Light Medium Saltwater

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July 28th, 2010 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Light Medium Saltwater

aquarium lighting question?

i have a 29 gallon saltwater aquarium that has been running for a 1 month and 1 week, it contains live rock and live sand…before i purchase anemones and coral, i would like to know what type of lighting i should purchase…because there are so many types by a single brand its confusing….
i plan on getting
-1 anemones either long tentacle or bubble
-1 trumpet coral
-1 button coral
-1 leather coral
-1 finger coral
- 1 feather duster
and i would also get a clown fish.
with my stocking above, can you recommend what type of lighting i should purchase, its should be 22 inches long for coral growth. but i also have another lighting system behind the 22 inch and its 18 inches long, should i still use it or would it give to much light? these corals are medium light

A standard rule of thumb is this if you want to keep soft corals then you should have at least 3-5 watts per gallon if you want to keep hard corals then 5-8 watts per gallon. you should also control the amount of light by using timers. In your case wanting to keep Trumpet or Candy Cane coral you would need 5-8 watts per gallon for at least 8-10 hours daily. I have been keeping saltwater aquariums for 35 years and using this rule is new about 15 years. The type of light you use is a personal choice. If you use Metal Halides you will have a heating issue, T5 lighting is the best bang for your buck but LED is the best. I hope that this was helpful. if you have any other questions you can contact me directly by email. barrygeller@yahoo.com I answer questions all the time for people all over the world. Happy Reefing