lights

[eddy]

Seeing how I got so much help with my annenome situation, I might as well as this question. My tank is 90g and I have a 260w compact flo, with the two blue atin. lights. I was told this was enough to grow most soft corals, and was good enough for annen's. Do I need more lighting, do I need to go to mh or is what I have sufficient.

[Aquattro]

anemones really do best under MH. Realistically though, you shouldn't have anemones for at least another year, so lots of time to research.

[Rikko]

If you aren't going to equip halides, I'd probably suggest you only try E. quadricolor (Bubble-tip anemones) or Aiptasia (may it burn in hell). The others have somewhat poorer success rates and definitely enjoy higher light.

[megatron_55]

From my 3 year experience in reef keeping I was able to keep bubble tip anemone's (not a rbta) under normal output at 2 watts per gallon OF NORMAL output flourescent. I now have a 27Gal tank with acroproras (green . . . blue tips . . . purple tips . . .tri-color . . . brown . . tons of sps/lps and a rose bubble tip anemone all under PC lighting) I have the coralife 2-96watt bulb. You won't really find out unless you take the plunge. Everyone tells me acros and anemone's can ONLY live under halides but I can prove them wrong. My tank has been thriving under PC's and I have a mixed tank . . . SPS/LPS, softies, acro's, anemone's . . . u name it. . . the only thing I can't keep are T.Crocea under PC's. . . they tend to lose their color after a while. Hope that helps

[danny zubot]

I think you must ask yourself if you want to maintain corals or grow them. This is the difference between NO/PC and MH lighting. I too have kept SPS, softies and anemone's under NO and PC lighting, but the didn't really grow and thrive until I took the MH plunge.

[Invigor]

I think you must ask yourself if you want to maintain corals or grow them. This is the difference between NO/PC and MH lighting. I too have kept SPS, softies and anemone's under NO and PC lighting, but the didn't really grow and thrive until I took the MH plunge.

I'm finding that too with my pc lighting...so I'm saving the cash for a 2x250w mh setup. :)

[mr_alberta]

A lot depends on the depth of your tank and, obviously, the inhabitants you want to keep. I wouldn't go out and buy, say, a 400W MH fixture for a 20" tall tank, but that's just me. Also, I've seen many beautiful tanks lit only by PC's or VHO's (the VHO one has been running for about 7 years now).

I would consider possibly adding another one of your 4x65W PC fixtures or a couple of VHO's as it will probably be cheaper for you to add more light rather than trying to sell your current fixture (which, if you bought new and locally, probably paid 2 or 3 times too much for) and getting a dual MH fixture. This will, however, limit what you can keep in the tank as well as where in the tank you can keep it.