lighting & Coral

[ramora]

Appoximatly how many watts minimum per gallon to have healthy growth of soft corals. How many watts minimum for lps & sps. Would more then one retrofit kit work. No hqi lamps Just actinic & full spectrum bulbs.

[nikkipigtails]

Here's a good article for you

Lighting Requirements of Reefs Tanks

[cheeks69]

The WPG rule isn't the best way to judge what would be sufficient for corals.
It all depends on what the tank dimensions are, which type of lighting you'll be using {MH, PC's VHO's,T5's, NO etc.} and which corals you plan to keep specifically as the requirements can be drastically different.

[prow]

Originally Posted by cheeks69

The WPG rule isn't the best way to judge what would be sufficient for corals.
It all depends on what the tank dimensions are, which type of lighting you'll be using {MH, PC's VHO's,T5's, NO etc.} and which corals you plan to keep specifically as the requirements can be drastically different.

yup yup


are you asking for your tank? in general if go with sps you should keep only sps as the lighting for them would burn most lps, polyps, softies ect..then the water flow/currents needed for sps would rip the flesh off most lps ect.. you can mix but placment is challanging. most important thing is deciding on what type corals you want. then the deminsions, esp. hieght, of the tank comes in. after taking into account those things your lighting choices will be down to a few different setups of each type lighting to pick from, then comes down to your preference as which you like. WPG is pretty much obsolete as a genernal rule. it jsut dosent work as a general rule with todays lighting. reflectors, ballasts ect...advances really changed up things. what till LED's become mainstream, WPG as a general rule will really be obsolete.