20 long anemone lighting sufficient

[Massengill]

Exactly how much lighting would be required to keep an anemone in a 20 long? Is it overall volume of water or the depth of water the light has to penetrate? A 20 long is only 12" deep, the if I had 2" of substrate it would only be 10" of water the light would have to penetrate. Then of course the anemone isn't laying flat on the substrate either, if it was located half way up the tank or near the top the light would only be pentrating as little as 1" to 5" of water. Either way you look at it, it's less than 10" of water the light is penetrating to reach the anemone. I am looking into either a Current USA Nova T-5 24watt 10,000K and 24watt 460 actinic light fixture or the Corallife T-5 18watt 10,000k and 18watt 460 actinic light fixture. The Nova is 48watts total with 2 - 24" bulbs and the Corallife is 36watts total with 2 - 30" bulbs.

http://www.marineandreef.com/Nova_E..._p/rcu01137.htm

http://www.marineandreef.com/Aquali..._p/res58021.htm

[birdman1979]

I think you would want more lighting for anenomies. Maybe double what you listed.

[Toddrtrex]

Maybe I missed it, but what type of anemone?

[Massengill]

Well, I have a green Haddons carpet already with a pair of Saddleback clowns. They would be the only inhabitants. I may consider a BTA with a pair of Tomatos though. I'm just tired of my current light set-up. Two switches, four plugs to tie up 4 sockets, four lamps, loud fan, it's a pain to change out bad LED's, I have to take it off just to open my glass top to feed. I want something slim, easy to use, quiet, etc.

[Lmecher]

I have a 14g biocube with 2-36 watt fixtures each with 1-10,000K and 1-atinic. My bta languished, I moved it into my 37 with HQ. Maybe it was partly due to it taking up residence at the bottom under rocks but I'd say you need more lighting to keep a carpet healthy. You could do something similar to what I have, mount 2 fixtures together.

[garygb]

You should be okay with the Current USA T-5's, but stay away from the actinic and just have two daylight bulbs. If you don't like all 10000K, if you can find a 14000K along with the 10,000K you should be fine.

[Massengill]

How about 2 of these T-5s?

http://www.marineandreef.com/24_inch.../rurm24f27.htm

You think it would be possible to incorporate a ice-cap ballast?

http://www.marineandreef.com/Model_4...p/ric00430.htm

The bulbs say they are 40watt output each with an ice-cap.

[garygb]

My opinion is in that shallow of a tank, you should be fine with the 14K's. Haddoni are generally not considered to be as light demanding as say H. magnifica. I personally would go with a 10K and the 14K, or two 10Ks--but I like the shallow water look. URI is a good brand, from what I've read.

Are you considering VHO T-5's? Honestly, I don't DIY stuff. So I'm not able to say whether you can modify the Current USA fixture for a different ballast. I think you should be just fine with a regular T-5 HO.

[Massengill]

I can see why you recommend the 10,000k's, more light correct? URI also sells a 12,000k too. I don't want to sacrifice color either. Would a 12,000k up front and a 14,000k in the back be adequate?

http://www.marineandreef.com/24_inch.../rurm24f21.htm

[garygb]

I generally associate lower Kelvin with higher PAR--although with some T-5's you can get the blue you want and not comprimise the PAR too signficantly. There is an RC thread by the GrimReefer and he answers all types of questions regarding T-5's. Look under the "lighting, filtration" forum. He knows a lot of info. about this technology and is usually quick to respond.

[Massengill]

Tried the search function for all topics T-5 with GrimReefer . . . no results. I hate search function.

[garygb]

Here's the thread I was thinking of. It goes on forever;-)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1

[garygb]

this is the more recent part of the thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...&pagenumber=11

[garygb]

Massengill, sorry I'm not putting this all in one post, I'm scattered brained even more than usual, but I just wanted to add, the guys RC name is The Grim Reefer. You can find his profile with the rest of RC's members. If you just go to the last post I made of the thread, you will see recent questions and answers from him in the past few days. You can just post your question there. He will know what would work for a haddoni I believe. He seems to be up on the various technology, as well as the, appropriate match for many species of coral/anemones etc.

[The Grim Reefer]

My ears were burnin.

OK you bought the anemone, now it is your responsibility to keep it alive. I hope your tank has been up a while so your water parameters will be stable.

Anyway the 2x24 Nova with 2 ATI or Giesemann Aquablue lamps is your best bet if you can't afford to do a 4 lamp fixture. As long as you make sure the Anemone is getting a little meaty treat a couple times a week that should be OK. You and the Anemone would be happier with 4 lamps, it would allow you to have a nicer look and heep the intensity up.

[Massengill]

I do allready have the anemone, and my tank has been set-up for about a year before I introduced it. Right now I have it in a 30 gallon w/ about 2" a 50/50 mix of crushed coral and sand.

Marineland Emperor Bio-Wheel 400 w/ Chemi-pure and PhosZorb
Protein Skimmer
2 power heads
150watt heater
very little liverock due to the size of the anemone, 15 or 16lbs
2-39watt 10k T-5s and 2-39watt actinic T-5s

The only other things I have in the tank is a cleaner shrimp and 2 SaddleBack clowns. I feed the anemone twice a week, whole piece of thawed raw jumbo shrimp. The only reason I am contemplating a 20 long is because the light fixture I have now is such a pain in the butt. I was just going to transfer everything from the 30 to a 20, not start from scratch.