Light for corals

[mlanda]

Hi to all, I have a 33 gallons tank and I am thinking in having corals in the future, I will like to know if I have enough light and how many hours of light is the best?
I own a coralife 36" T5 - 30 watts each - 1 is 10,000 sun light - the other is blue actinic, I am almost going to buy another light same as mine, to have 4 of them in total, thanks for your help!!
Best regards...

 

[mr_X]

yes, you'll be able to keep some low light corals, but you'll be limited to what you can add to the tank. btw, they don't make 30 watt t-5s for the hobby, so either they are not t-5s or they are 39 watts each.

 

[mlanda]

Yes I think they are 24 watts, but if I add the other 2 it will be 24 x 4 it will be 96 watts divided by the 33 gallons it will me like + or - 3 watt by gallon, that will be ok?
How many hours of light is the best?
Thanks again!!

 

[mr_X]

you cant go by watts per gallon. variables like depth and width change things greatly.
again, you'll be able to keep low light corals in that tank no problem. soft corals and perhaps some lps will do fine. i would stay away from sps/clams/anemones however.
i would try to mimic the natural day. 10-12 hours on won't hurt if your water parameters are good.

 

[mlanda]

Perfect!! Thanks a lot.
For the water quality it is better to wait until I have at least my system running for how long? For now is already cycled, I have 2 clowns, 1 cleaner shrimp and 4 turbo snails, it been more than 2 weeks that all my parameters are 0, my system is 2 months old.

 

[mr_X]

you can add corals immediately after a cycle with success. you would want your nitrates to be as low as possible though. you can try some easy corals like common zoas/palys, mushrooms, things like that. those corals are very forgiving.

 

[mlanda]

Thanks in advance Mr. X I will start maybe in 2 weeks and will come back with some photos!!!