Will compact flourescents work for soft corals and anemoneas

[IamLG]

I am starting a 55 gallon tank that I want to keep a couple anemones, a couple soft corals, a clownfish pair, a shrimp or two, a small crab, and a couple small fish like blennies or gobys.
Will compact flourescent lights work for this tank? I am thinking of a 48" fixyure with (4) 65W light bulbs.

 

[Brian5000]

Soft corals: yes
Anenomes: no

Anenomes are at the top of the list in terms of lighting demands. Soft corals are at the bottom.

You can keep softies and large polyp stoney coral. You might have trouble with anything else.
_________________
gremlin strain

 

[WRASSER]

IME yes, you almost 5 watts per gal and the tank is what 18 inches deep.

 

[mr_X]

i don't think you should keep anemone with that sort of lighting. soft corals will be fine.

 

[WRASSER]

Here's my experinence :wink:

 

[mr_X]

but, look how high it chose to be in order to get light.

 

[WRASSER]

Right, but that's only two 65 watt pc. :wink:

 

[IamLG]

I really want just one nice anemone for my clownfish.

 

[metalac]

I really want just one nice anemone for my clownfish.

I'm guessing from looking at this, if you put it high up in the rock work, you should be able to do it, but definitely use as many watts as possible.

 

[FinalPhaze987]

if you place a anemone high in the rock work the ones that will host a clown that come to mind are a ritteri and a BTA...the rest are mostly sand dwellers..with the lighting setup you have i would HIGHLY suggest against getting one due to the insufficient amt of light...ive tried it before in a species only tank and it took me 5 dead anemones to figure out they REALLY need alot of light...you may be able to get away with it with a few VHO's if you go with a BTA, but a ritteri has much higher needs...i currently have a ritteri in a 60 gal and have had it happy for about a year...very difficult species to care for and its housed with x3 175w MH and VHO actinics...a local reefer showed me it wasnt about the watts per gallon, it was about how much of the light was actually made available to the anemone itself...

other issues like alternating currents, and water chemistry also play a role in keeping an anemone...they prefer higher salinity (1.026 sg)

if you plan on keeping a couple in a 55 do some research first and see if you really can...theres alot of chemical warfare that goes unseen..

As far as the softies go youll be fine...ive seen many thrive in tanks with only pc lighting...some LPS and zoas can live with that sort of wattage as well...

 

[Nemo2007]

I have personally seen 2 very large and two medium sized rose bubble tip anemones hosting two extra large ocellaris clown fish at a LFS in Atlanta. All the anemones were on the rock but high in the tank. They kept them in a 40G tall Eclipse tank with modified lighting, a 65 watt SunpaQ retrofit. The did water changes weekly, I don't know what percentage. There were two powerheads for extra water flow. They were only two other fish in the tank and one was a lawnmower blenny. There was a small amount of macroalgae for further nutrient export. They had the tank running for better than 5 years and the clowns had reportedly spawned multiple times. The store was in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, in case anyone lives near there.

In other words it can be done though it will require much much more effort concerning maintenance.

 

[FinalPhaze987]

if its 2 of the same species it should be fine. ive seen weird things at our LFS such as up to 4 different species in the same tank bunched up in a corner (so most of them were touching)...after talking with a marine biologist at the monterey bay aquarium, species shouldnt be mixed and especially touching, with an exception to some genus of condylactus (which can be seen living in large groups)

If its a host specimen your looking for, you can always try different types of coral...ive had clowns host in an elegance, frogspawn, hammer, umbrella leather, open brain, and even a cabbage leather...ive seen post from people saying it host their powerhead...

 

[mr_X]

i have a clown that resides in a colony of zoos :roll:

 

[ChrisRD]

For that size/shape tank if I was going with flourescent lighting I'd probably use T-5s (w/high quality individual reflectors).

I'm not a huge fan of PCs (I've tried them). They'll get the job done - there are plenty of nice PC lit tanks to prove that - but personally I prefer VHO or T-5 for fluorescent lighting.

JMO

 

[IslandCrow]

If the only reason you want to get an anemone is for the clownfish, I wouldn't do it, especially with that lighting. As you've seen, it can be done, but there are a lot of "if"s, and you can't control them all. Just because you put an anemone high on a rock doesn't mean it will stay there. A captive clownfish does not need an anemone, or even an anemone substitute to be healthy and happy. It will find an area of the tank it likes, lay down its claim and that's that.