10,000 K Coral Life light?

[SWGuppie]

I just bought a 10,000 K Coral Life light from the LFS.....they said it would go well instead of the current standard bulb I had in the 29 FOWLR... is this right? everything looks like it is out and about more.....did I make a good purchase?

BTW:
I only have 1 strip for a light....is there something I can buy to get more...so I can get some nice nice corals?

 

[kribbz]

it all depends on what type of corals you are looking at. i would definatly recommend getting a stronger light than the one your using if yor considering corals. but you must first determine what type of corals you want to keep before we can suggest types of lighting. i suggest if you want to read up on some corals that you look into eric bornemans aquarium coral book. it explains all sorts of corals and how to care for each. but definatly read up and ask plenty of questions.

 

[SWGuppie]

Well, I just wanted some soft Corals (mushroom...bubble)...1 or 2 anemones...and 1 Clam.....Thats pretty much all that I want, i'm not a big fan of the hard corals myself....Is there anything I could buy perhaps so that I could get better lighting?

 

[kribbz]

well clams tend to depend on a little more lighting so with the softies you mentioned you could possibly get away with like a smaller pc setup. however the clam and the anemones need an established tank with alot of light. i would suggest you hold off on those for at LEAST six months. this way your tank gets established and you don't put anything in there to die slowly. but for those i would say maybe like a 175 watt mh bulb for your 29 that would allow you to keep any coral you wanted to without any questions. but thats just my opinion. ask around get more reply's. hope it all works for you though and i'm glad to see your getting into corals you won't regret it.

 

[dansemacabre]

Clams and anemones, with the exception of a condy anemone perhaps, need intense lights. I'd go with the halide as mentioned if you wanted clams or any other sort of anemone. As far as your current lighting, what are the wattages of the bulbs? Even softies will need decent lighting, which could be provided by a smaller power compact setup, as kribbz mentioned. Tastes change over time, I didn't like the acroporas when I first looked at them, but not only 6 months later, I think they're cool in their own right. If you go with a halide, you won't have to upgrade, and if you ever move to a larger tank, you can use the halide in that setup as well. So, were it me, I'd get the halide so I wouldn't be restricting myself.
Example: on my 125g, I'm gonna start with softies, but I have the setup arranged for 3x250w halides and 4x96w PCs. Softies don't need that much, but I really dig clams and if I ever want acropora, I can probably have them. HTH!

 

[kribbz]

as dansemacabre mentioned SPS is something that i did not originally like at all. when i got into corals i was only thinking softies because i liked the way they swayed and just looked a little more real. but as you get into i think you learn to really appreciate the hard corals simply because they are a little more challenging to keep so your interest in them peaks because you see how difficult they are and once you are able to keep them it is a really gratifying feeling.

 

[michealprater]

Plus once you see the color on some sps, it is awesome!