Several Newbie Questions

[uthscsa19]

Question 1
I have had my 25g High tank w/ and Eclipse2 (dual light) hood tank running for about 1 month now. I have found out that the lighting on this hood is inadequate for coral as is. I believe the light put out 15-18 watts each for a total of 30-36 watts. That only gives about 1.2-1.4 watts/gal. I have seen some retrofits for the eclipse tank that fits two 32 watt bulbs for a total of 64 watts. That would give about 2.5 watts/gallon. Is there any better retrofits for this? Is this adequate lighting for a reef tank, without anemones.

Question 2
I currently have 10lbs of Live Rock (LR) and am planning on buying 15-20lbs over the next 3 months. I also have live sand and 3 hermit crabs currently. How many Turbo Snails and Hermit Crabs should be kept in a 25 gallon tank for proper maitenance? Also is the 200gal/min filtration and waterflow of the eclipse enough for reef and live rock needs or do i need a powerhead? What nutrients do you need to add to the water to keep the live rock alive? Is it the same as the trace elements needed for coral?

Well thats all i can think of now. Thanks in advance for the replies.

 

[loganj]

You can probably keep some low light corals with the 64w retro kit installed. Mushrooms and the like. You might be able to keep some thing with medium light requirement as long as they are up high in the tank...close to the lights. The problem is, with a deep tank, the light diffuses before it reaches the bottom. So, not much of your 64w is gonna get down there. My suggestion, and this may not be a viable alternative for you, would be to ditch the Eclipse and go with a canopy. In the canopy, either go with at least 4 32w PC's or a 175w MH fixture. I had the twin light Eclipse on a 10g and it proved to be inadequate.

In my 20 high, I have 4 scarlet hermits, 6 blue leg hermits, 5 astrea snails, 5 cerith snails, 5 nassarius snails, and 1 emerald crab. Tank stays fairly clean and no one is starving as far as I can tell.
I think the 200gph is not quite enough. It's best to have at least 10x tank size. You would need a minimum of 250gph and more would be better. As long as your calcium and alk are right, and you've got enough light, your LR should do well. If you do regular water changes, I think your trace elements will stay within accaeptable parameters.
If you can tell us more about the tank...such as what kind of corals you have...what kinds you want to get...pic of the tank would be great also...we can probably make better recommendations.
Logan J