Coralife Lunar Light

[Arjento]

Hi guys,

I've recently upgraded from a coralife dual linear strip to a coralife lunar light not the metal halide one but the power compact 4x65watt. I was wondering if anyone knew what I can do with this? it is over a 70 gallon hagen tank and I want to do anemones for clowns if possible. If anyone has some experience with this please msg me privately or post to this thread. Any advice on aquarium inhabitants I can do with this light would be nice. Thanks

[Fly Guy]

The lunar part of that light is just for your viewing pleasure and doesnt add any real value as far as lighting goes. As far as the 4 x 65 w PC over a 70 gallon tank, unfortunately thats not enough light for any anemones IMO. Its enough for most softies and zoas and some LPS though.

How deep is your tank??

[Arjento]

The tank is approx 18 inches tall but I have 3 inches of subtrate. dont know if that matters. I have live rock piled up too as much as 3/4 of the tank in some spots. So you're telling me I can't do any anemones what soever? cause I was told there is medium lights available.

I've also seen some online like here http://www.reeftopia.com/Sea_Anemones211.html

[Fly Guy]

The fact that your tank is only 18" tall defintely does make a difference...thats a fairly shallow tank and will definitely help your odds some. But its still less than ideal.

Tube anemones dont require high light.

[Arjento]

Good to know Fly Guy, you made me shake for a second I just purchased the light from and the g/f would kick my butt if I didn't get some sort of use out of it for NEMO lol

Tubes are good for Nemo's?

[Fly Guy]

unfortunately, "nemo" would probably be more likely to host a powerhead than a tube anemone. lol

Dont get me wrong, many of the high light requiring anemones have been kept successfully under lighting such as yours, but more often than not they wont do well. IF you can get a clown to host, it will help the anemones odds.

Another thing to consider is that getting a clown and anemone to form that symbiotic relationship isnt a guaranteed thing by any means. Clowns will host featherdusters, frogspawns and many other corals as well as powerheads...(i wasnt kidding about that part.), instead of the anemone you want it to sometimes.

[Arjento]

Thanks Fly Guy, I'm really new to this only been doing it for a month or so. I mean I only have 62lbs of live rock right now and two chromis fish in there right now. If they die I know I've done something wrong lol. They're my testers hehe.... I plan on buying another 10-15lbs by the end of this week, and that should be about it for now. Maybe small frags eventually but I want to start fishing hehe....

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by Arjento

I plan on buying another 10-15lbs by the end of this week, and that should be about it for now.....

FWIW, if you are just adding another 10-15 pounds of rock because you have heard some rule about needing a minimum of 1-1.5 pounds of rock per gallon, I would encourage you not to. If you think the tank NEEDS some mroe rock to look how you want then maybe.

Your rock is much more effective if you put your money and effort into getting good flow through what rock you do have and good overall tank flow, than filling your tank up with rock and not getting good flow through the rock or your reef becasue theres too much rock in the way. Just try to use nice light porous pieces of rock, try not to stack it densely......lots of space, and just use what you think looks good............ dont worry about how much it may or may not weigh.

[Arjento]

Um... maybe I heard some rule hehe.... but yeah I think it looks nice with a bit more anyhow and I've had my eye on this one big chunk anyways to finish my rock scaping hehe..... As far as flow goes here's what I got 1 powerhead 201 one powerhead 301, and two aquaheads equivilant to p/h 401. and a hot magnum filter which I'm contemplating exchanging with my fluval 384. Oh and of course my protien skimmer which has a waterfall type in to the tank.

Oh and I've been doing more research on anemones, and I'm not sure but I think I will heed your advice and stick to corals for now. Maybe do an anemone later on but corals seem to be the safer and easier way to go for now.

[Geoff]

i would remove your cannister filter from the system. they are not needed and cause more problems than they are worth.

those that do run cannisters run them either completely empty for flow or only have carbon in them for water polishing. the carbon is replaced on a weekly basis.

leaving the normal guts in a cannister filter leads to high nitrate and nutrient levels. it is better to just let the skimmer do all of the work.

if you feel you need the cannister than it should be cleaned every day to keep the trapped detritus from rotting and raising nutrient levels in the tank.

G~

[Arjento]

okay thanks guys that would explain my traces of amonia and nitrates than. And the reason I'm not getting my hard 0's