Trying to get into corals/Anemones

[Mac11]

Ive had my fowlr 55 tank running for about 3 months now and Im curious about getting into corals. I have coral life actinic and white bulbs in my fluorescent fixture. What type of things would I need to change to get started with corals? ALso I tube anemone at the LFS and I really like it, I have a dottyback, inverts, and a Long Nose Butterfly in my tank, would this anemone be compatiable? And would my tank even support it?

 

[Bill0181]

Tube anemones are not photosynthetic they must be fed. Do lights for it is not an issue, but you will need to supplement it with different foods. As far as lights it depends on what type of corals you are wanting the lights you have now may support some low light corals I.e. Shrooms and Xenia perhaps even some zoas so we need a little more information


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[Mac11]

Cool Im assuming it eats the Mysis Feast refridgerated food I have that I feed my long nose butterfly? Target feed it im sure. Right now I have 30W 24"x2 fluorescents over my tank but there nothing special. A buddy of mine is giving me a compact fluorescent light he used on his 30 gal for reef keeping. It should do the job i think

 

[Sniperhank]

The answer to your question depends on what kind of coral you are wanting to keep. Then it will end up in figuring out if you want to use T5HO, MH, or LED. No matter what the choices are, I always suggest the taotronic LED units you can find on Ebay and Amazon. They will let you support anything photosynthetic your heart desires and are the cheapest route I've ever seen. You would need 2 of these over a 4 ft long tank like a 55.

 

[Mac11]

Some leathers, Xenia, and soft corals. I think my buddies compact fluorescent should work

 

[Sniperhank]

Back in the day, people used PC bulbs to keep corals...but they needed many of them over a tank to meet the requirements for photosynthetic creatures.
If you want to be successful in keeping coral, I'd suggest a higher output lighting. Even a 2 bulb T5HO unit can successfully keep soft corals. I normally suggest the LED route as it is cheaper and normally once someone gets bit by the bug, they want more light intense coral and anemone. If you want to keep any photosynthetic anemone in the future, you will need as high output lighting as you can. Either 6-8 bulb T5HO, MH, or LED.

 

[Mac11]

heres the light fixture im getting from my friend Compact Fluorescent Aquarium Light Fixture: Coralife Compact Fluorescent 48" Lunar Aqualight Fixture

 

[Sniperhank]

The bad reviews aside, I wouldn't use it to grow coral...just don't see where it has enough output to do it.

 

[Mac11]

260watts? Thats 4.7 watts per gallon? that wont suffice?

 

[Ziggy953]

260watts? Thats 4.7 watts per gallon? that wont suffice?

The biggest issue you will find with this the bulbs will last 6-9 months and start to shift in spectrum. As the other member was stating T5HO MH or LED is the way to go with keeping corals happy. PAR rating and the intensity of the light as it reaches into the tank is important to coral growth. If you go with the PC light do not be surprised if you see issues with coral color as well as algae blooms. They just don't maintain color spectrum as well as some of the other options out there.

I'm an LED guy personally. I've had PCs T5s MHs and VHOs.