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AshaKayx3

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 11, 2016
Messages
39
Location
Pennsylvania
Hello all! I've had my 30 gallon up and cycling and have successfully added some hermit crabs and snails and then a clown fish. I would really like to start some soft corals but I'm really stumped by the light. I bought a Koval led light strip but I was told it wasn't powerful enough. I was recommended fluval but the reviews are absolutely HORRIBLE. what, in everyone's opinion,is the best light to go with? Thanks in advance :)

Also, my tank suddenly spiked with algae growth after I added a new live rock. It is brownish in color. Is this beneficial or not? Should I leave it be?
 
For a fish only system, you can get whatever lighting you like that pleases your eye. The fish don't care.
As for the algae growth, that would be parameters in the system. Gunk that came in on the rock that wasn't scrubbed off/out of it before being added to the system that is now part of the nitrate cycle...aka rotting.
 
I do want corals though. And some algae (corraline) is good. How do I know if this algae is good or bad?
 
Well, it's algae so technically it is both good and bad. You can see that it is absorbing the nutrients in your water column. If it is overwhelming things in the system then it will kill off corals, which is bad.
You can easily put one of the taotronic LED panels, aka chinese panel, over the system and keep anything photo synthetically you could ever want.
 
I got some brown algae as well and talked to my LFS today and they said when cycling a tank it's normal and to wait until the tank is completely cycled and the nitrates drop and the brown algae will go away.
 
I bought a fluval Marine and reef for my tank as I'm fixing to start adding Coral and I love the way it looks on my tank. I also have a Coralife t5 ho dual lamp with white and actinic bulbs and someone I know that grows reef and frags them swears by the t5s
 
As it stands, some people continue to swear by bulbed units. They are effective and do the job. This goes for T5HO, MH, and LED. All do the job, it just comes down to what you are looking for.
When it comes to price, LEDs save in the long run compared to bulbs needing replaced every 6 months due to spectrum changing over time and producing no heat.
T5HO and MH do a much better job of giving out even amounts of light, but don't penetrate water as well as LEDs. An example of this would be the 4 bulb T5HO I had over my original tank. It was a tall setup and due to this the bottom of the tank didn't get enough light to support coral.
 
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