what to do with my 36w pc (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

hi everyone

i have a corallife 36w 50/50 pc for my 29g reef... what corals can i keep if any at all

or what should i replace it with
im need some suggestion on what kind and where to get it in houston or online

Thanks

 

[Guest]

You won't be able to keep much with that. What to replace it with depends on what you want to keep.

Among fluorescent lighting, there's no better deal than T5HO. You will spend a little bit more up front, but it will pay for itself in a year just in electricity savings alone (compared to VHO), plus you will have longer bulb life. A fixture like this:

http://www.reefgeek.com/products/categories/lighting/104186.html

would allow you to keep any kind of softies and LPS, and most easier SPS and clams.

If you want to do the harder SPS and clams, then go with a single metal halide pendant - a 250w DE would allow you to keep pretty much anything you want. Just make sure you can handle the heat generated from the metal halides if you decide to go that route.

 

[aqua-nut]

If you can put enough rockwork in the tank to get the inhabitants close to that 36 watt light (within five inches of the water line), I bet that lamp setup could keep a few mushrooms, some anthias and xenia alive and growing.

If you've ever seen an Eclipse system running with their dinky lighting at a pet shop, you'll see you can actually keep some low light reef critters in a small tank with crappy lighting.

I will say, however, that the hobby isn't much fun when are working with marginal equipment! That's why I have a 20 gallon cube at home with 200 watts of PC lighting on it. Anything I put in the tank grows like a weed.

All this to say, you could start with what you have, but getting more lighting will be far more fun for you and healthy for the soft corals you put in the tank.

 

[incysor]

My bosses office nano has a 32w pc lamp in it, and he's done fine with mushrooms and zoos, and zenia, a few shrimp and a small fish. It's a little 7 gallon bowfront that he retrofitted.

So they're not totally useless.

 

[Guest]

i do plan on getting a light as soon as i finish paying some bills but thanks for the inputs everyone...

i like the idea of putting the corals near the top because i do have a rocks that stack up that hight just a couple inches from the water line. I'm tempted to try this with a couple peices or coral....

any coral suggestions? i have a clown that i want to host to a softy

 

[aqua-nut]

Clowns like anemones, of course, and they require very stable water and intense lighting.

But, if you put some anthias in the tank, the clowns might attempt to host in it as they do in my cube. Of course, I have a mated pair of maroons, and I have found that maroons will try to host in just about anything that waves through the water like the tentacles of an anemone.

I'm happy to give you a clump of anthias if you like, but you must come to my offices at the intersection of beltway 8 and 290 during business hours to get it.

PM me if you have interest.

 

[Guest]

Clowns look good in frogspawn.