Low - Medium - High - Difference?

paulcoates

paulcoates

Member
What, as far as watts per gallon would be considered low, medium, or high lighting. I have 260Watts of Power Compact over a 55 gallon
Also, when they say high flow or moderate flow, what exactly does that mean as far as GPH? I have 2 450 GPH AquaClear Powerheads and a Emperor 400 (400 GPH)
 
paulcoates

paulcoates

Member
how about my flow? Is that medium too? what would make it high flow?
how much, in a 55, would be considered, medium?
how much, in a 55, would be considered, high?
 
tigerpiper

tigerpiper

New Member
Xenia easy. I have that fixture on my 75 and they grow like weeds (assuming you have good water etc.)
I don't know about the other one.
 
greatfullreefer

greatfullreefer

Active Member

Originally posted by paulcoates
could I raise Xenia or Goniopora under these lights?
Yes, but i suggest you reaserch gonipora a little before purchasing one. They rarely do well in captured environments, the reason being is we try to keep our tanks water free of nutrients and goniporas require a high nutrient based environment (tend to do better in skimmerless tanks)
 
smarls

smarls

Member
Paul,
I have pretty much the same set-up (55 gallon with 240 watts of PC lights).
Stay away from the Gonipora, it will probably die (even if it is nutrient rich)...they just generally do not like aquariums.
Also, I would get a skimmer. It made all the difference in my tank, and if you are going to keep coral, you want that water quality really high.
Finally, I am not sure if you have actinic bulbs, but if you do, check to see if they are "true actinic 03s". If not, you shouls swap them out for the 03 actinics...huge difference. Half actinc 03, and half 10k.
With all that said, you can really keep a ton of stuff in yout tank. I have about 10 diferent zoanthid colonies, a hammer, a frogspawn, a ricordia, a pipe organ (dont buy this one though).
The softies and LPS can be very colorful...so have fun with them, and there really is no need to try these hard corals (gonipora).
HTH
Stewart
 
paulcoates

paulcoates

Member
SMARLS,
I have the Coralife setup.. Here are the details of the 260W
Two 65 watt 10,000K and two 65 watt True Actinic 03 Blue straight pin base compact fluorescent lamps
Four 3/4 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED lamps
Three on/off switches with three 8-foot power cords for separate timers
Built-in ballasts
Two cooling fans
Sleek aluminum housing
Highly-polished reflector
Acrylic lens cover
 
smarls

smarls

Member
oh yeah, I forgot, your flow.
Some parts of your tank will be high, some medium, and some low. It depends on your rockwork, where your powerheads, water duynamics, etc.
Just look and see how fast water moves in certain areas, and you can guess whether it is high, medium or low.
Over all, i would say your tank is medium / high. You have 900 gallons moving from your power heads (so almost 18x times your capacity an hour). I would discount your Emperor, as depending on how it is installed and where it is put, the actual output of the pump can vary drastically from the listed rating.
I dont think you need any more flow for a PC lighted tank, and you can keep a ton of stuff under there. ie - put zoanthids in higher flow areas, LPS in lower / medium flow areas, ricordias in low flow areas, etc., etc.
HTH,
Stewart
 
paulcoates

paulcoates

Member
you can keep Frogspawn and Hammer under these lights? I thought you needed MH for them?
I actually have a filter on each of my 802's so I doubt it is actually moving the water that much. I am thinking about taking the filter out and just leaving the plastic filter case on them (so it doesnt suck up a fish in it - which yes, it has already done)
 
paulcoates

paulcoates

Member
SMARLS,
Do you think I can keep a Xenia in there?
I would like to have the following corals in my tank:
Orange Finger
Pink Finger
Yellow Polyps
Yellow Fiji Leather
Cup Coral
Green Eye Zoos
Red Zoos
Silver Eye Zoos
Super Orange Zoos
Frogspawn
Laether Toadstool
I hope they will all play together nicely and fit in my tank well
 
smarls

smarls

Member
Yeah, you can for sure keep zenia.
Honestly, the first thing I would do is buy a skimmer...no question about it.
Second, take the filter media out of your power heads so that there is actually a decent flow. You probably want somewhere around 10x turnover per hour minimum for a softie / LPS tank.
As for your list:
Zoas - yes
Yellow Polyps - yes
Zenia - yes
Frogspawn (and any of the euphilia family - yes)
Leathers - I don't keep them, so I do not know.
understand though, that your lighting, flow etc determines what you can keep...it is a combination thing. For example, my Frogspawn wants a low-medium flow, and high light. So I have it about 2/3 of the way up my tank, in a low-medium flow area, high enough in the tank so it gets a lot of light. I only have so many of such areas that meet the specific light and flow requirements for a frogspawn. So you kind of have to tailor what you keep, with what you have for space, light, and flow that are required for each specific coral.
HTH
Stewart
 
smarls

smarls

Member
hammer corals, torch corals and I think a few others.
You should try using the "search" button at the bottom of the reef forum, as a lot of these questions have been asked before, and answered by someone far more knowledgable than myself.
Stewart
 
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