how much lighting do i REALLY need?

[Andy16]

Ok, i thought i understood this part of keeping a reef tank but i guess not. My plan is to have 3X55 from ahsupply. (actually 1 1X55 watt kit and 1 2X55 watt kit.) The tank is 20 gallons. I dont want to be restricted from any corals and be upset with what i bought. I know that i cant afford MH so its PCs for me.
Will this work? Now i dont know if getting that would give me enough light.
(i also want enough light for clams.)

[kreblak]

165 total watts over a 20 gallon tank?!? You ought to be able to grow whatever the heck you want. The general rule is 3-5 watts per gallon, so you ought to be plenty covered with the lighting set up you've got. I'd maybe try using a combination of a 10,000 K bulb and an actinic.

[Guy W]

Thats what, about 8 watts per gallon. Thats a good deal of light. I think you will have success getting most any corals to grow... Infact some lower light corals may do better if under a live rock overhang to have a little shadow.

I'd do the 1x55 as Actinc and the 2x55 as both 10's. and put them on timers. Turn the Actinic on an hour before and off an hour later than the 10k bulbs.

You'll be set.

[Andy16]

Well, i jsut got a reply to my email back from ahsuply, and they said 3X55s would work(phew). Thanks for hte help. Is that enough lights for clams?

[kreblak]

Yes, that should be plenty. My LFS has a 125 gallon reef tank with a GIANT clam in it, and it is lighted by around 500 watts of power compacts. Their clam is thriving with 4 watts per gallon, so yours ought to do great with 8 watts per gallon.

[BrianH]

While the 165 watts of light will allow you to keep most corals and clams, it will most likely not be enough to keep all corals and clams. I would stay away from most of the sps species. Montipora, pocillipora and porites(all sps) should be ok with that lighting but I would stay away from acropora and some of the other high light demanding corals. For clams, I would start with derasa and squamosa. Remember that lighting is only 1 componant in keeping these higher level critters. You will also have to keep calcium levels above 425 and have good, random water movement of at least 15 X your tank volume for the sps.

Brian

[Andy16]

I went over to reefcentral to get some more opinions(i almost got lost on my way to the nanoreef section, but i came out alive) and the only opinions i got were to get MH.
Here it is the link to it jsut so you can see for yourself
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=255968

Whats up with that?

[mogurnda]

The replies on RC are essentially the same as you got here. Nobody recommends maxima or crocea clams under PC, but derasa and squamosa should be fine. I am getting excellent Montipora and soft coral growth with 130 watts on my 20, but haven't had the squamosa long enough to say anything yet. Keep in mind what Brian said about Ca and alkalinity.

[Andy16]

O sorry about that. They way the people at RC put it was that you shouldnt even bother with PC and just get MH. What is up with the term LPS and SPS? That still confuses me, but i understand stony and soft corals. IS that what it means?

[Guy W]

Originally posted by Andy16
O sorry about that. They way the people at RC put it was that you shouldnt even bother with PC and just get MH. What is up with the term LPS and SPS? That still confuses me, but i understand stony and soft corals. IS that what it means?

LPS is Large Polyp Stony
SPS is Small Polyp Stony

If I'm not mistaken. An example of an LPS would be a Frogspawn while an SPS would be something like a Montipora.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this guys.

[mogurnda]

You got it right. Someone will probably chime in to point out that the final "S" really stands for "scleractinian," which means stony coral. The classic SPS is acropora, which is very finicky and needs very intense light. LPS includes hammer coral, frogspawn, etc. I have heard 4 mm as a cutoff for polyp size. I think brains are usually considered LPS. While LPS corals are supposedly easier to keep, there are tons of exceptions. While all stony corals can produce sweeper tentacles, LPS tend to have longer, nastier ones. That's why I've avoided them.

Soft corals are a completely separate group. These guys have tentacles in multiples of 8 (rather than multiples of 6, like stonies and anemones), and have sclerites supporting them rather than a hard skeleton.

