27 Gallon Cube lighting question

Hi All,

This is my first post, although I read alot of these and have found them very helpful.

I have a question regarding lighting for a 27 gallon cube aquarium. The dimensions are 20" W x 18" D x 20 " H. I have two separate 20" 72W (4x 18W) T5 HO Light Fixtures that I bought from Aquatraders, and I'm wondering if this lighting is going to be sufficient for softies.

This tank has been up for about 6 months now, and I currently have 2 oc. clownfish, a peppermint shrimp, 5 blue legs, 2 turbos, 4 astrals, and 2 nassarius in the tank. I also have around 35 lbs. of LR, an octupus HOB 'fuge with 4 lbs. of Kent Marine sediment, LR rubble and a nice ball of chaeto.

I would like to start adding some easy? softies to get my feet wet. Will 2 of these 72 watt units be enough light? Will it penetrate enough down to the substrate, or will I have to keep anything I get up high to get sufficient light?

Any suggestions/comments?

Thanks in advance...

 

It seems like more than enough light. Has your clean up crew been keeping up just fine?

 

Thanks for the reply, DarkEarth. Yes, the cleanup crew has been doing a decent job. I rarely see the nassarius, although I think that's normal as the bury themselves in the substrate. I would like to get a few more snails to work the glass, as I'm constantly cleaning a light green film with the mag float (although I see the snail trails running over it). Any suggestions on some work-horse glass cleaners?

Thanks again for the reply!

 

mexican turbo snails will help

oh and by the way WELCOME

also what are your perameter's? API makes an alge fix that would help but may not be the problem

 

Thanks for the welcome, ac. My water params are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, undetectable phos/silica, 20 nitrate. PH is at 8.2 and salinity is 1.026 with a steady temp of 79 F.

This algae on the glass issue started recently. I was battling cyano for a while until I cut my lighting down from 11 hours a day to 8 and starting running phos guard in 4 day cycles to get the phos down. I only feed about a half cube of marine cuisine every two days and have been since adding my fish a few months ago. The food is all eaten within a few minutes.

I also perform pwc every two weeks of 5 gallons using ro/di water from a local market. I'll look into this product if the mexican turbos don't seem to help me out.

Thanks again for the reply and welcome.

One more thing... MAN is this an expensive hobby!!! Good thing it's also a lot of work!

Josh