Help - 40 Gallon Long Hex tank lighting.

[iocheretyanny]

Hi,

I am new to the forum but glad i found it

I am a newbie hobbist, and recently set up my first tank. It Had 5 fish, and I found out that one of my fish (Scooter blenny) needs live rock for food forraging.

So I bought a little of Live Rock, and now wondering if I need to get better lighting. I have the light that came with the tank, I think 15 watt flurescent.

or is my lighting enough for Live Rock?

My tank is about 25L 20H 18W.
I was hoping to get a 65 Watt 50/50 single strip from Curent USA or Coralife Compact strip, Or the "Current USA Satellite Dual 2x40 Watt 20"Power Compact Strip Light W/Lunar Light".

A 2x65 might not fit well on my tank I am afraid.

My questions are these:

1) Are either one of these enough for live rock in my aquarium to develop?

2) with either of these upgrades will I be able to get any kind of low light corals, anemones, etc..

3) If the lights I am considering will not do what should I consider?

Thanks!

[m_lacom99]

First off Welcome To 3reef.

Second, how long as the tank been setup. 5 fish is allot of bioload for such a new tank, a safe rule of thumb is to add only 1 fish per month. How much LR (live rock) did you get? What other filtration do you have on the tank? Sorry for the questions, i know im getting off track from the lights but i just want to help.

To answer your questions

1 - LR doesnt need allot of light... its rock... Its whats groing on the rock that needs light.

2 - 80 or so watts should be enough for some low light corals, like some leathers, polyps, some mushrooms and such.

3 - You could get a nice MH (thats Metal Halide) pendant, a 150W HQI would be help you keep a wider range of corals.

Marc.

[iocheretyanny]

Thanks you for the reply and help!

I bought 8 pounds of live rock so far. I love the way it looks and will probably replace my fake corals with more live rock slowly, (This is one expensive hobby)

My tank is about 3 months old.

Tank - Oceanic 40 Gallon long Hex.
I have a Eheim 2026 filter and a Protein Skimmer - Coralife Super Skimmer 65.

These filters seem to be doing good job for my tank.

My tank seems to have stabilized from what I can tell.

Do you think 80 watt is the minimum, or will 65 watt work? (it is a bit less money and heat generation, and only one lightbulb to change)

[m_lacom99]

Your welcome, thats why were here...

Ok not to get in the whole watts per gallon vs par ratting debate. but at 80 watts, its only 2 watts per gallon. its on the low side for a reef. But if you want to stick with some softies its enough IMO. Check out ebay you can get some good stuff for cheap... a lot of us got our lights and other things on ebay.

Originally Posted by iocheretyanny

My tank seems to have stabilized from what I can tell.

Are you testing your water to make sure its cycled? 3 months is still young. Sorry if im going off track again but i just want to make sure you are on the right track . Oh and more LR for sure... its not just for looks, it will help out a lot on the filtration. 1.5lbs to 2lbs a gallon is a good way to go. But addind LR will cause a mini cycle so that means more amonia and nitrate spikes wich isnt good for the fish and corals. You can risk it, i have, you just keep the LR as wet as possible, and make sure you buy cured LR. Maybe someone else can jump in and shed some light on this.

Marc.

[telman2010]

If your looking for a light fixture on the less expensive side, jebo make a nice one that you can pick up off ebay all day long. I'll stick a link at the bottom so you can see what one looks like. The 36 inch ones put out something like 192 watts and the prices are excellent. I use one of the 4 ft fixtures on my 55and I'm very happy with it. Its not top of the line but it gets the job done. I'm keeping a couple of different types of coral, xenia and anemone under this lighting and they are doing very well. For the money you just can't beat them. http://cgi.ebay.com/36-INCH-JEBO-HIG...QQcmdZViewItem


eric

[telman2010]

Oh and I agree with marc on this one as well . I 've added live live rock after the tank has cycled and all has been well, but your still taking that chance of starting the cycle all over again if you add too much at one time or buy uncured. Just my two cents.