Starting a new reef tank

[somethingcorp904]

I have my tank all set up and i had a question about the lighting..is it strong enough for soft corals?in a 15 gallon..it reads...18w x 2... 120v / 60 hz.......i know i shouldnt have any coral in it yet...but i didnt have anywhere else to put my star polyps...and they have been in there for like 2 days now....and their still not coming out..is this normal?...and about how long should it take the cloudiness to go away in this 15 gallon...

 

[somethingcorp904]

incysor?

 

[incysor]

That light is probably a bit weak for 15g.
If the tank is brand new and you put the polyps in they're probalby less in shock from lack of light than they are from the fact that it's a new tank that hasn't finished it's cycle yet. I couldn't keep star polyps alive for anything in the same setup I have now, when I had the 55g tank in place of the upgraded 75g. They seem to be doing great in my 75g now though.

How did you acclimate them to the new tank? Dripline, or just throw them in? They're probably in shock. They may slowly recover, or it may be too much and they may not come back out at all. It's pretty much too early to tell. I'd say it's no normal for them to stay receded for two days if everything is healthy, but, everything in my 55g, was healthy and I could never get them to thrive, so I don't know.

I'd upgrade the lights to at least 55w-65w for that size tank. And don't stick anything else in there until the tank finishes it's cycle.

B

 

[EcoSystem]

How long has the tank been set up for...Corals should not go in a new tank for a while.

2 to 3 watts per gallon is fine for soft corals to just get by on. But you most likely will need more light in that tank. You also need to take into account water displacement from substrate and live rock. Meaning that there will be less water volume per watt than the actual size of the tank.

18 x 2 = 36 watts.

In a 15 gallon tank (15 x 2 =30) that is just over 2 watts per gallon.

If after adding live rock and substrate you are left with 10 gallons of water (displacement) then you have just over 3 watts per gallon of light. 10 x 3 = 30.

Do you know how many lbs of substrate and live rock you have?

I might also make a request to our webmaster that we make a page with a calculation engine on it to help with light, displacement and the the little known trick of mixing salt at diff temps.

-Eco

 

[shaggydoo541]

Another question about the current lighting I have is what type of lighting is it? Actinic, 10K, PC, etc. Another reason they may not be expanding is because of the cloudiness. Having only 36 watts combined with cloudy water would not allow much light if any to get to the coral. I think it will be lucky if the polyps make it especially through your cycle. Good luck though.

 

[somethingcorp904]

yea i guess well see what happens//// as far as the cloudiness goes the tank has been set up for 3 days now...its a little less cloudy ...but still cloudy....im running a millenium filter on the back...