I want to add some color to my aquarium...

cameronladd

cameronladd

Member
I currently am cycling a 55 gallon tank, with 2x18" 50/50 lights producing only 30 watts total. I was wondering what kinds of plants, corals etc. could I add later to my tank to make it more colorful without changing my lighting. I have about 40lbs of live rock...any suggestions without a lighting upgrade would be awesome,
Thanks again
 
pleasants9

pleasants9

Member
plant wise im pretty sure you could keep like a shaving brush plant, it might need supplements though. I have a single 48" 50/50 on my 55 gal and the shaving brush does fine. ive been told I could keep mushrooms and possibly xenia but i havnt tried either yet. Also i dont know if it helped or not but to help with the lighting i taped aluminum foil to the hood part of the light between the bulb so that much more was reflected down to the tank. Again i dont know how muhc of a difference it made but its just what ive done, and heard.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Xenia won't survive, but you might get away with some mushrooms, or kenya trees. But with 18" lights you aren't even covering the entire length of the aquarium so you are going to be very limited on any corals. Honestly your best bet would be to buy some fake coral or work on trying to get your coraline algae to grow.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I had a ricordia die with more light than that...I wouldn't chance putting anything in there with that light either....Work on your tank, and fish and when you can...upgrade your lights
 
pezenfuego

pezenfuego

Active Member
You could go with some nonphotosynthetic corals, like sun corals. However these should probably not be a first coral for a noobie, they will likely die with no experience. Not to be rude or anything, but if you want a reef, you need more light. If you aren't interested in corals, you could just get some shaving brush and try to grow some coraline algae. Get some colorful fish and even though they sound lame...you could get some fake corals.

Good Luck, I hope you are able to add some flare

Side note: Why isn't this dancing...it depresses me
 
reifermadness

reifermadness

Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2965078
Xenia won't survive, but you might get away with some mushrooms, or kenya trees. But with 18" lights you aren't even covering the entire length of the aquarium so you are going to be very limited on any corals. Honestly your best bet would be to buy some fake coral or work on trying to get your coraline algae to grow.
+1 I know you said that you didn't want to upgrade lighting but unfortunately, I think that's what it's going to take to add live corals that will live and add color.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/2965085
I had a ricordia die with more light than that...I wouldn't chance putting anything in there with that light either....Work on your tank, and fish and when you can...upgrade your lights
Definetly not ricordia mushrooms, ricordia need a fair amount of light. I was suggesting standard green or red mushrooms but even they would need to be kept near the top of the tank.
 
cameronladd

cameronladd

Member
Thanks for those suggestions, I don't think fake corals are the way I will be going, I suppose I will just try some shaving brush plant in a month or so and see what happens.
 
cameronladd

cameronladd

Member
If I were to upgrade my lighting, how many watts do you think I would need to grow anything? Basically if I were to upgrade my lighting, how much lighting in watts would I need to never have to upgrade again for this tank?
 
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