Greenery Recommendations????

jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
Hi all! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I was just looking through all the tank journals and I started to be very envious of all the colors you all have throughout your tanks. I have a very basic setup that's about 5 months old. 20 gallon, no skimmer, power filter only, lights are Reef Sun f15/t8/50/50 (whatever that means - any help on this would be appreciated as well). And all is well with my inhabitants (got a royal gramma for some added color and have nice corraline growth) - but I want some GREENS!

Does anyone have any recommendations on greenery that might work out for my setup. And any care information would be great.

Thanks Guys and Gals!
:clink:

Jessica
 
Woodstock

Woodstock

The Wand Geek was here. ;)
RS STAFF
Green mushrooms, green hammers, frogspawn, green star polyps, green sinularia.... that's all I can think of right now..
 
R.yumaDaddy?

R.yumaDaddy?

Active Member
Trachyphyllia AKA open brain. Ive got one in my reef and absolutley love it!
Caulestrea AKA candy cane coral also comes in some really sweet green morphs too.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
Hey folks...she has only 15 watts of light for her tank...(unless she has 2x 15 watts)
Not much that has been mentioned is going to do well in that low of light...
Jess, you're really going to need to upgrade your lights to keep much of anything other than a couple of small fish.
you could keep most beginner corals with one of the Coralife 2X65 watt light hoods. You should be able to get one for about $100 at
Hellolights.
http://www.lampsnow.com/242xcoraqpch1.html
http://www.lampsnow.com/242xcoluaqho.html

OK, they've gone up a little...$112 or $117 with the lunarlights...
 
jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
Yes Boomer - I only have the 1 light strip. When I do the upgrade, will it simply fit onto the top of my tank or will I have to make some adjustments so that it fits.

Sorry if I was unclear in the first post about my lighting. I'm really confused about the whole lighting thing!

Thanks for the advice Boomer!
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
Plants (algaes) need a lot of light as well. If yours is a standard 20 high, (24" long) those lights I linked to just sit right on top. The can be mounted with legs to get them above the tank a bit, and are recommended.
http://www.lampsnow.com/coraqmounleg.html

Lighting_CoralifeLegs.jpg
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
Whoops...get it right...Boomer is the "other guy"...the one who actually knows stuff...I'm just a hack...;)
bt glad to help in anyway I can...
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Looks like that would be enough for softies and probably plants and macros. Personally I would go w/2 65w pc bulbs. It will greatly expand what you can keep. I'm not familiar enough with the various tank dimensions, but the depth of the tank as well as the length play into the decision on lights.
Example: I have a 125g which is 6ft long and 18in deep. I have had a fixture 2ith 4 96w pc bulbs since the beginning which is fine for my fish and soft corals. I want to expand my variety so I am getting (hopefully delivered today) a 6ft fixture with 3 150w MH bulbs and 4 96w PC bulbs. This should allow me to have anything I can find and/or afford as far as light goes. It is also enought that when I upgrade to a 210 or maybe a 235 I will still be good for most things. (I am thinking long term since I want a bigger reef and to turn the 125 into a FOWLR).
Anyway just my 2 cents. Hope it helps. Woodstock and others know much more about this so hopefully one of them will chime in if I missed something.
 
jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
Thanks Lynn for the advice...Boomer for the cyclopeeze link. Boozeman...the link you posted is broken...can you try again?

Lynn...when you refer to the 2 65's...is that the light strip with the 4 lights??
 
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lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Not necessarily or at least that is not what I was speaking of. They kind of look like two bulbs but really are one. Then you have 2 of them so it does look like 4. The main reason I mentioned them is because of the lenghth. I made the mistake initially of buying a 4ft fixture for a 6ft tank. this left both ends basically unlighted and I had to be careful to put my corals in the center where they got more light.
BoomerD posted some links to lights like what I was talking about.
The short answer is that you want a fixture the same length as the tank and you want as much wattage as you can get (afford). The more light you have the more variety of corals you can keep. The depth of the tank also plays in as a factor but with your tank should not be much of a concern.
As an example I have a 6ft long 18in deep 125g tank. Originally I had a 4ft long fixture withe 4 96w PC lights. I just bought a fixture withe 3 15w mh bulbs plus 4 96w pc bulbs. It arrived yesterday, but I am anxiously looking forward to the improvement in my tank as well as all of the corals I can now buy that I could only drool over before.
Hope that helps some.
Here is the link from BoomerD again to make it easy,

you could keep most beginner corals with one of the Coralife 2X65 watt light hoods. You should be able to get one for about $100 at
Hellolights.
http://www.lampsnow.com/242xcoraqpch1.html
http://www.lampsnow.com/242xcoluaqho.html


BTW I bought my new light from Hellolights as well which is where the links go. They had gread customer service during the purchase and when we had a small problem (a small piece broken on the fixture upon arrival) they immediately shipped a replacement piece. I would absolutely do business with them again.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
HelloLights is one of the best places I've ever done business with. GREAT customer service. Marine Depot is another one that comes highly recommended.
 
jkhalliday76

jkhalliday76

Member
Thanks Lynn and Boomer for the awesome lighting advice/suggestions. Boozeman...nice link...really cool. I went to the LFS today in hopes of upgrading my light but they didn't have a 24" in stock. I think I'll just go to HelloLights and get one of those.
 
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