LOW LIGHT CORAL QUESTIONSw/names

[D.J.]

ive been doing some research on "beginer" corals and i have some questions for yall and i also have the name of the corals...

my questions for them are...Whats the care level as far as feeding? How will the react with my other tank inhabitants and with other corals? What is the min and max lighting?

BOTH TANKS HAVE CORAL LIGHT flouresent bulbs both tanks are around 50-60watts with those bulbs
heres whats in my tank(S)
75g....
2 oc(false perc) clowns(2in)
1 pajama cardinal1 1/2in)
1 yellow eye tang(4-5in)
1 fuzzy dwarf lion(4in)(soon to be relocated)
few hermits...cortez,blue leg,reds(big ol crabs)
cleaner shrimp
turbo snail
astrea snail
55g
1 picasso trigger(2in)
1 snowflake moray eel(12in)
1 3 stripe damsel(2in)

heres the corals/polyps,shrooms i was thinkin about
1...orange monti capicornus.....
2...purple monti digitata
3...green pagoda
4...star polyps
5...colt coral
6...mushrooms....actinodiscus and rhodactis inchoata
7...xenia


the reason im thinkin beginer corals is that i dont have the money to ork out for a $300-$600 dollar light to do the real fancy stuff....i do have access to a pair of metal halides in a home made fixture i could add...both of them bulbs are 100watts each...

 

[Sploke]

How many watts of light are over each tank? If its 50w over each one, you probably don't have enough light to keep any photosynthetic corals. You should at least look into about a 4x55w compact flourescent setup, or the MHs mentioned

mushrooms, xenia, star polyps, and probably the colt should be fine under about 4wpg flourescent. The pagoda might as well, they are LPS so might do ok.

The montis are SPS so will need high levels of T5HO or MH light, very good water conditions, and lots of flow to do well.

 

[archer772]

These are the only ones in your list that I would even try and they would have to be high IMO
5...colt coral
6...mushrooms....actinodiscus and rhodactis inchoata
7...xenia
I understand you dont want to spend much but with this retro it would give you a good start with daylight bulbs and use your lights for actinics for about $150 and its a very good retro.
https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=55_89&products_id=352

 

[archer772]

WPG doesnt really mean much over a reef because of qaulity of the lights as in PAR ratings and penetration. With the light setup I suggested you should be able to keep everything on your list as long as water qaulity and flow are good, montis are a lower light SPS and dont really need the very high flow that lets say Acros need.