what corals at 3 watts per gallon?

bsauer · 06-02-2006, 11:24 AM

I think I might want to add a few coral to my 125 gal MOWLER. It has 4x96 PC lighting. I am mainly interested in LPS. (some shrooms and polyps also). I was looking for some advise on which corals would be ok with 3 watts per gallon.

I am thinking: green bubble, open brain (Trachyphyllia), doughnut(Cynarina), plate coral (Fungia), candycane,any Euphyllia & orange sun coral (Tubastrea)...which requires lower light.

I am just confused when I read "low-moderate-high lighting" requirements. I want ot make sure that they will have the adequate lighting requirements. Can anyone tell me yes or no to my wish list, or suggest the appropriate shrooms & polyps?

Any help is very appreciated. Not sure if it matters...but I also want to keep an emperor angel and I want to make sure these coral are not part of his diet...I can't seem to find much info on what he eats.

THANKS!

goodfortune · 06-02-2006, 11:52 AM

IMO/E ,the lighting that you have would be perfect for soft corals such as leathers, and green star polyps, mushrooms and zoas, and most LPS. If you sense that some of your LPS corals need more light, just place them higher in the rockwork to suit thier light needs. However, keep Brain, Bubble, Doughnut, and Plate Corals on the sandbed, as thier repeated expansion and contraction against the liverock can tear thier flesh over time.

BTW...Tubastrea is non-photosynthetic; it does not need light at all. What makes it difficult to keep is that it needs to be feed, and it can be a challange to trigger thier feeding response. I tried to keep one about a year ago...let's just say it was not one of my more succesful efforts in reefkeeping.

The emporer angel...I'm not sure about that one; perhaps some else can chime in; in curious too.

HTH,
Michael

Twitterbait · 06-02-2006, 01:29 PM

you will need to keep all the LPS toward the top of the tank. avoid the sand dwelling critters like the brain and the plate or you may kill them. candy cane is probably out too since they seem to prefer more light as well. look for some frogspawns or other branching corals that you can wedge in the rocks higher in the tank. sun coral will work because it does not need light at all... but you will need to feed it every day.

thekid55 · 06-02-2006, 04:30 PM

i have a 125 reef. and when i first started all i had was 4 x 96 pc and keep alot of soft coral (which grew fast) and a green plate and a hammer. the plate did fine because i feed every 3 days but the hammer did not do so well so i got some t-8 and evrything was well. my no i have 5 watts per gal

bsauer · 06-02-2006, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekid55

i have a 125 reef. and when i first started all i had was 4 x 96 pc and keep alot of soft coral (which grew fast) and a green plate and a hammer. the plate did fine because i feed every 3 days but the hammer did not do so well so i got some t-8 and evrything was well. my no i have 5 watts per gal

Did you ever keep an open brain coral with your initial lighting? That is the one I most want to try and keep.

Most of my reading says they need moderate lighting...but one place said they can be kept in almost any lighting conditions?

wharyat · 06-02-2006, 06:01 PM

I would consider your lighting medium. Any LPS you put under there should do great, as long as they are in the top half of the tank; you could try placing a few on the bottom to see if it is enough light.

Softies would do well in the bottom half.

Twitterbait · 06-02-2006, 08:45 PM

Vince has it...

thekid55 · 06-02-2006, 09:22 PM

i never got a brain but i plan on it. any thing you can feed has great potintial as long as you feed it. i feed my plate every 3 days but that is really not necessary once a week will keep it happy. but mine grows good with good feedings and calcium. but i know a you dont want to go and buy a $50 dollar brain and have it die. but some times you have to take the chance. and it is good to keep them on the substrate and not rock. but i was at petland this morning and they have about 4 or 5 i would have bought one but i choose a blasto (pic in atlant reef club forum).
GO AHEAD AND GET ONE. keep good water quailty and feed it when you can and it will be fine

bsauer · 06-03-2006, 04:02 PM

I have eyed the blasto's myself

.

Thank you guys so much.

I don't live near a saltwater store, so if I try a brain and see that he is not doing well, I will have nowhere to take him so he can get better, and that will break my heart. My reef tank will be started in 6 months or so anyway,(I HOPE)...so I will just wait...and go with the sun coral and some polyps and shrooms.

I really appreciate the advice.

Ms. K · 06-07-2006, 01:08 PM

I keep a candy cane frag in my 125 with 4 x 96 (I'm upgrading btw to 8 x 96) and it seems to do fine. It doesn't grow but it looks well. I can't keep torches. I have been able to keep a teeny tiny frogspawn and even an alveopora, which are very high in the tank.

seshapir · 06-07-2006, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ms. K

I keep a candy cane frag in my 125 with 4 x 96 (I'm upgrading btw to 8 x 96) and it seems to do fine. It doesn't grow but it looks well. I can't keep torches. I have been able to keep a teeny tiny frogspawn and even an alveopora, which are very high in the tank.

Have you tried with multiple torches or just had one that went down hill?? If you have a frogspawn doing well there should be no reason a torch wouldn't do well either.

wharyat · 06-07-2006, 08:24 PM

Ms. K, have you considered MH? 3x175 would use less energy and give to the same abilities as 8x96.

thekid55 · 06-18-2006, 08:07 PM

i belive that good water quality really helps the coral. and every tank is diffrent. when i was just starting out i bought a plate coral and had less than 2 watts per gal and the plate was fine and when i got new lights which are 5 watts a gal growth was about the same. all of my lps corals do great. better than my soft corals. light is a huge factor but thats not the only factor.

Reefyone · 08-16-2006, 02:46 PM

Here are corals under 3W/gal (18W/6gal): white xenia, GSP, branching hammer and frogspawn, candycane, red mushrooms, hairy mushroom, chili, anthelia, white tree coral (sold as white lemnalia, may be nephtya or scleronephtya); orange tree sponge did good for a few months (ball sponge would be better).
In another tank I'm keeping frags under 1W/gal, 50-50 (110W/100gal), at the top: same xenia, capnella, GSP, white tree (?ID), recently added open brains and candycane in bad shape.
Sun coral and blastomussa will do too.

Twitterbait · 08-16-2006, 04:09 PM

Very nice setup.