New to reefing... a few q's please

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fishiefishie

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Nov 12, 2006
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I've had my 20L FOWLR tank set up for a while now... about 8 months or so. I had a little larger one before but took it down when the new baby came along, but he's walking and talking now so I set up a new one.
Anyway, right now there's about 16-18 lbs of LR, black aragonite sand, the clean-up crew, a pearly headed jawfish, a royal gramma, a lawnmower blenny and a perc. I have a HOB filter at one end (doesn't have media, just there to circulate the water and gives a nice dark place for copepods and such to live) and a powerhead at the other end. The filtering is done my the LR and water changes... about 2g every 7-10 days.
I am interested in moving into the reefing area, but not sure where to start. I have 2 clamp lights that I use right now sitting on a screen top, and they use normal 75w bulbs. I know that probably won't do even for the easier corals, so what do I actually need to do? I've seen many light strips for upwards of $250, but is that really necessary for mushrooms, button polyps and the like?

TIA!!!
 
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T-5 would be best and give you many options for color, etc. PC lights will be cheap to get ahold of though. I bought a 2x65w fixture used for $50. I kept all kinds of soft corals as well as some LPS. Just search local forums, craigslist etc.
 
By the way, if I go with the stronger lights for a reef, I'll have to take the screen off so the lights will fit on... so how will keep my jawfish from jumping out of the tank?
Thanks!
 
pull some sort of a mesh over the tank or put a msall holed egg crate up there. anything that allows air in and out and light in.
 
I'd personally go with the most powerful light you can afford for your hobby. There are lots of corals that don't even require light that are very colorful so you don't neccesarily have to have the greatest. but you will get hooked on corals like we all do and want something different other than just mushrooms and then you will wish you had about 5 watts per gallon blowing into the tank so you can keep a wider variety of livestock.
 
LOL I imagine you're right about getting hooked... it always starts as an innocent little venture, and before you know your bank account is dwindling as is the space in your house! LOL
I am looking at set of T5 lights that will provide 96 watts for my 20L tank... think that will be enough?
 
thats about 5 WPG that would be awesome for just about any coral you want to get
you do need to understand with t-5's not all are created eqaul though. if you get a T5HO with individual reflectors that would be the way to go. if it is a regular t5 (not HO) its not worth anything to a reefer really, and if you get a T5HO with a single refelctor your going to loose roughly 30% of what you would get with the individual reflectors. Either way though, at 5 WPG you are going to be good to go. I grow all kinds of stuff and I'm at about 3.4 WPG in my 90 gallon
 
fishiefishie said:
What about the K number on the light bulbs? Is there a min or max for that?
Thanks!
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2 bulbs? If so 1 x 10,000K + 1 x Act (7100K) should do.

I done even higher wpg for 20G Long: 2 x 55W PC

Wattage is not the only issue but also surface area and depth of tank should be considered when choosing lighting.
 
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