Would this light fixture be adequate for sps and soft corals?

[themartins]

This is the the light fixture we probably will be going with. It looks like a good deal, but we'd like to know if it will be adequate for us. We have a 30 gal. and would like to have some sps and soft corals. If you happen to have it and love it or hate it, we'd like to know that as well. It's a Coralife Aqualight T5 lunar.

http://www.roxiespetden.com/Coralife-Aqualight-T5-Ho-Lunar-Fixture_p_49622.html

 

[carey]

That light should be fine for your needs in my opinion. You will have to place any SPS a bit higher up in the tank though i would think. But overall not a bad entry level fixture.

 

[themartins]

That sounds good. We'll plan to place the SPS on top. What would you suggest are good beginner corals?

 

[Kio707]

Beginner Corals: Corals Suitable for Beginners in Saltwater Aquariums

check this out...

 

[carey]

For beginner corals I'd recommend some mushrooms, zooas and maybe a leather, like a toadstool. You could also keep some candycanes or trumpet corals, hammers and duncans. I've had really good luck with all of the above and they actually don't require any special care other than good water and water changes. I have been squirting mysis and brine to my duncan and it seems to love it, but other than that I just let it be.

 

[themartins]

Carey,
How often do you feed your duncan?

 

[carey]

I fed it twice this week so far. Although for months prior I hadn't fed it at all and it just kept sprouting heads. lol It's pretty neat to watch the head just close up around the food, I find it fascinating. I started with one or two heads on it and it has over 8 at least and it's still going.

Most corals can do just fine with water changes to replenish trace elements that the corals consume with no feeding required. Only non-photsynthetic corals like sun polyps require actual feeding. Believe it or not corals really aren't that difficult to keep in my experience, just great water parameters really and decent light.

 

[themartins]

You make it sound easy to keep corals. Thank you for being so encouraging. I've always thought that SW was too difficult and expensive. I'm so glad that the kids had an interest in starting this as a science project. It's great hands on for them with all of the testing through the cycle and lots of fun learning new things! We're going to purchase some Chemipure Elite and Purigen that I've read about from other posts, hopefully that along with our water changes will help us keep the water parameters where they should be.

 

[carey]

I've had good success with running the purigen and chemipure elite, plus it lasts for months instead of weeks.

Glad you guys are enjoying your sw journey, there is soo much to learn, one of the reasons i love it so much.

 

[themartins]

I'm just waiting to hear if our lfs can get it for us, if not we'll order it online.

 

[AquaRick]

Sorry to bug you guys; but what do these products do? Read the reviews online but still unsure of what purigen and chemipure remove from your tank?

 

[carey]

If you get chemipure elite it has GFO so it helps to remove phosphates. It's kinda like carbon on steroids. LOL

I run both purigen and chemipure elite in my cube, regular chemipure in my 20g coral tank and chemipure in my 125g. It helps to clarify the water and keeps it nice and sparkling. Whats different about these and regular carbon is that you don't change them nearly as often, they say you can get 6 months out of each. i recently changed it out in my cube after about 4-5 months though to be safe.

 

[joy13]

I'm just waiting to hear if our lfs can get it for us, if not we'll order it online.

Check online first for the best deal on your light the bulbs that usually come with lights aren't the best so you change them out get a good bulb like API. The bulbs are a lot brighter and bring out the colors better. I can't tell if the light you are getting has separate reflectors but that will make a difference.

If you have a mixed tank remember just because a coral isn't sending out stingers doesn't mean they aren't at war. When leathers or mushrooms slime they are releasing chemicals in the water that can cause problems for other corals.

I use chemi pure elite in my tanks I can actually tell on the health of certain corals when it is time to change it.