Enough light for corals??

cookiehouse79765

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Do you think this is enough lights for corals? It’s two marineland LED 48 inches and a aqueon 48 inch LED on a 48 inch tank 8o gallon tank.

E0FF59F0-4941-4B33-8402-FFDE6F171CD2.jpeg 0C5A611C-8889-4251-8A4A-517DC5F2D7E3.jpeg
 

Alexopora

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Do you think this is enough lights for corals? It’s two marineland LED 48 inches and a aqueon 48 inch LED on a 48 inch tank 8o gallon tank.

E0FF59F0-4941-4B33-8402-FFDE6F171CD2.jpeg 0C5A611C-8889-4251-8A4A-517DC5F2D7E3.jpeg
I don’t think having all those deco and fake corals in the tank would be a good idea. The paint especially may leech into the water.
 
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ScubaSkeets

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I'm still relatively new at this (first SW tank was started in September '20), so take my reply for what it's worth.
Corals need more than just "enough light". Usually, the stock lights that come with the Petco/PetSmart ensembles might not be sufficient for corals, even though they might "look" OK to us. That is, if that is what you have. Full Spectrum lights and good PAR are essential for corals. You might want to invest in better lights.
As far as the snarky, comments about your decor, I guess people forget that we are all beginners at one point, and that that forgetfulness justifies making fun/being sarcastic to newer members.
That being said, if you take a look at other members tanks, you'll see that a more natural look for a coral tank is preferred over one that has plastic, fake looking decor and bubblers. I even wanted to put a bubbler and, what I thought was a nice, "natural" looking piece in my tank at first, until my wife convinced me otherwise, and I am glad she did.
It's your tank, and you can do what you want with it, but to be quite honest, it does look like a FW setup.
 
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Alexopora

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Well it seems my comments have been taken as attempting to be snarky regarding the decor. I apologise and should have word it better. My concern is that the decos may leech paint or toxic elements into the water. Especially if OP does add in CUCs in the future (especially hermits or urchins). Those are known to scrape the substrate, so there’s a concern that what has been locked underneath by the resin could get released. As for my comments regarding “Looking at the setup, OP better stay away from corals or at least stick to mushrooms, zoas or gsp”. I made that comment as looking at the lack of dead/live rock, I could foresee many corals not making it. Unless OP has a sump that has enough filter media and/or live/dead rocks for nitrification to occur, the sand alone and the decor will not be sufficient.

Once I again I’d like apologise to OP for coming off as condescending and reiterate that my concern with the tank was not with the aesthetics but rather the filtration.

If OP prefers having the decor, its really up to individual reefers preference. But I would advise that for the space and volume which the decor will take up, OP could replace some with live/dead rocks.
 
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Alexopora

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I planned on buying some corals that are already attached to live rock and replace the fish deco we bought from the pet store.
I just saw this, I would suggest getting live rocks first at least a month or more before getting the coral. Your live rocks will still need time for the relevant microbes (nitrifying bacteria) to grow and colonise in proportion to your tank volume and stocking (i suppose you might be introducing fish soon).
 
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Zeal

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God seeing tanks like this burn my eyes.

All I see in the future is dead fish and corals and a tank polluted with algae.

I'm willing to bet thats not even the right sand
 
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cookiehouse79765

cookiehouse79765

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I just saw this, I would suggest getting live rocks first at least a month or more before getting the coral. Your live rocks will still need time for the relevant microbes (nitrifying bacteria) to grow and colonise in proportion to your tank volume and stocking (i suppose you might be introducing fish soon).
This tank has been going for a year and a half??
 
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homer1475

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What you put in your display is totally up to you, and I would not listen to the nay sayers here.

Just be aware, that in a marine environment 99% of what you have in there will be covered in algae. Those decorations are meant for a fresh water setup and are not meant to be in saltwater.

I too would be worried about the paint leeching(marine environments are way harsher then their fresh counterparts) from the deco designed to be in a fresh setup.

And 100% aragalive or similar arogonite sand is whats used in marine tanks.

Again, it's your tank, and you can 100% do what you want. Just be aware of the pitfalls from using that deco.
 
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cookiehouse79765

cookiehouse79765

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Well it seems my comments have been taken as attempting to be snarky regarding the decor. I apologise and should have word it better. My concern is that the decos may leech paint or toxic elements into the water. Especially if OP does add in CUCs in the future (especially hermits or urchins). Those are known to scrape the substrate, so there’s a concern that what has been locked underneath by the resin could get released. As for my comments regarding “Looking at the setup, OP better stay away from corals or at least stick to mushrooms, zoas or gsp”. I made that comment as looking at the lack of dead/live rock, I could foresee many corals not making it. Unless OP has a sump that has enough filter media and/or live/dead rocks for nitrification to occur, the sand alone and the decor will not be sufficient.

Once I again I’d like apologise to OP for coming off as condescending and reiterate that my concern with the tank was not with the aesthetics but rather the filtration.

If OP prefers having the decor, its really up to individual reefers preference. But I would advise that for the space and volume which the decor will take up, OP could replace some with live/dead rocks.
I have three penn plex 1000 canister filters with plenty of filter and media to keep my water in perfect parameters. I have had this tank going for a year and a half with fish and clean up crew. We have snails hermits and emerald crabs. We just put our fish in like 8 months ago and we’re all small and getting bigger. I guess this place was the wrong place to ask for help and a good place to get ridiculed.
 
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cookiehouse79765

cookiehouse79765

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What you put in your display is totally up to you, and I would not listen to the nay sayers here.

Just be aware, that in a marine environment 99% of what you have in there will be covered in algae. Those decorations are meant for a fresh water setup and are not meant to be in saltwater.

I too would be worried about the paint leeching(marine environments are way harsher then their fresh counterparts) from the deco designed to be in a fresh setup.

And 100% aragalive or similar arogonite sand is whats used in marine tanks.

Again, it's your tank, and you can 100% do what you want. Just be aware of the pitfalls from using that deco.
The decorations came from a place that makes saltwater decorations so I guess they need to figure out their stuff idk.
 
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