Getting Back into the Hobby

[sghill]

I used to have a bunch of FW and SW tanks, but moving and a couple kids later I found my self out of a hobby. My kids are older and I have more time now. So I'd like to start up an old love.

Here's what I have.

Start with 30 Gallon Long Tank
CPR Bak Pak
Berlin Protein Skimmer (Can't Remember Model used to be on my 100gal)
Eheim Pro Canister (Can't remember Model but has 2 compartments)
150+lbs of Base rock (used to be live)

What I would like to keep.

Anemones
Polyps
Mushrooms
couple of False Perculas
Fridmani Pseudochromis
Cleaning Crew

With all that in mind I'd like to know what type of lighting would be appropriate. I have 4 - 36" Flourecent Strips T-12. From what I've read that would be 120watts of lighting, about 4 watts per gal. Is that enough to keep the stuff I have happy. My math might be wrong still doing a lot of research.

I was considering replacing the Flourecent Strips with PC strips maybe 2 96watt PC. That would get me up to 6 watts per gal.

What type of bulbs would be best for the stuff I have listed above.

50/50
Actinic
10,000k
20,000k

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advace.

Regards,

Stan

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi Stan and :welcome:

It sounds like you're off to a good start. Most reefers today favor a good skimmer + live rock/sand for filtration and wouldn't use the canister (although they can come in handy for certain temporary/maintenance functions). Get yourself a couple of powerheads for circulation too.

Mushrooms, zoanthids, etc. can be kept under a wide range of lighting including your NO fluorescents but if you're serious about an anemone you'll need stronger lighting. Personally I would keep any anemone under halides but many have succeeded with certain species (BTAs for example) under high output fluorescents with proper feeding. Distance to the lights (ie. tank depth) is also a big factor. The farther the animal will be from the lights the more intense they will need to be. In deeper tanks and with many species of anemones, halides are necessary for long term survival.

Also, don't worry about watts-per-gallon, it's an outdated and somewhat useless guideline. For example, a 150 watt halide lamp can produce much greater irradiance levels than 150 watts of NO fluorescents although they will both equate to the same watts-per-gallon over your tank.

I'd recommend staying away from the anemone initially, but down the road if you really want one, look into a captive propagated BTA.

Don't forget to check through our library (link at top of page) for other reference material, guides, etc. You can also dig up a lot of info with the search feature.

HTH

 

[ChrisRD]

...forgot to answer your lamp question...

FWIW, I prefer a mix of 10,000K and actinic lamps. It's mostly a personal preference thing although keep in mind that the daylight lamps provide more PAR than the blues.

 

[sghill]

Thanks for you help. I'm going through the guides.

Stan