40 gallon breeder and corals

[ridgenesss]

In about a week im out to buy another 40gallon breeder so i can have a fw planted and a sw reef tank.

I know that since 40gallons are not as tall as other tanks would a dual bulb t5 be sufficient enough to grow corals? im not trying to grow the most complicated of corals. mostly low level stuff.

since im not even gonna have a light on the tank for a few weeks i guess i could stop being stingy and save up for a 4 bulb but im trying to save money wherever i can.

also could i get some recommendations on corals that are easier to start off with? thanks a bunch

[Cliff]

I would recommend soft corals such as leathers, mushrooms, button polyps, clove polyps, and green star polyps. All are really easy to grow, some to the point they could take over your tank when they are very happy

As for your lighting, I would not recommend a 2 bulb T5HO. Although that should be enough to support softies, if you even want any other types of corals you would need to up-grade. I would recommend the 4 bulb T5HO fixture. That way you can keep what ever coral you want in that tank

I friend of mine had a 40 gallon breeder tank with SPS, LPS, and soft corals in it. He had a 4 bulb fixture on his tank and all of his corals grew like weeds. I used to buy a ton of frags from him as he was constantly selling them due to the high growth rates

Here's a few more ideas as well
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=89069

[ridgenesss]

thanks a bunch.

ill be picking up the tank next week and starting a journal on here.

im most likely gonna buy a few pieces of cure live rock and cure the rest myself(cured is like 7.99 a lb at my lfs)

so the tank will sit for a few weeks covered without a light while its cycling

[Cliff]

Also, take some time to read-up on the options for a 4 bulb fixture. Specifically, how the bulbs are controlled.

Some fixtures will have a separate power cord and switch for each pair of bulbs. I prefer this one as you can completely control them separately with timers, set more than one photo period per 24 cycle, or just not use one set of bulbs all together. These will also typically have a few LED moon lights on them controlled by a third power cord and switch. This is the type that I personally prefer.

Other fixtures have one power cord and a single internal timer for sets of bulbs. Some of those are not too flexible and may limit your timing options. But you only have one cord to plug in and no extra timers to buy

Just take some time and read-up on to figure out what you like, if you have not done this already

[ridgenesss]

i purchased an aquatic life dual bulb t5 for my freshwater tank which im really happy with.

they also make a model for sw that has 4 bulbs, 2 led moon lights, and a built in timer. It has three cords controlled the 2 10k daylight, 2 actinic and the led moonlights. it's a bit more than i wanted to pay but i think it would be well worth it.

i've been told that most people run both the 10k and the actinic for about 8 hrs, the turn of the 10k and let the actinic run for another 2 hours, or somewhere around that ratio.

here are the links of the two lights ive been looking at


http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...8&pcatid=23758

http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticLi...FIT54U-vi.html

[Cliff]

I have a older version of the aquatic-life fixture that you linked

It's pretty good fixture.

I use a mixture of superblue 20K, white 12K and actinic bulbs. I prefer to use more super blue than white as it still gives your corals a lot of usable light and less usable light for algae.