min. lighting for mush and polop?

[tomhat]

Quick question.... what is the minimum lighting requirements for a 10 gal with mushrooms and plops? I have a hood that holds two 10 Wat coralife 50/50 bulbs. Is this sufficient?

 

thanks tommy

[tomhat]

What else could i keep as far as soft corals go? I'm planning on having 2 or 3 neon gobies, 10 + lbs of live rock, 5 lbs of live sand, a penguin 330 HOB filter. If every body recommends it I'm going to start with a mushroom or two, and maybe and some plops. I'm 3 months into saltwater so give me all the advice i can handle.

[SaltyDawg]

nope if it were a 5.5 g then I would say yes but it is just to deep to realy do any good. I would either use 1 55w bulb or maybe 2.

Remeber also it isnt the watage so much as the correct spectrum when it comes to softies in low light situations. I would still up the anti to a 55 wat if it will fit though. If not then go with 4 13w 50 50's from hello lights .com and then use the magnetic balast's from home depot.

[pos_user]

are the 50/50's supposed to both be on at same time, or do they have seperate plugs so can generate a sunlight/moonlight effect. I have seen some power compacts that have 2 plugs, but i am not sure if both have to be on, or if you have to alternate?

 

and tomhat, you can get a nice 96 watt 50/50 fixture for about 95 bucks. That would be plenty and you could put whatever you wanted in that tank.

 

 

 

http://www.aquarium-supply.biz/ordering/li...ualight_pc.html

[tomhat]

I realize that my lighting is not the best right now, but its just what i started out with. (didn't want to throw hundreds of dollars into this tank all at once and then decide i couldn't handle it) So i started out with just the 20 wat lighting 50/50 10000k for 20 dollars. I would LOVE to get a nice set of lights in the future. But my concern now is just getting acquainted with the basics. Can i grow mushrooms (the lowest light requiring coral) with this lighting if i put them high in the tank? Thats all i want for now, just some mushrooms. Just something to experiment with to see if i want to go any further with corals and lighting.

 

thanks tommy

[pos_user]

tommy

 

me and you are in the same boat. i have a 10 gallon set up and cycled and now im thinking of getting the power compacts, the 96 watt for my 10. But then im thinking, should i be spending this much money on a 10 gallon tank. Im gonna want to upgrade once i move. Just take it slow, LR and FISH dont need light. So if you can leave it like that for now until you truly decide what you want. I dont think those mushrooms will survive under that light. they can "Live" under that light, but will prob not grow and slowly die, but i could be wrong. here is a link.

 

blue mushroom coral, needs low to moderate light.

 

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...d=22&pCatId=653

[Tempest]

Mushrooms should be ok, not sure about the zoos. More lighting would be nice, but IMO people here go overboard with the light. I've got a 6 gallon eclipse with an 18 watt compact fixture and the mushrooms, zoos open brain, calustrea and xenia have all been doing fine for the past 8 months.

[pos_user]

so if you have a 6 gallon with 18 watt compact. That 3 watts per gallon.

 

That means I can get a 65 watt compact flour 50/50 on my 10 gallon. Which is 6.5 watts per gallon, you're saying that should be good enough, if not perfect if I wanted to keep exactly what you kept in the tank?

[Tempest]

I currently have a 10 gallon tank with 41 watts of 50/50 compact lighting (28 and 13 watt bulb). The tank has goniopora (which I would strongly advise you NOT to get - didn't now what it was when I purchased it) gorgonions, mushrooms, zoos, sacrophyton, calustrea, a baby fungia (hithchiked in on some live rock) and xenia. The tank's been running since july of '03 with no major problems. I change 1 gallon every week and add calcium and alkalinity buffers (b-ionic) along with magnesium as needed based on weekly testing. Xenia grew and spread, mushrooms multiplied, sacrophyton has grown, etc. I wouldn't add any sps or clams, but I'm happy with it. I've heard of people growing zoos and mushrooms under NO (normal output) fluorescent, but I'd be hesitant to go that far.

[pos_user]

I would be more comfortable with the 28w single bulb 50/50 CF.

But i know i wouldnt be able to grow a thing in there with only 2.8 watts per gallon. Then i see the 96 watt and I think that would be too loud and heat up my 10g too much, which could lead to alot of evaporation unless i put in glass to slow down the evaporation levels.

[SaltyDawg]

Tom,

It would only cost you a "whoping" 3 dollars a ballast from home depo for the magnetic ballast's needed to run the hellolights.com 13w bulbs. ( yes 50/50 means one tube burns 10k the other actinic not seperate plugs though.) then add 4 bucks for a power cord and 5 for a cheap computer fan. Top it off with a round 6 bucks a bulb plus shipping. dosent even come close to 100 spankers, spanky. hehe!

I'll get the exact model and name of the ballasts youll need. yes I have done this before with my 5.5g and my old 10g nano.

[pos_user]

so what if tom wanted about 60w of 50/50 bulb diy. How much that cost for him, including ballast, hood, reflector..etc

[tomhat]

So what do you mount all this on? A wooden hood or something? Sounds like something i would love to do, just not right now. I'll wait about 3 or 4 months before i do anything as far as lighting. The water went in just 2 days ago. Its a long road before any corals enter the tank. On a side note, i noticed a hitchhiker from my ten lbs of live rock. its a stubby looking crab (not a hermit) with one big claw and one small claw. He's really mean looking and is kinda hairy and about 3/4'' in length. Hope he survives the cycle.