lighting required for a 25 gallon eclipse

[ron1234]

Hey all,
I have an eclipse 25g with 28lbs of LR i have a few shrooms in it and some polops i am in the process of upgrading my lighting and was wondering what you all thought the proper lighting would be for this tank. I am goning to get some frogspawn for sure and a royal gramma i want to fill the tank with diffrent types of corals can yall help please? I need to stay away from metal halides i was thinking a power compact 1x32w would be sufficent enough that is equal to 96 watts "am i converting this correctly" and the max for my take is 120 watts or should i get 2x32 power compacts or 1x40 watt?

Thanks Ron

[dorkfish]

2x32 watts would be sufficient for soft corals only. If you want to get into large polyped stony corals (frogspawn, elegance, ect.) or small polyped stony corals (acropora, monipora, ect.), you would need atleast 4-6x 32w (or 120- watts of PC light).

How exactly do you know 120 watts is the max. light you can have over your tank? Becuase I have reasons to belive otherwise.

Also, how long has the tank been up? what are your water prams? what is your planned additive(s) for calcium and alkalinity? What is your setup(livestock, filtration, pretty much anything that comes into contact with the water)?

[ron1234]

just going by the 2-5 watts per gallon theory i figured 120 watts was the max i could have and not over illuminate the tank causing alge blooms. My tank has been up for about 2 years i have 20 lbs of live sand and 28 or so lbs of LR all the green pollups i had died due to insuffent light they only lasted about 6 months my shrooms are allive but not thriving. I i used to have a maroon clown that passed away I went to work and he was fine came home and he was dead he was the only fish in the tank i had him for about 1 1/2 years. I inject kalkwaltzer once a month and add stronium iodine coral-vite and Liquid calcium (all from kents marine) weekly my corline algie is amazing my current lighting is one 15w daylight power glow and one 15w antic marine glow light. i have 1 170 gph power head that blows across the front of the tank and the eclips spout blows across the back of the tank. I am in the process of getting a protine skimmer (Aqua C Remora)thinking of getting the one that hangs on the back of the tank but i will have to modify the hood on the tank which is no problem. As for water condition it stays stable i receantly moved and put new sand and water in it so i am letting the tank cycle. So was my assumption that 1x32 watt power compact is equal to one 96 watt foluressent incorrect or is that correct. My local pet store told me that if i put 120 watts of power compact over my tank that i would burn every thing up in the tank[/B].

Thanks Ron

[dorkfish]

You cannot get any where near the ammount of light corals would recieve in there natural enviroment(s), and you cannot havet too much light. You will or will not get algae blooms regardless of how much light you have - what really matters is your water quality.

32 watts of power compact is no where near as much light as 96 watts of flourescent light, so no, your assumption was not correct.

You will not burn everything up in the tank with 120 watts of PC light, it is possible to send the corals into a shock if putting them right under the light after just purchasing them (when your purchasing corals, thev'e gotten used to quite a low level of light, once you get in your tank, start slowly moving the coral towards the top of the tank to avoid the shock).

Also, here's a time frame for adding corals, per the recomendations of GARF:

3 months after set up: hardy soft corals

6 months after set up: more demanding soft corals (less demanding soft corals can be added any time after 3 months)

1 year after set up: pretty much any coral you want provided that lighting is sufficeint.

What exactly are your water parameters? stating that they "stay stable" doesn't tell me much.