Is this enough?

Discussion in 'T5 Aquarium Lighting' started by stonewilled, Oct 23, 2009.

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  1. stonewilled

    stonewilled Feather Duster

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2009
    Messages:
    234
    Location:
    East Texas
    I have 1 48 inch 2x54w T5 10,000k fishneedit.com fixture, and 1 36 inch 2x39 w T5 blue. total 186 watts. Will I be able to make ANY coral that feeds from photosynthesis grow?? This is a list of photosynthetic corals that I would like to keep:

    Christmas Tree coral
    Leather toadstool
    ricordea shrooms
    brain favites and open
    zoos (looking for some supercolored zoos)
    and...
    birdsnest (some sort of coral that looks like birdsnest) staghorn, acropora, something like that. If I can't grow these I might just get leather fingers or something. Not sure.

    Which can I grow, I think I should be able to at least sustain all...
    also plan to get a sun coral and a chili coral but those are non photosynthetic. Thanks in advance.
     
    stonewilled, Oct 23, 2009
    stonewilled, Oct 23, 2009
    #1

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  2. GuitarMan89

    GuitarMan89 Giant Squid

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    Location:
    Wilmington, DE
    That's really not a lot of light, but you should be able to keep the zoas, leather and ricordia, maybe the favia but maybe not and I would have to say no to the birdsnest or any sps type coral. I don't think you will be able to sustain or grow sps, maybe, repeat maybe a birdsnest if you keep it at the very top, but IMO it will at least brown out. Definitely no acropora.
     
    GuitarMan89, Oct 23, 2009
    GuitarMan89, Oct 23, 2009
    #2
  3. blumoon reefers

    blumoon reefers Millepora

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    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    Some encrusting Monti might be better than the acros.....
     
    blumoon reefers, Oct 23, 2009
    blumoon reefers, Oct 23, 2009
    #3
  4. GuitarMan89

    GuitarMan89 Giant Squid

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    Montiporas still need a fair amount of light, there is a possibility he will be able to keep them alive, but they will brown out real bad, so what's the point.
     
    GuitarMan89, Oct 23, 2009
    GuitarMan89, Oct 23, 2009
    #4
  5. blumoon reefers

    blumoon reefers Millepora

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    Richmond, VA
    From my personal experience, my encrusting monti's do better and have better PE with more moderate lighting. And no browning out. For the OP's 75 a 4 bulb T5 would be better, but still might be able to keep something other than softies and zoas. As long as water quality was good.
     
    blumoon reefers, Oct 23, 2009
    blumoon reefers, Oct 23, 2009
    #5
  6. stonewilled

    stonewilled Feather Duster

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2009
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    234
    Location:
    East Texas
    Will I be able to grow the rics, leathers, and zoos? are leather fingers cool looking? what about gorgonians.. I want something branching... I can't afford a fully covered ricordea rock, they are like... over a hundred bucks on the net up to 300 for a nice rock with good coverage... I'm trying to stay in the <100 dollar range for each of my additions.. preferably <50. I have 2 green ric frags but they don't seem to be growing, but my nitrates are still about 20-40 ppm. If I get my nitrates down do you think they'll grow? I know thats a lot of questions in one post, basically what I want to ask is the first question: Will I be able to grow the ric frags to cover a rock, grow small leathers into fairly decent sized leathers, and zoo frags to cover a rock, and will the christmas tree coral grow or just sustain?
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2009
    stonewilled, Oct 23, 2009
    stonewilled, Oct 23, 2009
    #6