[Andy16]

Thanks guys! Lucky for me that i like LPS better then SPS then. Just another non controversal quesiton. At RC someone said that MH penetrate the water better. This maybe true but with a small and shallow tank does this matter then much?

[Guy W]

IMO metal halide lights over a 20 gallon tank will cook that sucker pretty fast unless you have some serious air movement around the lights and tank. I don't think it's worth it unless you are dead set on keeping the most light demanding corals and clams, and it sounds like your not. The PC's should be fine.

Guy

[BrianH]

Don't get me wrong, RC is a great site. But, a lot of the advice you get there can be very narrow minded. Yes MH lighting is the most intense lighting we can light our tanks with. Is it the only lighting that will work, no. Many reefers keep softies, lps, some sps and some clams under PC or VHO lighting. Especially in a shallow(18" or less) tank. Like I stated earlier, lighing is 1 of the key components in keeping corals, along with calcium and water movement.

I don't know your current tank situation but I would suggest waiting until your tank is at least 4 months old(6 would be ideal). I know this is a long time but reef tanks usually take between 8 - 12 months to mature. You will notice this 1st hand as you go through the many different types of algae cycles.

Take this time to learn about the corals you plan to keep. Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman is a great book for this. 1st purchse corals you learn to be more forgiving. As your experience grows, move on to the more difficult corals. As you succeed, move on to the sps that can tolerate your PC lighting(montipora, pocilipora) In the end you may even decide to try some more difficult corals.

In my 50gal reef with 386 watts of pc lighting I have successfully kept all sorts of softies, all lps I've tried and montipora. I currently have 2 acropora frags. They are living but growing very very slowly. For clams I currently have a nice green squamosa and am having success with my first maxima. I kept a derasa for about a year and traded to another reefer because it tripled in size and took up too much of my sandbed. Remember that with small clams feeding is the most important part of caring for them. I feed live DT's every other day and the grwth is astonishing.

Just take your time and you should be fine.

Brian

Brian

[Andy16]

My tank is only 16 inches deep so it is pretty shallow. IT doesnt sound like keeping hte calcium levels up is that hard, unless you can extremely over dose on it then it might. But other wise it is just a matter of getting a calcium test kit and slowly adding calcium until you get it at the right level. The same goes for water movement, get the right amout of powerheads and your set.

I think i will pass on the clams, but i would really like to not be restriced for acropora. I dont think that letting the tank mature will be that big of a deal since i only make $10 a week, the timing will probably be perfect when i get the amount of money to get corals and let my tank mature.

[mogurnda]

There really does seem to be something beyond cycling in a reef tank. In a fish-only system, you get your nitrifying bacteria going and you're set. In a reef that's just the start, followed by various algae blooms, nitrate swings and so forth. It really does take about 6-12 mos for the whole thing to settle down. If it ever does.

You may not want to run all of your lights until you have livestock that need them. It will just promote algae.

[Andy16]

Seeing how we are on the subject, how much lighting would an anemone need? I plan on keeping one in hte far future and dont want to be short of light for it.

[Guy W]

Originally posted by Andy16
Seeing how we are on the subject, how much lighting would an anemone need? I plan on keeping one in hte far future and dont want to be short of light for it.

I've read and been told that anemone's require nothing less than Metal Halide and I've also talked to people that have kept them with great success under a lot of Power Compact light.

I think gvct (gcvt???) has one in his reef and he runs 4x96watt PC lighting. Or maybe I'm dreaming... Hopefully he will verify.

I did read a really interesting article several months ago, where a survey showed that of the people that participated the people that used RO/DI water had less luck keeping the anemone's alive then people that just used dechlorinated tap water. The thoughts behind this, in the authors opinion, was obviously that the RO/DI was too pure and the anemone actually needs some impurity in the water that it uses. I don't know about that myself, but it was a good read.

Sorry I can't help more.

Guy

[Andy16]

Thanks for your input, i just remebered my brother had good success with one under 4 96 watt PC over a 75.

The RO/DI thing is pretty interesting. i wont be using RO/DI water so i guess thats not a problem for me.

[Guy W]

Originally posted by Andy16
Thanks for your input...

Anytime...