lights for my fowlf

[crow123]

I have 50 pounds of live rock with 10 pounds of base rock
my Live rocks look pretty colorless and i read that lights cant make my liverock more "live"
wat do you recomend for lights for a 29 gallon tank?
its only for my liverock, i am not planning on geting corals/anemone

 

[lando]

You will have al of the bio-filtration benifits of the LR under NO flouescent lighting. However, if you want to get some nice coraline growth to add varied colors of reds, purples, blues and stuff, you will need a little better lighting. the 24 inch double tube Aqualight by Coralife would give you plenty of light to support coraline algea growth on the rock.

 

[malkore]

In addition to upgrading to something like 2x65watt power compacts, your calcium levels will also determine how quickly coralline grows & spreads.
You'll need both a calcium and an alkalinity test..which shows ppm concentrations. Avoid the test kits which only tell you 'low, medium, high' on the results. You need real numbers.

 

[seaham358]

I run NO bulbs on my fowlr and I have very nice coraline growth. A double strip light with a nice URI bulb would do just fine. I run 1 super actinic and 1 white actinic this brings out the nice colors in the fish and LR. Before you spend a lot of money on a PC light give the strip light a try and do what malkore says.. Pick up a test kit for calcium and alkilinity and balance those for good coraline growth.
with 60 lbs or rock in a 29 is there any water in that tank

 

[phases99]

I had nice Coralline growth under my double NO bulbs also but kept my CA and ALK in 380 ppm and 10 dKH levels respectively.

 

[crow123]

i havnt got test kits yet but if im low in calcium how do i give my tank calcium? i got this liquid calicuim bottle from Kent marine, is that good?

 

[phases99]

Liquid calcium is fine for elevating your levels but can cause problems with long term use. I used kalk right off the bat and have been extremely happy with the results. Note that liquid calcium will tend to lower your Alk so make sure your monitor the levels and buffer accordingly.