Low Light Coral?

[JEEP9783]

Got a ? What is a fast spreading low light coral, 10gal tank plenty of circulation, nothing in tank except LS and i have 2 50/50 screw in bulbs, i was told the only reef i could have was low light...any help would be greatly appreciated, avg temp is 78-81 and sg is 1.023

chris

[tims]

you could try a leather.and a few mushrooms, mushrooms are not soft corals but will do nicly in your tank.

[hng]

What kinda light bulbs are those? Compact fluorescent, incandescent, regular fluorescent? How many watts are each bulb? I'm not sure what you meant by "i was told the only reef i could have was low light". Do you mean that with the current lights you use, that's all you can have? Have you considered upgrading your lights? OK, so after all those questions, welcome to TRT! You probably could have a very nice little reef tank in there. The good thing about a 10 gallon tank is that they are so shallow, even weak lights will work well. The bad thing about a 10 gallon is that, well, it's such a small body of water that it's hard to keep stable. Mushrooms, leathers, colt corals, green star polyps, anthelia, button polyps, zoanthids, feather dusters will all do well in a small low light tank. If you can increase your light, it might be very worth while to do so though.

[JEEP9783]

Well it is a 20watt 5050, bought it at petco for 17 a piece so that is 40 watt total lighting and i was told that i couldn't really have anything but soft low light coral, but looking at the other 50/50 lights for a ten gallon tank it seems that they are only between 45-60watt total, so i am not sure what to do, i just put 2 turbo snails some algae plants for them and there was some tiney tinny little crap or shrip things on them when i put them in my tank, my sg is still holding at 1.024 at about 80-82deg, just really nervous bout putting anything else in there n killing it

[hng]

How long have you had your tank up and running? Has your tank finished it's "cycle" yet? Any live rock in there?

[JEEP9783]

only about a week and i just got 2 algae plants 2 turbo snails and ls, along with a whole bunch of baby shrip that were on the algae when i bought them

[hng]

I think you need to really SLOW down and do some research right now. If your tank has only been up for one week, I really doubt that it has completed the nitrogen cycle yet and it is NOT ready to have any fish or corals yet. Please do a search on the "nitrogen cycle" either on here or google.

Basically, an aquarium relies upon a population of bacteria to convert ammonia (wastes from fish, corals, snails, etc) into a less toxic chemical (nitrate). Even though fish and corals can tolerate nitrates better than ammonia, it is still toxic at high enough levels and has to be removed by water changes or other methods. It typically takes 4-6 weeks to complete this nitrogen cycle and at that point, people say that their tank has "cycled". If you have a test kit, you can check the ammonia level, when the cycle has completed, the ammonia should be undetectable. There are many ways to get a cycle started. You can use live sand (LS) or live rock (LR) - they are called "live" because they contain a healthy population of these beneficial and desirable bacteria which will then populate everything in the water (sand, rocks, glass, etc). If you don't already have any, I would recommend you add a few pounds of LR to your tank - it will help with the cycle, add some visual appeal to the tank, give you a place to put your corals, and provide a hiding place for your fish.

The algae cycle is what typically occurs next. Your tank will go through a series of (usually self limited) different algae outbreaks. This includes brown algae as well.

You should also consider your filtration system - is it apporpriate for a reef tank? Most employees at Petco know absolutely nothing about salt water and reef tanks (excuse me if I offend anyone) and will sell you useless or overpriced items that you will later throw away. please list what equipment you have on your tank right now so we can help you decide if you want to return it. BTW, I doubt that your lighting is of good quality but for now, it doesn't matter (upgrade later). Filtration is extremely important and most people start off with a strong protein skimmer which serves to mechanically remove solid wastes and also dissolved organic wastes from your water. Power filters and canisters are less desirable because they capture wastes in their filter but the filter is still in contact with your water, allowing those wastes to simply continue to dissolve and release wastes int your water. Wet/dry filters have a tendency to do the same and also tend to quickly buildup nitrates in your tank.

Purified water is the next step. Whatever is in your water will end up in your tank. So, if you have toxins, heavy metals, phosphates, nitrates or whatever in your water, all of that will end up in your tank and cause problems (especially phosphates which promote algae growth). Try not to use tap water if you can help it - it is too impure. Most people use their own reverse osmosis and deioning filter to produce absolutely pure water. Other choices include using purified or distilled water from wal mart or another distributor.

All of this is just a start. There are volumes of information here on TRT and the net. Please take the time to read and do research before you get further into your tank. We only want you to succeed and be happy with your tank so take your time.

[JEEP9783]

No i didn't plan on doing any of this yet, just researching and asking so ?'s my buddy told me to put 2 snails and n algae plant n there to help the cycle along with the ls, i am using 2 20watt 50/50 screw n lights a powerhead for a 15-30 gallon tank and a little whisper 15 for filtration, i haven't really seen any like minny protein skimmers for a 10 gallon but if u do know of one please do tell...i do have patiencethat is why i am just being a nuscience n asking many ?'s to ensure that i don't screw up my tank

[godspeedracer34]

well the nano fission is a small skimmer but i dont recomend it, it uses filters and when they clog it will either empty your tank or over flow everything its collected

[jenajet]

If you can find a link to the light. On a 10 gallon tank you may be able to do more than you think depending on the light. I am not familiar with a 50/50 screw in bulb so not sure what light you have. You really don't need a protien skimmer either, I don't run them on my small tanks. Weekly water changes will keep things in check. Just leave the tank be until the cycle is over, no water changes yet. Also where did you get the sand and rock? If it is cured and wasn't exposed to air, you won't get the big cycle people expect. Agree about not adding anything till the tank is ready. Have you gotten any tests yet?
Actually I don't see any mention of live rock. Try and be a little more detailed in your setup for better help.

[mmn_usn]

Is it this light here?

[YLChik]

Here is a link to Tim's 10 gallon tank it's a good read and it is in a forum with a bunch of other nano tank builds check it out adn see if it helps you

http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92607

[ckusnierek]

You may be ably to put a sun coral in there (once its satble!) they require very little light but DO require feedings. thats about the only LPS coral I know of that can live with low light.

[Reefyone]

Here is what I kept for may be 9 months, until moved to another tank:
6g tank, 18W 50-50 PC light, 160 gph flow:

A little more light will be better.
Frogspawn, hammers, gsp, red mushrooms, green hairy mushroom, lemnalia - purple and white, white xenia, candycane. Red mushrooms and purple lemnalia need more light, others - slowly, but grow and looking good.

Are you sure about wattage of these lamps, on your photo? Somehow my 20W 50-50 CFL on another tank looks twice longer...

There is a way to keep even high light corals with low PC wattage - only the tank should be very small and shallow, like here and here.

Good luck with your tank!

[luvmylo]

with that amount of light over a 10 gallon I say you should be able to keep most stuff other than sps. it's shallow. experiment and try different things. FINISH THE CYCLE FIRST!