help me on lighting [Archive] - Saltwater Aquariums

Ryan2003

11-09-2002, 07:49 PM

Pineapple House

11-09-2002, 08:05 PM

I NEED HELP ON WHAT LIGHTING I SHOULD USE AND IF THIS IS OKAY TOGETHER I HAVE A 75 GALLON AND I NEED HELP

Condy Anemone Colored $7.00
Reef Hatian Anemone $7.00
Curly Q Anemone $5.00
Condylactis Anemone $6.00
Long Tentacle Anemone $15.00
Bulb Anemone $15.00
Sebae Anemone $16.00

I don't mean to be rude at all, but I can almost assure you you will have no sucess with all/any one of those anemones :? For the most part, anemones need extremely bright lighting, and should only be attempted for a very experienced reefer, who has the time to carefully maintain one. They will need very specific habitats, and rarly survive longer than 3 months in captivity. Next, anemones can attack fellow anemones up to 3 feet away from eachother. They will usually move toward the neighboring anemone, attempting to sting it to death.

These fights are usually slow, yet very painfull for both the anemones, usually resulting in death for the both of them. All those would likely die in the first week, from either unstable water conditions, attacks from fellow anemones, soft corals are attempting to releise their stress coat, or will just die, since anemones have horible captivity rates, when in the wild can live up to 1000 years, and some forever (mostly those where their cells do not wear down).

I cannot stress enough that anemones do not survive in captivity! They should never be attempted by anyone who does not have the proper knowledge in keeping their tank right. If you did want to try one, go with a Bubble Tip Anemone, wait until your tank is about a year old, you have good lighting, your water conditions are outstanding, and you know the right care.

The rest of your choices will not need any lighting specificly. If I were you, I would wait until your tank has cycled (around 3 months old) until you start adding the inhabtants. I would get some hardy corals in there, not anemones as your main attraction.

Corals like:
Kenya tree corals
Colt corals
Finger Leathers
Cabbage leather
Divels hand leather
Toadstool leather
Most leathers will do fine in your tank*
Most soft corals will also do fine in your tank.
Once your tank is around 4 months old, you can start adding LPS if you like:
Brain
Hammars
Torches
Bubble Coral
Frogspawns
etc.

I would try to get some good lighting on that tank of yours. PC would be my vote. PC lighting is the newest technology, and can go up to 96wts in one bulb. I would get the 4, 65wt PC's (2, actinic 03, 2 daylight 10,000k) would be great on your tank. The 3, 96wt PC's would also be good. www.hellolights.com has great deals on lighting, and I would highly recommend them :-)

PH =)

BigE

11-10-2002, 06:33 AM

I would agree with Pineapple House about the amount of anemones in that tank. They are one of the hardest invertabrates to keep in this hobby and the variety you have can't be good.

There are two rules I go by whenever I'm looking to buy somehting for my tank.
1. Always know exactly what it will take to keep an animal alive and thriving before I buy it.
2. Never believe a fish store owner or employee.

Disclaimer about rule 2: I'm not saying there aren't any good owners or employees out there its just that I haven't met any yet.

If I was going to recommend a lighting setup to you it would be Metal Halide (MH). A setup like this for a tank your size could run $300 or more. Without the anemones you don't have anything that requires a large amount of light and coold even go with regular florecent lights (NO) which run maybe $50.
When I first got into the hobby I thought it would be cool to have an anemone. I had regular florecent lighting and the owner of the LFS assured me the anemone would do great in my tank. It took him 6 months to die (the anemone, not the owner :roll: ). He started off the the size of a baseball and over the six months he shrank down to the size of quarter and turned to a pile of mush. If I had the greatest lighting setup in the world he still would have died because I didn't know how to care for it.

Ryan2003

11-10-2002, 09:26 AM

thanks so I should just stick with corals and not get anemones until im well exprienced.

Pineapple House

11-10-2002, 05:29 PM

thanks so I should just stick with corals and not get anemones until im well exprienced.
I would just leave the anemones out of the tank, JMO. Anemones are atcually not at natural part of the reef habitat. They have an extremely poor captivity rate in captivity, and even with the proper lighting, proper water conditions, etc. They still usually die within the first 3 months of being housed into an aquarium. I would forget the idea, but thats JMO.

I would stick with softies for now, they are usually very hardy, don't need too much lighting, and are very beautiful :-)

PH =)

HoopsGuru

11-10-2002, 07:55 PM

If an anenome is a "must have" for your reefkeeping experience, I say follow the advice above and after 1 year, start to consider the addition of a Bubble Tip Anenome. They are proving to be pretty hardy, however require stable, mature systems.

gizmo

11-11-2002, 04:55 PM

Condylactis Anemone does not require high light. It's one of the hardiest anemone. They are known to eat anything it catches including clown fishes. Even though I have a BTA, I would not recommend one unless your tank is at least 8months old (with stable params across the board). Anemone tends to walk and wander until it finds a spot it likes. Sometimes they complete that journey and sometimes they don't (caught in powerheads, starve and die).

--Tony

phistio

11-11-2002, 06:03 PM

as well a condylactis gigantica will host an spotted anemone shrimp (periclenes yucatanis)

here is a good anemone research page:

http://trickstr.tripod.com/survey_r.htm