Hello everyone, I just recently ordered the Current USA T5 High Output Lighting System with a total of 216 watts. (I will order another of the same model if necessary due to not having enough watts for all corals.) I'm interested in keeping corals for the first time and was wondering if anyone could provide me with some suggestions as to what beautiful beginner Corals are available. Thank you for all your assistance.
for soft coral, many people like Zoanthids, but other options are Xenia, ricordeas, yumas, colt, leathers, etc.
most of these have similar needs, and are fairly hardy.
again, make sure you do a bit of research to learn the little quirks
like, xenias, don't grow well in highly skimmed water, they will stay healthy, but don't grow as fast.
and many leathers are known to have chemical warfare with many types of stony coral, like Euphyllia sp. and Acropora sp.
and some large Yumas are know to catch small fish..
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no, most of these soft coral will do just fine with the lighting you have, or less.
in fact this lighting should be good for other things, i dont have T5's so i cant speak directly on experience, but i know there are alot of T5 owners here, and they will chime in soon enough..
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How bout green star polyps, hammer coral, trumpet/candy coral, favia brain. I grow those under PC's and all the corals Rob mentioned too, so you should have no problems under T5's.
I have one thought, well maybe two. If your just talking lighting I would get another unit. But I'm looking at your fish list and its very possible you may have a large bio load. How big are your fish? Have you tested for nitrates, phosphates? Some corals don't do well with high nitrate, phosphates ect. I had T-5s on my other tank, I really liked them.
Victoria
Victoria, I have tested my water and I am very diligent in my weekly water changes. My water quality is 0.0 accross the bored and ph is 8.3. So are you suggesting from your experience to get the 416 watt model over the 216 watt model?
As far as lighting goes. It seems never to be enough. If you want to change over to a reef tank, you will be more content with more light. When ever I get new lighting I all ways wish I had more. Maybe its just me, but I don't think so.
There are some people that are hugely successful with just T5 lighting and it's pretty popular in some parts of Europe. Having said that, I have a mixture of T5s and MHs...
If you're going to take the chance with corals and your puffers, maybe it's better to stick with soft corals that are less likely to get nipped at.
If you'd like to know about easy-to-keep stony corals - well, then I'd suggest Pocillapora. It's a pretty forgiving, easy stony coral for beginners.
Mushroom polyps and zooanthids are also quite easy to keep.
Thanks everyone for information. I have kept corals/anemones in the past with Power Compact lighting with these guys but during transport to their new home the did not survive due to a salinity miscalculation on my behalf. I understand that my puffers are not naturally reef safe. But their temperments and my experience with them in the past have proven that with the right settings and knowledge man can achieve anything. I will keep everyone posted on the progress of the addition/conversion to an aggressive reef tank. Maybe it will be a new category. LOL As far as everyones concerns with the bioload I am very religous when it comes to weekly water changes and I monitor my water quality daily. As for my setup I made a post to the how many outlets and what you are running thread on Talking Reef. Check it out and let me know what you think. As always suggestions are always welcome.
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