Low light coral options

jgranata13 · 03/28/2015, 07:12 PM

I was at my LFS and saw a coral that I absolutely fell in love with. I plan on starting to add corals to my tank very soon, and would love to take that one home if possible.

My tank is a 37gal FOWLR right now. Circulation/filtration is two Koralia 425s and an AC50 with Matrix Carbon, PhosGuard, and Purigen. Lighting is just the stock 18,000K 20W T8. Livestock is two ocellaris clowns, a royal gramma, a flame angel (still small right now, will rehome if it gets bigger), a fire shrimp, a sand sifting starfish, and some ceriths. I don't add or dose anything special; just water changes with RO/DI water and Instant Ocean marine salt (not reef crystals).

The coral in question was apparently an acan. It's one head about 3in in diameter, and has an extremely vibrant pink circle around the mouth. I've never seen anything remotely close to this colour on a coral. He said that it used to be a different colour altogether but it started bleaching and then acquired this colouration after he revived it. The rest is light pink and white.

My question is, what changes would I have to make to my setup to be able to take this thing home? I'm willing to do almost anything. I believe he has it in a low light tank with chalices and button corals, but I'm not sure about feeding because I forgot to ask.

Otherwise, he said that he thinks I can keep chalices with no problems, because his are on the same lighting as my tank and he never feeds them. Thoughts?

REEFBUILDER1 · 03/28/2015, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgranata13

I was at my LFS and saw a coral that I absolutely fell in love with. I plan on starting to add corals to my tank very soon, and would love to take that one home if possible.

My tank is a 37gal FOWLR right now. Circulation/filtration is two Koralia 425s and an AC50 with Matrix Carbon, PhosGuard, and Purigen. Lighting is just the stock 18,000K 20W T8. Livestock is two ocellaris clowns, a royal gramma, a flame angel (still small right now, will rehome if it gets bigger), a fire shrimp, a sand sifting starfish, and some ceriths. I don't add or dose anything special; just water changes with RO/DI water and Instant Ocean marine salt (not reef crystals).

The coral in question was apparently an acan. It's one head about 3in in diameter, and has an extremely vibrant pink circle around the mouth. I've never seen anything remotely close to this colour on a coral. He said that it used to be a different colour altogether but it started bleaching and then acquired this colouration after he revived it. The rest is light pink and white.

My question is, what changes would I have to make to my setup to be able to take this thing home? I'm willing to do almost anything. I believe he has it in a low light tank with chalices and button corals, but I'm not sure about feeding because I forgot to ask.

Otherwise, he said that he thinks I can keep chalices with no problems, because his are on the same lighting as my tank and he never feeds them. Thoughts?

I doubt you can grow anything with a cheap t8 light

acrohead500ppm · 03/28/2015, 08:13 PM

Discomia shrooms and zoanthids my friend, that is about all I would try and I can't really say that confidently unless you had 2 of those tubes over the aquarium and ditched the glass top you probably still have over the aquarium.

So, overall, IMO I would wait on coral till you upgrade your light and can really commit to keeping coral.

jgranata13 · 03/28/2015, 08:16 PM

Can either of you speak to the specific requirements for acans? What kind of lighting would you suggest?

JamesHolt · 03/28/2015, 08:18 PM

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...83&pcatid=2983

This should help

jgranata13 · 03/28/2015, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesHolt

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...83&pcatid=2983

This should help

That was the first place I looked but I found it pretty vague since their comment on lighting was "tolerating a wide variety of conditions". I was hoping someone could comment based on personal experience.

KabayanReef · 03/28/2015, 09:35 PM

Depends how deep your 37g is. Just to give you a rough opinion. A dual lamp t5ho fixture with quality bulbs (ex. ATI) and good reflectors won't hurt.

03/28/2015, 07:12 PM	#1
jgranata13 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 129	Low light coral options I was at my LFS and saw a coral that I absolutely fell in love with. I plan on starting to add corals to my tank very soon, and would love to take that one home if possible. My tank is a 37gal FOWLR right now. Circulation/filtration is two Koralia 425s and an AC50 with Matrix Carbon, PhosGuard, and Purigen. Lighting is just the stock 18,000K 20W T8. Livestock is two ocellaris clowns, a royal gramma, a flame angel (still small right now, will rehome if it gets bigger), a fire shrimp, a sand sifting starfish, and some ceriths. I don't add or dose anything special; just water changes with RO/DI water and Instant Ocean marine salt (not reef crystals). The coral in question was apparently an acan. It's one head about 3in in diameter, and has an extremely vibrant pink circle around the mouth. I've never seen anything remotely close to this colour on a coral. He said that it used to be a different colour altogether but it started bleaching and then acquired this colouration after he revived it. The rest is light pink and white. My question is, what changes would I have to make to my setup to be able to take this thing home? I'm willing to do almost anything. I believe he has it in a low light tank with chalices and button corals, but I'm not sure about feeding because I forgot to ask. Otherwise, he said that he thinks I can keep chalices with no problems, because his are on the same lighting as my tank and he never feeds them. Thoughts? __________________ Joseph G Current Tank Info: 56 gal Reef - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25179989#post25179989

03/28/2015, 08:16 PM	#4
jgranata13 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 129	Can either of you speak to the specific requirements for acans? What kind of lighting would you suggest? __________________ Joseph G Current Tank Info: 56 gal Reef - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25179989#post25179989

03/28/2015, 08:18 PM	#5
JamesHolt Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Milton,NC Posts: 1,104 Blog Entries: 3	http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...83&pcatid=2983 This should help __________________ John Adams: "In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress." Current Tank Info: 29g with 2 Engineer gobies

03/28/2015, 09:35 PM	#7
KabayanReef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Middle east Posts: 158	Depends how deep your 37g is. Just to give you a rough opinion. A dual lamp t5ho fixture with quality bulbs (ex. ATI) and good reflectors won't hurt. __________________ What is a word made up of 4 letters, yet is also made up of 3. Although is written with 8 letters, and then with 4. Rarely consists of 6, and never is written with 5.

03/28/2015, 08:13 PM	#3
acrohead500ppm Moved On Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: No,never,never Posts: 723	Discomia shrooms and zoanthids my friend, that is about all I would try and I can't really say that confidently unless you had 2 of those tubes over the aquarium and ditched the glass top you probably still have over the aquarium. So, overall, IMO I would wait on coral till you upgrade your light and can really commit to keeping coral.