Choosing corals

[kozzy]

Tank that's been running for 3 years. My lighting is two t5s one blue one white. Which corals would be easy to keep according to my system.

 

[Spit.fire]

depends...

what size tank? filtration? maintenance schedule? age of bulbs?

 

[kozzy]

depends...

what size tank? filtration? maintenance schedule? age of bulbs?

50 gallon. Will be upgrading soon. No sump. Just protein skimmer, uv sterilizer and a canister that only runs carbon. Bulbs around a year.

 

[Martin H. Lawton]

I believe bulbs should be changed every 6 months becuase over time because of the loss of intensity.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Change the bulbs out and what are the dimensions for the tank. I run 2 bulbs currently over my 40B, but am working on adding two more. On a 50, I would go with 4 bulbs. This is due to my sps I have in the tank.

If you keep the brain type LPS or mushrooms, you can get away with less light. For example, with my current 40B, I have sps, but high in the tank. My brains (lobo, scoly, platys, favias) are all on the bottom and doing great.

My 20g on the other hand has 2 bulbs (T5 also). It has my neon leather and some shrooms. They came from my main system that is MH and T5s, so are used to more light.

 

[Dtackett]

zoas, palys. mushrooms, leathers, finger corals such as devils hand or sinularia, duncans, acans, frogspawn/hammers, maybe digitata towards the top of the tank.

 

[kozzy]

Change the bulbs out and what are the dimensions for the tank. I run 2 bulbs currently over my 40B, but am working on adding two more. On a 50, I would go with 4 bulbs. This is due to my sps I have in the tank.

If you keep the brain type LPS or mushrooms, you can get away with less light. For example, with my current 40B, I have sps, but high in the tank. My brains (lobo, scoly, platys, favias) are all on the bottom and doing great.

My 20g on the other hand has 2 bulbs (T5 also). It has my neon leather and some shrooms. They came from my main system that is MH and T5s, so are used to more light.

My lighting only hold 2 and it's acculuy a 48 gallon. I did today. I will only be keeping soft corals and stuff That doesn't need high light. Would my and have enough light

 

[kozzy]

zoas, palys. mushrooms, leathers, finger corals such as devils hand or sinularia, duncans, acans, frogspawn/hammers, maybe digitata towards the top of the tank.

I bought a green sinularia and a Kenya tree today. Should these do fine?

 

[cameronh]

The Kenya tree will do great, but man, I had to get rid of mine due to how fast it grew and dropped branches lol

 

[Dtackett]

I bought a green sinularia and a Kenya tree today. Should these do fine?

yeah, but I suggest upgrading lighting regardless. its better to have too much instead of not enough.

 

[kozzy]

The Kenya tree will do great, but man, I had to get rid of mine due to how fast it grew and dropped branches lol

My Kenya is all shrivled up? I just bought it today but my other is fine. What should I do

 

[Dtackett]

give it time.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Leathers can close up for over a month while adjusting. Don't be surprised if it also sheds. That is normal too. Kenya like flow, so make sure there is enough water movement. Kenya trees are very hardy and do grow fast. The green sinularia may want extra light and likes lots of turbulent flow too.

 

[kozzy]

Leathers can close up for over a month while adjusting. Don't be surprised if it also sheds. That is normal too. Kenya like flow, so make sure there is enough water movement. Kenya trees are very hardy and do grow fast. The green sinularia may want extra light and likes lots of turbulent flow too.

I'll move the Kenya but the leather seems fine lower in the tank with not much flow. I can sorta se polyps. Should I move him higher

 

[kozzy]

How do I feed these? Will they take direct food or do I add supplements

 

[ECreefer]

Change your light bulbs and they will be fine with fish poo and light

 

[kozzy]

Change your light bulbs and they will be fine with fish poo and light

I added new ones yesterday.

 

[ECreefer]

Great, not sure if anyone asked this but how many watts are the t5 bulbs? Is this a High Output fixture? Or just standard

 

[kozzy]

Great, not sure if anyone asked this but how many watts are the t5 bulbs? Is this a High Output fixture? Or just standard

It just 39 watts. For my size fixture that's the highst I could find

 

[ECreefer]

39 watts per bulb is the correct output for a 36" T5HO. You should be good to go with growing atleast softies. Just be sure to use atleast 1 good standalone bulb. ATI blue plus, coral plus, aqua blue special are all standalone. Blue plus gives around a 20k, coral around 14k and aquablue around 10k look.