A Few Questions On Marine

[Straydum]

hi all i've been reading quite a number of journals here but i'm still unsure about certain stuff. it would be really nice if anyone could tell me what differentiates soft and hard corals. and with regards to lighting, is there a way to measure how many watts a tank needs? say a 2 feet tank with a water depth of 14" (give or take 1", substrate depth taken into account). i don't think i need halides here but just to make sure would standard t5 bulbs be enough?

 

[SkiFletch]

T5's would be ok on a tank that shallow. If you have individual reflectors for each bulb, a 4-bulb setup should be enough for just about any coral, hard or soft. As a general rule of thumb (exceptions do exist), soft corals require less light than hard corals.

 

[rabbut]

Hard corals have a calsium skelaton that is hard to touch. Softies are soft and "fleshy" to touch. Like Ski says, hard coral = more light required...

I've always though hard corals would need MH lighting, but Ski knows best when it comes to Marine, so I'll take his word for it

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Hawkins]

sorry to hijack, but my tank is nearly 20" deep, is this too deep for t5 lighting?

thanks

 

[Straydum]

i think 20" requires halides if i'm not mistaken. you can get away with T5s at around 16" or so.

i'm wondering if its possible to run a 30g without a fuge? i haven't come across anything like micro algae for it or can i just do so with live rock rubble? oh and do i need to use aragonite sand that everyone's using? i currently have silica sand in my freshwater set-up. thanks in advance!

 

[Hawkins]

I am setting up 30gal also, i think with the lighting T5s will be ok with yours and mine also, if i put corals higher up.

what fish are you having?

 

[seffieuk]

T5s are fine for both your tanks - as Ski says you will just have fewer options re: corals.
You will be able to keep the softies and some hard corals (hard corals will need to be higher up)-although saying that I have a blasto on the sand which is doing really well - my torch and hammer are high up and really looking lovely

Seffie x

 

[SkiFletch]

Halides are not required for 20" deep tanks, they're just more convenient. To be able to stock just about any photosynthetic corals/inverts in a tank that deep you'd need about 6 T5 lamps with individual reflectors. Once you start getting up to 6-8 tube systems, they become complex to setup, difficult to fit over the tank physically, and bulb replacement puts a significant dent in your wallet. This is where the significantly more compact Halide excels. But if your tank is pretty wide (front to back) and you can fit all those T5 lamps in there, the electrical savings over time can be substantial. As with many things, the tradeoffs need to be considered

 

[Straydum]

thanks for the replies everyone. i'm going to use T5's for now and try to fit in as many tubes as possible.

 

[Straydum]

a quick question! do halides give out more heat than T5s? i'm thinking of getting one arcadia 55w 14k but i'm concerned about the heat issue.

 

[ben1987]

Halides do get very hot, they are usually used on an open top tank rather than in hoods. T5's will also get warm and when using multiple tubes it best to allow a fair bit of air movement around them. Halides are hotter than T5's though

 

[Straydum]

thanks for the quick reply! yeap it'd be an open top (just the light there) so its either around 3 T5s or one halide. sorry that i keep asking but is the heat difference quite significant? say being able to up the water by more than just one or two degrees, compared to three T5s

 

[ben1987]

In my opinion a halide would be less hastle than a T5 system. Less bulbs to replace more coral coptions, cheaper than a big T5 set up. The heat will only be an issue on small tanks. I have 180L of water and it goes up one degree when my halide has been on a few hours. #Be less of an issue if your rooms are air-conditioned in the summer

 

[Straydum]

it gets quite hot around here so i'm quite worried that the tank would overheat even with fans and all. reefers in my area use chillers in fact (thats how hot it is)

 

[ben1987]

I know of, a couple of reefers from singapore from another site. None of them use heaters and all use BIG chillers in air-conditioned rooms.