Lighting Question. need a bit o help PLEASE

[fox1135]

i have a 30 gallon tank 3' long and about 1' wide. and about 1'6'' deep. i have a regular stock fluoresent light on it 36''. i dont know a whole lot about lighting so your going to have to baby talk me. I currently have a florida condi anemine. i am going to switch it up for a bta or carpet anemine(the cheapest lighting system will probably win) and i need to know how much i need for this. im not even sure what a ho-t5 is or why i need this kind but i know its very expensive. i saw a t5 flouresent light and it was much cheaper, can this work? basically im asking for a light that is cheap and efficiant and will allow my anemines to survive. also whats the deal with the two light hud setup. is that necessary to have both or can i manage with one. watts and k would be appreciated aswel. my lfs told me i would have to get a new hud aswel but im not sure if I trust the guy. he seemed shady and only showed me one system for $300.

 

[invertcrazy]

All anemones contain photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae. They receive their color from the zooxanthellae living within their tissue. Without the right kind of lights the anemone will eventually loose all the zooxanthellae which is known as being bleached. So what i'm trying to say is the anemone feed off of your lights. This is why your lights are very important.
Your 30 gal tank is too small for a carpet anemone being they grow anywhere from 20 to 36 inches depending on what kind you get. So I would think a bta would be a better choice.
I think a T5 would work but you might have to use your stock lights also. The deeper the tank the stronger the lighting you need. I have T5 and a stock strip on my 30 also. Hope this helps

 

[invertcrazy]

On the top of this section Clownfish and anemones - read the very first one. They never finished it but theres some information there worth reading by PerfectDark post #21
also check this site out www.karensroseanemones.com

 

[fox1135]

whats the watts and k on your t5? how much was it? and is it a t5 flueresent (however you spell it). so you have a bta and your keeping it alive on only your stock and one bulb t5? making sure ive got this correct

 

[invertcrazy]

I have a lta -4 pink tip hiatians and a small bta
T5 series- double linear strip-36" 10'000k daylight andtrue actinic 03 blue.
They were around 55 or 60.00 So there 2 stock bulbs and a T5daylight-21w-10'000k and a 21w true blue actinic----All fluorescents

 

[fox1135]

this sounds dumb i know but i have heard this word alot when used with lighting and im not quite sure what it means actinic

 

[invertcrazy]

actinic 03 blue T5 lamp provides a blue light that stimulates many pigments in organisms such as corals fish and invertebrates.

 

[ibew41]

the actinic just make the colors look better they dont help with the health of the anemone

 

[fox1135]

if anyone else has info on a 30 gal with those dimensions trying to sustain a bta it would be appreciated if they gave some advice. Perfect dark included lol

 

[bbeakl1]

One thing about this hobby that is good to learn is do it right the first time around and dont cheap out. I know this is hard especially bc all this stuff is really expensive, but alot of the stuff out there is cheap and put together poorly, only ending up to break within a year or so. Saying that I think you would be good with T5 or you could look into maybe a 150MH (metal halide) that would allow for a diverse aquarium and future options. K is parr rating this is important for coral growth and has to do with you bulbs, look it up on the internet they got alot of stuff on it.

 

[rod buehle]

There are many lighting options and many of them can work well depending on which anemone that you choose. Certain anemones can do well with less than intense lighting, and some will require much more.. even the different "carpet" species have different lighting needs. An S.hadoni could do well in that system with strong VHOs/PCs/T5s, but a gigantea would need more intensity such as a 250 watt halide. From reading your post, I would recommend sticking with a BTA which will do fine (if all other conditions are good) with anything higher than normal out-put florescent lights.
A few things that I would like to touch base on..
All anemones contain photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae. They receive their color from the zooxanthellae living within their tissue
They do live off of their zooxanthallae, and when they expel zooxanthallae they turn white/translucent and are considered "bleached" (not healthy) but their color comes from UV protecting pigments. Zooxanthallae is brown if if anemones/corals got all of their color from zooxanthallae they would be brown. Sometimes when corals/anemones are brown, its is from excess nutrients in the water column which the zooanthallae utilizes and overproduces sometimes resulting in a browned out coral.
the actinic just make the colors look better they dont help with the health of the anemone
Correct. Actinic lighting is for aesthetics. Often people running a mix of bulbs could get more light into their tanks if they would swap out the actinics for a daylight bulb.. Only problem is that the tank may not look so pretty without actinic (depending on what other bulbs are being used.)
K is parr rating this is important for coral growth and has to do with you bulbs, look it up on the internet they got alot of stuff on it.
Actually K is the Kalvin temperature (color). The higher the K the bluer the bulb. PAR is Photosynthetically Active Radiation (or basically usable light for the corals/anemones). Usually higher K (bluer bulbs) have less PAR. With less PAR you have less coral growth which isnt always a bad thing.