100-200 par, what can I keep?

[icombs17]

I have two reef brite led strips and im hitting a litting over 200 par at the top and about 100 par at the bottom, 17" deep. What all can keep. The spots where i would put everything is consistently 150 across the tank. Am i good to keep anemones, clams, and light demanding sps corals?

[Ace25]

I would say Acropora SPS corals wouldn't grow to well under that PAR level but they will survive.. all the rest will do better like Montipora. Clams should not be a problem. Anemones are one that will take and use just about any amount of light you can throw at it. Bubble tips will do ok in lower light but others like carpet anemones need much more light. If you can give an anemone 2000 PAR it will thrive (seen it with tanks running solar tubes). From my experience and testing I would say 300 would be the bottom limit of PAR levels for Acropora and still have them grow at a good rate.

[icombs17]

Okay not as bad as i thought, but this leads to my next question. How much growth am i gunna get out of 150 par?

[redfishsc]

All other variables kept the same, you'd likely get slower growth out of shallow water SPS (or they may not grow at all), but you may actually get better polyp extension from LPS and softies (as they reach for more light).

 

 

 

But a lot will depend on other variables-- water flow, nutrient levels, feeding amounts/types/frequencies, etc.....

 

 

With 150ppfd, you need to keep all other variables as optimal as possible to give them a chance.

 

 

In that situation I'd suspect you can do fine with:

 

Most any montipora specie

hydnophora (branching or encrusting)

Bird's nest

pocillopora (don't spend $$$ on the "designer" kinds just yet lol).

and possibly deeper water acropora, but again, don't buy the spendy varieties just yet.