is this enough for for my 125 reef?

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Brandonjkoontz1

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 14, 2012
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Location
woodbine maryland
So iv been looking at light's for my new 125 gallon tank that im putting together and found one for an amazing price so i bought it. Lol i know i should have asked prior to paying but oh well. My tank is 72 long 18 wide and 23 deep. The light iv got is 72 long with 2 96watt 12k white bulbs, 2 96 watt actinic blue and 16 watts total of moon light leds. I know i want to do corals but as to weather i want to do sps lps or what ever im not sure yet. Im still pretty far from that point so i haven't looked into them. So what im asking from all of you knowledgeable folk is do you think im in good shape as far as watts per gallon or intensity of light goes for my reef tank. Thanks ahead of time. I really appreciate the help.
 
I think the most youd be able to have with those lights are beginner corals if anything. Probably not LPS and SPS would be out of the question. A 4 bulb t5 would be better for most corals. SPS need higher intensity lighting such metal halides or LEDs.
 
Watts per gallon isn't a very good gauge to go by. Coral placement and the overall efficiency of the lighting you are using are more important factors.
I would think soft corals and lps would be fine under a power compact fixture, but as stated, sps will not do very well.
3 of the above LED fixtures will work well for anything you wanted to keep, but Here is that same fixture a bit cheaper.....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310510376750
 
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Thanks. Yeah i was thinking the same thing about cutting corners. I figure i could just set it up as fowlr then as time goes on and i save up for a while ill just go all out and get good leds. And if these lights could support beginner corals ld like to do that. Do you have any suggestions? Ill have the filtration to support them for sure.
 
That fixtures sounds like a compact flourescent bulb setup. Good for low light soft corals like mushrooms and zoanthids. Probably not good for LPS and definitely not good for SPS corals.
 
I grew mushrooms and even my hammer coral grew under some 50/50 PC lights. Im not saying try it lol.
 
Awesome. I really like the toadstool mushrooms but some people have told me they need moderate to high light intensity. What do you think about one of those considering my lights. Also i had another question. Currently on my 30 gallon fowlr my lights run about seven and a half hours. For corals and such (i know alot of stuff is species specific but on a broad scale) are those about the same time periods or am i not even close?
 
5 dollar mushrooms, where?! i went to my lfs and cheapest corals i saw were 20
 
pairenoid said:
5 dollar mushrooms, where?! i went to my lfs and cheapest corals i saw were 20

wow! lol. I guess it depends on location. Here in San Diego, most of the LFS do $10 frags (sometimes $5). We also have a local reef forum where many reefers sell off frags of their corals for way cheaper than the LFS. I guess the LFS' have no choice but to lower their prices to be competitive.
 
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