Thinking about going from FOWLR to reef...

[George9]

Hi everyone,
I just recently gave my angelfish up because she was taking chunks out of my little butterflyfish (I know, not reef safe, but hear me out!). So I've been thinking about diving into corals, since it seems to be a very rewarding part of the hobby.

My main concern is lighting, I have a current USA marine orbit LED strip right now, and it's supposedly good for soft corals and low light LPS, I've heard reviews where people said their corals were doing well under it. It's 46 watts total. Along with this light, I'd add my dual T5HO strip back on to the tank, and while it looks bulky with 2 lights, it would add 108 watts of light. Would these two lights be sufficient for most soft corals and at least some LPS? I'm not looking into SPS at the moment...I'd think I need more experience.

I'd have to test other corals with my butterfly, but he is with a frag of zoas right now, and he's never looked at it. I'm not sure if he'd dig into other corals though. I'll have to test some with him and see how it goes. He's really little and his mouth is tiny, I'm not sure what kind of damage he'll do.
This is him:


Thanks for any advice you can give me

Edit: totally forgot the tank size. It's a 60g. 23" tall I believe

 

[bduni50]

Are your Zoe's doing well under the light? May want to look at the tratronics lights off amazon. They get great reviews. Sale your other lights and your good to go. If your fish eats the corals re home him. I would start with lower price corals and see what happens.

 

[George9]

They were doing really well actually and then my urchin decided to drag them with him in the rockwork. They took a hit but are coming back now. They are looking especially good with the extra light from the T5HOs.

Im going to pick up a few more frags sometime soon and see if the fish has a taste for them, and to see how they do with thw lighting

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