What Can I Add ?

[pluff]

:confused: Ok as you all know,i finally got my 29 gallon with FOWLR all cycled,and i a got my first pair of Percula Clowns.Now my question is there anyway i can brighten up my tank by adding some type of coral or plants,that i don't need special lighting?The light i have on my tank is just a regular white 18" forulsant bulb.Can i go and get a 50/50 bulb,or a blue actinic bulb that i can add a few simple and easy corals to brighten up my tank,without spending alot of cash on an expensive lightning system?:confused: :dance:

Thanks:fish:

[Greg Moore]

We have a 30g hex that is FOWLR and we added a couple of bright mushrooms. Being a hex limits lighting choices (no length) and I had no plans on getting into PC (don't like them anyway).

The blue and orange mushrooms do just fine under a 15W "Powerglow" and the colour is about right too.. Some anenome's will do fine too, especially the long tentical guys that usually go really cheap.

Plant wise, I don't know of any that look nice in a marine tank that will grow under low light. I have also heard that some of the sponge family will do well under low light. Some of them have intense orange or red colouration, I would look more into those choices.

Greg Moore

[canadawest]

Hey Pluff,

You can get better bulbs for an 18" fixture that will allow you to keep most mushrooms, some leathers, and a variety of other softies. You could even keep some caulerpa if you wanted more color.

Greg gives good advice on the Hagen Power-Glo and you also have the Coralife lamps, like asmodeus mentioned which give you even more choice. Great choices would be a the Coralife 50/50, Trichromatic, or 10,000K lamp. If you have two tubes, even better would be one Trichromatic with one Actinic or Magtinic lamp.

I disagree with Greg's advice on Anemones for several reasons, most of which is that 15W of light is NOT enough to keep an anemone alive as they are a mostly photosynthetic animal. I wouldn't keep any Anemone unless you had VHO or stronger lighting. And even if you did have enough lighting, unless you were only going to keep the Anemone, it would quickly outgrow a 29gal, and likely wander around stinging most of the other corals in your tank.