Newbie Saying Hi and Question on Lighting
 

Good day,
I just wanted to introduce myself as a newbie, I just started a 33 gallon salt water tank about 2 months ago. Been keeping freshwater tanks all my life and thought I'd try something new. The inhabitants are 2 Occellaris clows, some mushroom coral and a candy cane coral which I just acquired from a fella who recommended me this site.

I would like to get an Anenome for my Clowfish but heard that they're very hard to keep. I will probably be obtaining more corals soon and probably 1-2 more fish and a couple of shrimps. Nothing exotic, probably a tang or an anthias.

I do have a newbie question though. Right now I have a ugly 18watt coolwhite lamp in my canopy. I plan to upgrade very soon. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with ~110W of Compact Flourescent. Most deffinately 2X55W bulbs as those will be the easiest for me to fit into the existing canopy.

However, I'm unsure as to what degree Kelvin I need for lights. Some of the reading I've done suggest that 6500K is perfectly fine while other sources say go with a 50/50 10000K and Actinic, and some say Actinic and 6500K. If someone can point me in the right direction that would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,
KV

I use two PC bulbs, a 10K and a attinic bulb and have no problem with the lighting.

Blue tangs got it right i have 10000k and actinic, Also dont you think a tang is not the right fish for a 33 gallon most tangs get over a foot long at least.

reply
 

Welcome to Canreef KV!
I will third the 10K and actinic as well. The info you have recieved about the tang is correct, I won't even put one in my 54 gallon tank. As for the anemone, try this link for some research material. It helped me a lot. :biggrin:
http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/intro.html

Danny

Anthias need alot of room to swim ... some say even more room than Tangs and a 33G is definately on the small side for both species ... also they require feeding at least 3 times a day so you would have to be sure that your filtration can keep up with the byproducts of heavy feedings.

A mature tank is preferred for a anemone < 6 mos to a year old > ... best bet is to wait a little till a split shows up locally here in the buy/sell section.

Welcome to Canreef :mrgreen:

Oh yes and welcome. Also if you want to check some basic needs like tank size www.liveaquaria.com is pretty good with size recomendations.

Wow.. thanks for the responses. Looks like actinic and 10k it is then. Any one know of cheap places for these bulbs?

So no Anthias and no Tang... Hm.. ok. .. I guess it's more reseach here I come.

Dont worry there are still lots of cool fish you can keep. You just have to look alittle harder :biggrin:

reply
 

If you want to buy bulbs cheap locally I'd recommend Wai's or Gold's. If you don't mind orderinf online you might find a better deal, Aquaria.ca or JL's are a good place to start. :biggrin:

Hi and welcome. You can go with actinic and daylight bulbs as well - order the actinic online (save some $$) and get the daylight for $13 at Brite-Lite. Some find that 10K and actinic is a little dim.

Or if you like the pink/VHO kind of look you can source the GE 9325K bulbs - they also do well in combination. There was a link to a supplier in Vancouver a while back, you'd have to find that thread. :biggrin: