what will my light handle

[pokmijn]

i been wanting to get more corals into my tank but im afraid my lighting isn't good enough this is what i have:
My light is Corallife Dual Compact Fluorescent Lighting 48" 2 x 65 watt
AS FOR THE FISHES
Mated pair of gold stripe maroon
red scooter blenny
dragon fish(??? my bro bought dont what its called)
scopus tang
copper band butterfly
FOR THE CORALS
some mushrooms
some green star polyps
[FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]some Green Zoanthid Polyps[/SIZE][/FONT]
and i also have two bubble tips anemone(people tell me my light wont be good for these but they been thriving in my tank for almost a year now and one is getting big)
so my question is what kind of corals could i get and be ok with the lighting that i have. my tank size is a 50 gal.

 

[ccCapt]

The corals you mentioned are fine under pc lighting. You may get away with some lower light LPS high up in the tank under those lights.

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Larry that those corals will do good under that lighting. Are your anenomes close to the lighting?

 

[pokmijn]

I agree with Larry that those corals will do good under that lighting. Are your anenomes close to the lighting?

Will my small one is towards the top but not all that close to it and the large one is all the way in the bottom of my tank...will my anemones be good with this light i would upgrade but im low on money and lights is just too expensive unless someone can point me to a light system that is good and low cost.

 

[Ziggy953]

The BTAs will probably not do so well under PC lighting. They require pretty intense lights to thrive.

As for lighting that is "low cost" I haven't found that yet. A good option for you though is to look into DIY T5HO retro kits. You can pick up a kit for about $100 that is for 2x54w 4' setup. I would have 2 of those for a total of 4x54w on your tank. With that upgrade you should have enough light to take care of the BTAs.

Check out Aquarium Lights Hellolights.com or marinedepot.com I use TEK.

 

[pokmijn]

The BTAs will probably not do so well under PC lighting. They require pretty intense lights to thrive.

As for lighting that is "low cost" I haven't found that yet. A good option for you though is to look into DIY T5HO retro kits. You can pick up a kit for about $100 that is for 2x54w 4' setup. I would have 2 of those for a total of 4x54w on your tank. With that upgrade you should have enough light to take care of the BTAs.

Check out Aquarium Lights Hellolights.com or marinedepot.com I use TEK.

48" 2 x 54w T5 HO Retrofit Kit - 48254
is it that one if it is i could probably do that one. with that one what corals can i get because i want to go all out with corals probably the begening of next year

 

[ccCapt]

I guess my question is what kind of coral do you want to keep...exactly?
Since you say you've had the BTA's for 2 years, you know your lights are OK for them.
The 2 bulb retro you link to is barely any better that what you have now. Now use 3 of those kits and you're good to go.

 

[Ziggy953]

The T5HO produce better par ratings thing the PCs so even going with the T5s it will be an improvement over the PC.

2 of those kits will give you enough light on a 50g tank to support most corals (SPS higher in the tank) a third will take care of just about anything. Which ever kit you decide to get make sure that it has individual reflectors for the bulbs.

 

[pokmijn]

I guess my question is what kind of coral do you want to keep...exactly?
Since you say you've had the BTA's for 2 years, you know your lights are OK for them.
The 2 bulb retro you link to is barely any better that what you have now. Now use 3 of those kits and you're good to go.

Well i dont know what kind of corals yet im still searching and looking but basically everything lps, soft, hard, etc...i was just into live rocks and was like wow how cool but when i first got my shrooms and polyps it blew me aways you guys get the point.

yeah i'll just probably get 3-4 of those kits then...everybody been telling me my lights wont be enough for my bta's even my lfs that i go to tells me that but they've been thriving and growing my my tank and the reason im asking about my lights is because if my bta could survive from it, shouldn't i be good with most corals since anemones requires high lighting.

 

[Ziggy953]

Not necessarily. Corals are a bit different the anemones. Corals would live in the lights you have but they would probably loose their color. Anemones will live on high light and in lower light they will survive but they won't have the same coloring or growth as they would in higher light. BTAs are one of the more hardy types of anemones we keep in our aquariums.