lighting needs

butterflyfish · 05/01/2006, 12:33 PM

I currently have a 30 gal. that I am setting up as a reef tank. I have a coralife 130w compact flourecent light. Will this be sufficient light to keep (sps) corals? I have in the tank now an xenia pulse coral and brown star polyps and they seem to be doing alright. will this be enough to make them grow? also T5 or Mh that is the question?. thanks

butterflyfish · 05/01/2006, 02:29 PM

hello, Anybody got an opinion?

rustybucket145 · 05/01/2006, 02:34 PM

SPS is a pretty broad term. Some SPS's require MH's at the minimum. Some do fine under T5's. And some even do fine under Power Compacts. It really all depends on the coral. If you want lights that you can grow pretty much anything under go for the MH's. In a 30gal you should only need 1 175w or 1 250w (might be a little overkill)

butterflyfish · 05/01/2006, 02:42 PM

thanks for the response

butterflyfish · 05/01/2006, 02:56 PM

here are the names of some of the corals I'm interested in keeping. asreopora myriophthalme, A. monticulosa, A. Noblis. galaea horrescens, A. microclados, A. tenuis. thanks for your help.I really don't know what I'm doing.

05/01/2006, 12:33 PM	#1
butterflyfish Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: big lake , Minnesota Posts: 20	lighting needs I currently have a 30 gal. that I am setting up as a reef tank. I have a coralife 130w compact flourecent light. Will this be sufficient light to keep (sps) corals? I have in the tank now an xenia pulse coral and brown star polyps and they seem to be doing alright. will this be enough to make them grow? also T5 or Mh that is the question?. thanks

05/01/2006, 02:34 PM	#3
rustybucket145 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: valdosta, ga Posts: 3,707	SPS is a pretty broad term. Some SPS's require MH's at the minimum. Some do fine under T5's. And some even do fine under Power Compacts. It really all depends on the coral. If you want lights that you can grow pretty much anything under go for the MH's. In a 30gal you should only need 1 175w or 1 250w (might be a little overkill) __________________ 400gals of various tanks in the same system. Current Tank Info: 2 175w MH, 2 VH0 Actinics, Lots of Live Rock, tons of copepods, a Fat Mandarin Goby, Niger Trigger, Yellow Tang, Falco Hawkfish, Bi-Color Pseudo, numerous soft, SPS and LPS Corals

05/01/2006, 02:29 PM	#2
butterflyfish Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: big lake , Minnesota Posts: 20	hello, Anybody got an opinion?

05/01/2006, 02:42 PM	#4
butterflyfish Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: big lake , Minnesota Posts: 20	thanks for the response

05/01/2006, 02:56 PM	#5
butterflyfish Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: big lake , Minnesota Posts: 20	here are the names of some of the corals I'm interested in keeping. asreopora myriophthalme, A. monticulosa, A. Noblis. galaea horrescens, A. microclados, A. tenuis. thanks for your help.I really don't know what I'm doing.