min. light for coraline?

[fishead]

my lighting is N.O. flour. 40 watt actinic white, 40 watt actinic blue, 30 watt actinic blue, and 30 watt 50/50. total of 140w suspended 6 inches over water. It looks good and i wouldnt want it any brighter. is this enough light to maintain red coraline and soft corals? Thanx I'm a newbe.

 

[fishead]

anyone? please.

 

[rockster]

I find that VHO actinic is good on my coralline algae, when I added MH, my coralline went wild. Tip: After getting the right lighting on your tank, get the softest toothbrush (that you don't use ) and place a coralline covered rock in front of your powerhead and gently brush the surface to disperse the algae. Try it.

 

[big dave]

Really, any light with a good spectrum will grow coralline algae. It also depends on your pH, Alk. and Ca levels. Pretty muc hit has similar care as corals: good light, stable water qualtiy and good Ca levels.

 

[fishead]

thanx

 

[rockster]

You may be right but I am talking about the speed of coralline growth. Different spectrums, different growth rate.

 

[stupid_naso]

One thing though I just noticed. In my tank the coraline, esp the purple ones doesn't need that much lighting. Part of the rock that is only shaded by lighting has so much more purple coraline than the others which are under full lighting. My lighting is 18 W PC for 10 gal. So far I have polyps and mushrooms (soft corals) and they are doing great. Hope that helps...
stupid_naso