Lighting for 55 gallon corner reef tank- HELP!!!

ch-k

ch-k

New Member
I am hoping someone can help me out with how to light my tank. I have just a regular hood with 1 18" 15W Power-Glo bulb (18000K spectrum) and 1 18" 15W Marine-Glo (actinic). Right now all I have in my tank is 50 lbs of LR but I want to start putting in some corals, mushrooms, etc but everythng I read about lighting makes me think I don't have near enough...I am clueless what to look for, do I need to replace my hood with something else to accomodate different lighting- if so what and since I have a corner tank how difficult will it be to find something compatible?? I have tried looking on the web but I am soooo confused......Please help!!!!! :help:
 
ck_503

ck_503

Member
I have a 42 gallon hex tank and I wanted more lighting as well. I have a wonderful LFS here who is more concerned with helping out their customers than making a sale...they truly are wonderful people. Anyway, the owner recommended to me a man in town who builds kitchen cabinets and whatnot for people's homes. He said that he also made hoods for tanks for some of his customers. I traced the top of my hex tank and gave him a sample of the wood for reference. He came up with a beautfiul perfect match. He even got the door on the hood to match the same design as the door on the bottom of the stand. It has a 250 MH bulb in it with 2 fans. I am very pleased with it but it did cost me a lot to have it done but it was quite worth it. I've included some pics but I only had my camera phone on me at the time. I'll try and get some better shots later. I'm just now re-cycling my tank and it's been 10 weeks so bear with me. Good luck finding a solution that works for you.

 
airforceb2

airforceb2

Active Member
CH-K,
That looks like an Oceanic 44 Pentagon corner tank to me. I have the same tank.
Do you have a skimmer or filter on the tank? How long has the tank been set up? What are your test readings?
Corals require very intense lighting and perfect water conditions. Usually people don't add corals till their tanks are at least 6 months old.
 
ck_503

ck_503

Member
Yes, I have a hang on skimmer for this tank and that is running fine. I love how all the critics out there think you can't survive without a sump but my tank has been more successful in what I used to have in it than even some experts I know. I just take very good care of it. ALL of my test readings for nitrates/nitrities, calcium, temp, PH, alk, etc are dead on perfect. I've this tank for 3 years. I ran it successfully with a nice community tank consisting of clams, shrimp, up to 7 fish, MANY different coral, and even an anemone. I'm re-cycling this one b/c I bought a 200 gallon tank a 6 months back and transferred everything to that tank. I plan on cycling this tank for a while and turning it solely into a sea-horse and a coral specific tank.
 
ch-k

ch-k

New Member
I have a magnum 350 canister filter, tank has only been set up for a little over a month. My readings are:
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 10
I wasn't planning on adding any corals yet. I just want to get a solution to my lighting 1st. I am new to this and have read and read and read but I am a bit confused when it comes to lighting (especially on my tank since it is not the normal rect. tank). I was thinking about taking off the hood and putting on eggcrate and maybe using a light that i could hand instead of trying to get something to fit my tank...is that a good idea?? Any help/ideas are GREATLY appreciated!!!
Thanks!!
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
As far as some neat things you can add to a tank with stock lighting are feather dusters, mushrooms (will survive, but not grow or reproduce), non-photosynthetic sponges, non-photosynthetic gorgonians, shrimp, crabs, sea cucumbers, brittlestars, and of course fish.
 
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