcharging the bulbs, so i was thinking that if only 2 bulbs were used, the ballast would know not to put the full wattage through. I know that the unit has timers though for the moonlights, and for each set of 2 bulbs. after this it would probably be all the help i need on light. thanks for the info so far.

[syedjilani]

subscribed...... :)

[Agu]

Whatever corals you get make sure they're mounted to rock too large for the mantis to move. A mantis uses whatever it can move to construct it's lair and rearrange the tank to it's liking. That includes burying expensive frags somewhere under the rockwork. :(

[racefan]

thanks for all the feedback. where exactly could i buy liverock to see the pieces in person?
not very many reef stores in my area except for a place called barrier reef aquarium and thats an 1 1/2 hours away. Or do i just hope for the best pieces haha. Well, coralife has shown me good results so far on my planted so hopefully this will be good too. You guys know any better bulbs though? I know geissman is the king of planted tanks, but what about reefs? Or are coralifes pretty good.
You don't say where you are in your siginature,if your talking a out Barrier Reef in Auburn,Wa that place is great. Otherwise just grab the yellow pages or check craigslist.

[AeonPhoenix]

is it safe to run a fixture with only half of the maximum bulbs running at the same time?

Good question. I don't know the answer to that. My thought would be that yes, it's fine provided that the their are independent power switches for them. If not, I'm not entirely sure. Certainly wouldn't want double the electricity pouring into the bulbs...

[popomon]

sorry, double post

[popomon]

Whatever corals you get make sure they're mounted to rock too large for the mantis to move. A mantis uses whatever it can move to construct it's lair and rearrange the tank to it's liking. That includes burying expensive frags somewhere under the rockwork. :(

Thanks, i'll keep that in mind. I was originally planning on mounting corals onto the foundation rock, so the larger pieces. i know i'm not gonna be able to achieve any specific aquascape because the mantis shrimp will probably be constantly removing smaller pieces or break larger pieces.

You don't say where you are in your siginature,if your talking a out Barrier Reef in Auburn,Wa that place is great. Otherwise just grab the yellow pages or check craigslist.

Yeah, i am referring to that one (except i thought it was renton lol). Its a great place, but i don't know if they sell all the stuff i need. I like to support LFS because it helps them grow, but i don't know if they have live sand, rock, and cheaper corals. i went by and i swear the corals were priced at $80+. I would buy livestock there though since it seemed like a nice setup (just a little ghetto haha). Im sure you've been there more than me though so tell me if they actually have that stuff, because when i get a reffing job i'll definately check em out.

Good question. I don't know the answer to that. My thought would be that yes, it's fine provided that the their are independent power switches for them. If not, I'm not entirely sure. Certainly wouldn't want double the electricity pouring into the bulbs...

thanks for the support, i always need someone to reassure me even if there not to sure themselves lol.