Hi just getting started w/reef

[83cj7]

I have a few salt water f/o tanks a 20, 45, 90, 210 gal all have fish with live rock. Anyway working on switching the 20 gal into a mini reef for a trial run until i am ready to change the 210 so was wondering if any one had some free extra starter corals or whatever Thanks

 

[Amazon]

Hi - what do you have for lighting?

 

[83cj7]

curran twin 65 watt thats what uncle neds sold me

 

[Amazon]

I have an extra (small) frag of green cap you're welcome to. But it needs more than PC. If you upgrade the lighting, let me know

 

[83cj7]

Thanks I just bought that light. a little over a month ago. I was told that, that light was more than enough for a 20 gal reef tank 6.5 watts per gallon. I've have had fish only with live rock for around 10 years. I really would love to do this tank nice and rite. So any and all advise would be appreciated .

 

[smcnally]

Welcome to the club!
Watts per gallon is an awful way to judge lighting for a reef tank. Power Compacts are honestly not great lights for a reef tank. They are great for a refugium though. I wouldn't recommend putting any SPS corals or clams in that tank, but you could do some softies and LPS.

 

[Yanni]

i have had alot of success with pc's over the years. Ive grown everything from softeis to sps under them. If your running a 20 gallon tank, twin 65's in my opinion are fine. If you were trying to grow strictly sps or clams you may need halide but for a starter reef i dont think you need waste money on any other lights. Just make sure that you know what requirements your corals need, if they are more light demanding put them closer to the surface, the ones that dont need high lighting or current keep in the middle or on the bottom. I ran a 55 for a long time with only pc's and had a very nice looking tank without the worries of overheating, electric bills and all the other stuff that goes along with halides on a small tank. Also if you want more juice from your bulbs use only 10k's instead of one 10k and one actinic. I would recomend starting with some mushrooms, any type of leathers, clove polyps or zoanthids. All these should do well under pc's and are fairly easy to care for. Also look into some type of dosing chemical for your tank, for a small reef like that i think b-ionic would work well. Its a 2 part daily dosing chemical that is sold in any decent reef shop. Good luck with everything.-Mike

 

[smcnally]

I wasn't recommending MH. T5 are much more efficient and the bulbs are actually cheaper than PC bulbs (and last longer too).

 

[jbundas]

Recommendation - Consider converting one of your larger tanks for your first reef run, like the 45 of preferably the 90. It's much easier to maintain consistent and stable water chemistry parameters with larger water volumes and that's one of the key objectives for keeping a successful reef. In other words, the larger the tank, the much harder it is to screw something up.

 

[Gina McReeferson]

Hello and welcome to the BRS!!

-Gina and Dave

 

[pillowfish]

Hello and welcome to BRS! Good Luck with the trial run!!