Lighitng

[fishyboi]

Will a VHO light and a retro fit kit do the job to keep corals alive?? I have a 75 gal long tank which is 5ft, want to get some corals in there, so I was wondereing if the 2 lights should do the job.

 

[snarfe]

it really depends on what kinds of corals you want, and if you plan on using high output VHO. you could prolly keep mostly soft stuff like xenia or some leathers, some Large stony polyps, and zoanthids. you prolly won't get the fully potenial of color out of the corals but they will live. but i mean if your getting a retro then you can always add more, theres also t-5's which is a smaller dia. and most of the bulbs produce much more PAR

 

[fishyboi]

Im just getting into corals, so do I have to choose if I want hard or soft corals? I want a variety of them and something not to easy or not to hard. My lfs told me to get a retro fit kit and a VHO

 

[snarfe]

no, you don't have to choose hard or soft. but some coral that has a calcium based skeleton (hard) need more PAR for photosysthesis, compared to most soft corals. i would also retro fit whether you went with VHO's or T-5's. if you go with VHO then get the high output bulbs, and a nice ballast like an icecap so that if you ever really get into it and need more light and don't want to go down the road of buy metal halides, you can switch to t-5's with single reflectors and you could fit double the amount of bulbs compared to the VHO's. check out www.premiumaquatics.com or www.reefgeek.com for different lighting options and retro fit kits

 

[fishyboi]

no, you don't have to choose hard or soft. but some coral that has a calcium based skeleton (hard) need more PAR for photosysthesis, compared to most soft corals. i would also retro fit whether you went with VHO's or T-5's. if you go with VHO then get the high output bulbs, and a nice ballast like an icecap so that if you ever really get into it and need more light and don't want to go down the road of buy metal halides, you can switch to t-5's with single reflectors and you could fit double the amount of bulbs compared to the VHO's. check out www.premiumaquatics.com or www.reefgeek.com for different lighting options and retro fit kits

Thanks snarfe, you gave me all the info I need

 

[Dominuslive]

You can also check out Wetwebmedia.com, they shed a different light on the subject, and will give a slightly different approach. These are the hobbyist that get paid to be hobbyist.