What corals can I grow with these lights?

I have a 55gal bow front corner tank. Water depth is about 21" from sand bed to top of tank. I did have T5 HO one 10,000k bulb and one 420/460 bulb. Bulb length is 24". Wanted to upgrade so I could start doing corals so I went shopping last night and my LFS sent me with the same unit I had (the 2 light fixtures bolt together). So I basically have 2 420/460 bulbs and 2 10,000k bulbs. Each bulb is 24W. LFS said that I should be set with these. So what can I grow in these conditions?
Lights are confusing.

 

the 420/460 are actinics. but they should be either 420...or 460...not both in one bulb i believe. you should be able to do shrooms and lps coral. imo that light is a little weak i dont think sps would do well even up top. i got 4x 54 watt bulbs on my 55.

 

I think any medium light sps could be fine up top. I think something like montipora digitata.

 

That sucks, the guy at the store said I should be fine with those lights. As for the bulbs the box says Marine 420/460 lamp. Its printed as that on the bulb itself also. I forgot to mention that each bulb has its own reflector, if that matters.
thanks

 

Softies, Leathers, and LPS. I wouldn't attempt SPS with those. With a 4 bulb 54watt, yes, but not 2.

 

Jennifer

corner type tanks pose some problems with lighting as with the standard rectangle you can fit X amount of lamps across the whole lenght

with a corner unit you struggle with light efficiency as the larger wattage lamps wont fit
you may get 2 x larger ones towards the front and then 2 x smaller behind, but you still end up with areas that are not so well illuminated

saying that, as your just getting into corals, you dont want to be purchasing the more demanding species anyway , so for that reason the lack of light for SPS corals should not be an issue for you IMHO (need to gain experience with easier species and progress, learning how to manage parameters, water quality etc )

I would agree with JonJon on his list of good starter corals for your lighting set up
and add, Zoanthids, palys, anthellia, clove polyps, yellow polyps, GSP, mushrooms, Nepthea, finger leathers, toadstool leather, cabbage leather, mouse eared leather

the above lists gives you plenty of variety and if you ever want to move toward the harder to maintain species like SPS , then for a corner unit a MH pendant or 2 is often the most efficient way of achieving the lighting needs in these triangle shaped tanks

Steve

 

If I were in your shoes I'd probably return the fixture you got the other day, and look into a DIY MH setup. You can get 150W HQI ballasts new for like 50 bux each and the bulbs fit into standard 300W halogen sockets. I think it runs less than $100 per light.

I personally have a 56 gallon tank which is square but 24" deep and I have a single 175W MH now. I think I may swap up to a 250W if I can get a ballast cheap enough (right now i have a big ole brick style out of a commercial light fixture).

But if you're happy with a softie tank you should be set with what you've got. I'm actually thinking I like zoos, star polyps and xenia so I may decide not to upgrade in the end