Low light reef options.

What types of corals, mushrooms etc. can be kept with normal fluorescent
lighting?


Thanks,
Mark

I would of thought your really going to have to get rid of the fluorescent
lighting to be totally honest with you. It's simply just not good enough
really

--
http://www.garybolton.co.uk


"Mark Cooper" wrote in message
.. .
What types of corals, mushrooms etc. can be kept with normal fluorescent
lighting?


Thanks,
Mark

sorry mate but I must disagree. I had a tank full of coralline algae and the
odd coral and lit only by florescent tubes. I made the switch to metal
halide and lost the lot. I persevered but only could manage a tank full of
green algae.
I dumped the 14,000 K MH and went back to Fluorescents and then tank has
finally got some regrowth.
I tried every sort of light schedule I could think of but without success
until I ditched the MH.
if you maintain your tubes correctly there should be no reason why you cant
keep a good variety of soft corals.

R

When he said that the flourecents were not good enouph,
I'm sure he was refering to a single NO flourecent light.

As for your situation, you had nutrients building up in
your tank. With the lighting you had, the system was in
ballance. When you increased the lighting, the algae
started to grow. You just needed a more nutrient poor
environment. Also there is almost always an increase in
algae growth after a large increase in lighting, because
of this ballance change, but regular maintenance to reduce
nutrients will reduce that algae. When environmnetal
conditions change, everything sifts, and then ballances
out again.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



RJAG wrote on 11/25/2005 10:38 AM:
sorry mate but I must disagree. I had a tank full of coralline algae and the
odd coral and lit only by florescent tubes. I made the switch to metal
halide and lost the lot. I persevered but only could manage a tank full of
green algae.
I dumped the 14,000 K MH and went back to Fluorescents and then tank has
finally got some regrowth.
I tried every sort of light schedule I could think of but without success
until I ditched the MH.
if you maintain your tubes correctly there should be no reason why you cant
keep a good variety of soft corals.

R

"gbnw28178" wrote in message
. ..
I would of thought your really going to have to get rid of the
fluorescent lighting to be totally honest with you. It's simply just
not good enough really


Disagree. Plain florescent is just fine for fish-only or even fish
only with Live Rock. You won't get the same results from the LR that
you would with a pair of 300w rotating halide pendants, but you'll be
fine, and I have the fish tanks to prove it. g

billy

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 19:12:09 -0800, "Billy"
wrote:


"gbnw28178" wrote in message
...
I would of thought your really going to have to get rid of the
fluorescent lighting to be totally honest with you. It's simply just
not good enough really


Disagree. Plain florescent is just fine for fish-only or even fish
only with Live Rock. You won't get the same results from the LR that
you would with a pair of 300w rotating halide pendants, but you'll be
fine, and I have the fish tanks to prove it. g

billy

Billy, What is a "rotating" halide pendant ?

Curious, Fishnut.

It's easyer to provide the light, than it is to feed
corals that don't need light, but sun corals
(tubastria)will do well if you are willing to feed them
every other day.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Mark Cooper wrote on 11/24/2005 5:13 PM:
What types of corals, mushrooms etc. can be kept with normal fluorescent
lighting?


Thanks,
Mark

Most mushrooms will do ok with plain lighting. Sun Polyps don't care for
light either. Not sure about softies but I have several softies in my system
with PC lighting which was reasonbly priced and works well. Stay away from
LPS corals with plain lighting.


"Mark Cooper" wrote in message
.. .
What types of corals, mushrooms etc. can be kept with normal fluorescent
lighting?


Thanks,
Mark

Just an observation. Doesn't the depth of the tank, and the the wattage of
the fixture have something to do with what can and can't be grown in a tank?
Take a 50 watt bulb and put it over a 30" tall tank and the tank will be
dark. Put that same 50 watts over a 12" tall tank and you have a bright
tank.
--
Ann R
"Ray Martini" wrote in message
. ..
Most mushrooms will do ok with plain lighting. Sun Polyps don't care for
light either. Not sure about softies but I have several softies in my
system with PC lighting which was reasonbly priced and works well. Stay
away from LPS corals with plain lighting.


"Mark Cooper" wrote in message
.. .
What types of corals, mushrooms etc. can be kept with normal fluorescent
lighting?


Thanks,
Mark

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 22:56:41 GMT, "Ann R" wrote:

Just an observation. Doesn't the depth of the tank, and the the wattage of
the fixture have something to do with what can and can't be grown in a tank?
Take a 50 watt bulb and put it over a 30" tall tank and the tank will be
dark. Put that same 50 watts over a 12" tall tank and you have a bright
tank.

Ann,

Yes the depth matters tremendously. After 2' (60 cms) deep, the light
penetration reduces dramatically. Scientifically, I think it works on
the inverse square principle, in that the light at double the distance
is only a quarter of the light intensity, not half as you may expect,
and so on. If you read expensive aquarium books, where optimum light
is accurately measured at different depths (the Modern Coral Reef
Aquarium etc.), light penetration drops off significantly after about
5 metres.

Regards, Fishnut.