adding power compact and coral?

[Loki4711]

I am just about to add a power compact to my 35 gal. hex tank. I want to start adding coral and more LR. currently i have a 4 in sand bed. prating skimmer and 60 gal powerfilter. does anyone have any recommendations on what im missing or should know before I start adding coral?

 

[electrikat]

How many watts is the lighting system?

 

[phases99]

Also, how are your water parameters? Your sandbed should be keeping your nitrates almost undetectable if it is doing its job. You want to make sure your other environmentals are as stable as possible, temp, ph, alk, etc..

 

[Avi]

Sometimes hex tanks pose a problem when trying to use power compacts to support a coral population becuase the tank is relatively deep and the top of the tank doesn't provide enough room for a fixture that will contain sufficient intensity to reach into the tank. A metal halide fixture, for example, could provide sufficent intensity to reach down. If you can only have power compact for some reason, stack the live rock so that you can mount some corals toward the top that don't require much intensity and you might be all right. But you will be very limited. By the way, I'm not one that's down on power compact lighting...I've been using it for about a year now on my reef and though the bottom of the 120 gallon tank doesn't have much coral mounted there other than sun coral, which doesn't require lighting, overall, it's been very satisfactory for me.

 

[Loki4711]

right now im looking at a 24" CORALIFE LUNAR AQUALIGHT 65 watt 10,000K and 65 watt actinic. my parameters are all stable. i had some problems in the past with high nitrates, but now its all in the normal range my temp 80, ph is a little low 7.8, nitrate 5, nitrie 0... i am planing on stacking the coral mostly in the upper part of the tank. i have LR stacked up about half way in the back of the tank so i was planing on adding it ontop of that.

 

[Avi]

Loki...that pH of 7.8 is pretty low. I had a pH of 8.1 for a while that concerned me a little and so I started using a product call Seachem Reef Builder which raises the pH to 8.3 and then can be used as buffer to maintain that. I'm thinking that your alkalinity isn't right for your pH to go that far astray from proper reef levels, so you should also get a good alkalinity test kit if you don't have one and maintain your alkalinity levels. That will help in maintaining more constant pH levels once that's taken care of.

As for the lighting you buy... the 130 watts of power compact lighting should be good for you the way you're planning the tank with the coral up high on the rock. I would recommend though, that instead of the 65-watt 10,000K and 65-watt actinic, you get the two bulb fixture with two 50/50's. The 50/50's are power compact bulbs that have half 10,000K and half actinic...you know what I mean, I'm sure...pc bulbs have two sections. With 50/50's, you'd get a more even coverage in the tank of the higher Kelvin bulbs thoughout the tank instead of it being concentrated only under the one 10,000K bulb on one side of the tank.

Also, IF you have room for a small fixture in addition to the one you're getting on top of the tank, maybe you can add one for a wee bit more light. Take a look at

www.ahsupply.com

They specialize in power compact lighting and they're very reliable...I've used them and they can help you with ideas for additional lighting sometimes. Just a thought.

 

[lando]

With that lighting you can keep some mushrooms and maybe some polyps of some type. As stated, hex tanks present a problem when it comes to light penetration. The best option would really be a single 250watt MH pendant. This would allow you to keep a larger variety of corals.

 

[Avi]

I'd agree that the MH pendant would be more optimal for that kind of tank but there may be a reason why Loki wants the pc's instead, so we're trying to work with that. Mushrooms and the polyps (I think he means zoanthid corals) that lando mentioned, would be good choices. Also, for further down where the light doesn't reach, you can put a variety of Sun Polyps, if you don't mind target feeding them once or twice a week. Those don't need light levels so they can thrive anywhere in the tank and give great color, so long as you do feed them.

 

[Loki4711]

thanks for the advice. ill stabelize my ph and check the alk. ill keep the mh in mind and do some procechecks. any perticular company thats a good buy for your buck?