What corals can I get?

[zacdl]

I got a 72 watt light now (or will shortly this weekend)

for my 30 hex.


I am guessing its about 20 gallons from the sand to the top, and subtracting the rocks.

So what kind of corals can I add with 3 WPG?????

 

[RLG2182]

This question is asked often Zac... and basically it comes out the same way. With that, most softies: zoos, leathers, shrooms, polyps, etc, etc. Many to most require stable tank conditions... although there are tons of corals that are hardy and good for starters. Which ones interest you? Let's start from there... and see if you can have it or not.

 

[zacdl]

What can I NOT keep?

 

[MYTY1705]

Ok fisrt off your calculation os not right. You are only giong to have about 2.5 watts per gallon. Are the lights no, vho, pc, mh??? This is also important to know. With that lighting I would stay stick with mushrooms, leathers, zoos and polyps. They are lower light needing corals. Stay away from sps they need 4-5 watts. No calms either they need mh. You may be able the get away with a lps but only if it is high up in your tank. Not much else can be said except do your homework before you buy. Nothing sadder that bringing a coral home and finding out later that it's not going to live in your tank. (don't know who has done that before, surely not me???)

 

[zacdl]

PC is what they are.

I dont want a clam either because they dont do anything other than sit there


Basically you guys listed everything I was interested in keeping...

 

[Phyl]

My leathers, LPS (candy cane, frogspawn) and quite a few SPS were doing fine in my 2.2wpg tank. I just made sure to put anything other than shrooms, zoos and leathers on the top of my rock work. They're actually less happy with MH than they were with the PC lighting! My SPS started losing a little color with the addition of MH. You can also have sun corals if you can manage to target feed them 2-3x a week. They're non-photosynthetic.

 

[badfish]

Hope you dont mind me jumping in here, but i got a 50 gallon tank and ordered a coralife lunare 2X65 watt PC Fixture (2.6 watts per gallon). Are you gus saying polyps, zoos, leathers and mushrooms would do fine in my tank, even at lower levels? tank is 21 inches high.

Thanks

- Jeff

 

[Phyl]

My tank is 2' deep. I had 4x65 over the middle of it and my sps on top of the rock ridge and my mushrooms, zoos and such on the bottom. Everyone was doing fine even with just the PC lighting.

 

[zacdl]

Thanks.

 

[MT79]

I had 4x65 over the middle of it and my sps on top of the rock ridge and my mushrooms, zoos and such on the bottom. Everyone was doing fine even with just the PC lighting.

How long did you have the SPS under just PC? FWIW, I would not recommend light loving SPS( Birdsnest, brightly colored Acros, etc.) be kept under fluorescent lighting. In the long run, IME, "browning out" would be an issue along w/ other things. Some lower light SPS, Montipora and hydnophora for example, can be kept under PC/VHO.

 

[Phyl]

I had them for 6 months. My green cap/purple rim had the most vivid bright coloring to it as did my tricolor acropora. The purples really popped! I aslo had a couple of orange caps, hydnophora, some orange montipora digitata, staghorn... these all grew great and colored nicely. When I changed over to my MH the orange monti digi started bleaching as did my orange caps (in spite of a very slow introduction to the MH lighting) Maybe they needed to be moved down, but they were very colorful under my PC lighting. I didn't have anything that was all purple or all pink. Those are tougher colorings to grow with just PC but it gets really tiresome hearing broad brush comments that you can't have any SPS under PC lighting. That just isn't true based on what I saw in my tank as well as fellow reefers here in NJ.

 

[MT79]

I didn't have anything that was all purple or all pink. Those are tougher colorings to grow with just PC but it gets really tiresome hearing broad brush comments that you can't have any SPS under PC lighting. That just isn't true based on what I saw in my tank as well as fellow reefers here in NJ

I agree. My point is there are many you can't- as you also pointed out. I would hate to see someone read this, assume all SPS are fine, go out and buy a pink birds nest only to see it brown and die over time. That would be a beautiful animal lost and a wallet that is alot lighter. Happy reefing.

 

[Phyl]

Equally I would hate for people to read this and think it isn't possible to keep any. I just like to point out to people that they can keep some. As with anything, do your research. If you want to keep some SPS learn what can and can't be kept under the type of lighting and height of the rockwork that you have. I'm glad to see that we agree

Happy reefing!

 

[zacdl]

I hope you dont keep arguing too much

Anyways, you guys have already listed the stuff I was interested in keeping.