Coral and Lighting

[RubixCube]

I want to start picking up some coral frags and trying to grow them. There is only one obstical. I dont have MH lighting, yet. My question to you is. What kind of coral could i get that dont need the strong MH lighting?

 

[fishfreek]

Most medium to low light corals will be fine with out MH lighting. OF course that does nto mean you can get by with low output normal florecents.

Having a properly lit tank with VHO florecents or PowerCompact florecents will give you good results aswell.

 

[RubixCube]

what type of light should i use.
1 ACTINIC BLUE VHO FLUORESCENT BULB ?
and what else?

Also what is better? VHO or PC ?

 

[biotoxin]

the pecking order is pc, vho, mh. You wana use a 50/50 full spectrum and actinic. VHO is nice but i prefer halide myself you just fall in love with the shimmer when you see it if you wana propagate tho id say vho or whatever you can afford. I frag my stuff all the time and i use 50/50 pc's

 

[RubixCube]

VHO perfect. 50/50's and an actinic.

 

[Cap360]

i would get t5 lights before vho or pc
pc are only good on small tanks 30 gal or smaller unless you plan to get all softies

 

[Guest]

pc are only good on small tanks 30 gal or smaller unless you plan to get all softies

Well, I would like to say that I have 384 watts of PC lighting on my 55 gal, and I have hard corals in there and they do just fine...T-5 IMO is over rated... wattage is wattage when it comes to flourescent. Right now I am keeping Montipora Digitata, Montipora Capricornis (Brown), some LPS like Blastomussa Merleti, and many other softies..This is just a list of some of what I keep under PC's...

 

[fishfreek]

I also have PC's over my 80 gal tank. Im not sure what your basing the rule of PC's over a 30 gal or smaller.

Intensity is what is the real factor when it comes to being sucessful with hard corals.

 

[steve-s]

I also use PC's for my 90 gal. It has several types of montipora. Blue, orange, deep green, yellow and fluorescent green. As well as many other types of LPS and other corals but not a brown one in the bunch. PC's are not as restrictive as people would like to fasley believe.

Cheers
Steve

 

[RubixCube]

i see, so, if i have a 75 gal, how many PC's should i use? And what are some of your opnions on what type of light to get. (i dont know alot about PC)

 

[Cap360]

it all depends on what you want to keep in your tank. that will determine the lights you want. dont got the cheep way out you will end up just upgrading and upgrading wasting money>

 

[steve-s]

For most soft, LPS and some types of SPS; a 4x96w PC or 4x110w VHO would do nicely for a 75 gal tank. I am not up on the VHO manufatures but I have a Custom Sea Life an a Coralife PC set up. Personally, I prefer Custom Sea Life.

If you want to be completely unrestricted (all SPS types and clams), then I would suggest 2x250w MH with some actinic fluorescent supplimentation.... MH intensity greatly depends on the height of the tank as welll as how far the hood must be suspended unless incorporated into a canopy. Do not think in terms of watt/gal.

Cheers
Steve

 

[brndfrb]

I have pc on my 65 gallon tank and i have an array of corals and they are all doing great. I think cap is just giving his opinion.