Hello everyone, i have a 55 gallon saltwater tank. I have a sand bottom, and I am planning to buy two same species percula clown fish in a few days. I have a 5 stage canister filter with mechanical and bio filtration. I am pretty confident my tank is maturing. I am wondering what kind of plants to get for a reef that i will set up for my clown fish and possibly a blue tang (no nemo references please). I wanted to get an anemone for my clown fish, but my lfs told me some clowns will not take to it, so i am only going to try it out. Anyway, just looking for some advice about which coral/plants to buy for the lil guys

A big concern for corals, and even more for anemone is how much lighting do you have? If your not doing LEDS, then you need 5 watts per gallon for anemone's, and min of 3 watts a gallon for some corals, more for others.

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

Well I want an anemone if the clowns want to take to it. And I just bought this New 48" 260W PL Aquarium Light Reef Marine Fish Tank Hood Light:Amazon:Kitchen & Dining. Thanks!

That 4.7 watts per gallon. Should be close enough for anything you want, and I think the anemone will be ok. Get your self 3 timers for your lights. You want the atnics to be on for 10 hours, your daylights on for 4 hours, and your led's on the rest of the time. I like to overlap my led's. Schedule your daylights for when you expect the most viewing time for you. For instance, my schedule is like this. led's shutoff at 10:30 am, atnics turn on at 10am, daylights turn on at 1 pm, daylights turn off at 5pm, led's turn on at 7:30 pm, atnics turn off at 8pm. I might adjust that schedule one hour later, but I'm still undecided.

I question the quality of sky products though. I bought a pump on ebay for cheap money. Ended up it was a sky pump. Came in a brown box, no paperwork, and the company I bought it from had no clue about the head height, and I couldn't find anything on-line either. They contacted the company, and after 5 days, told me to send it back free of charge. (that was nice of them)

BUT, it may be a different company, and I hope it is.

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

You might want to consider upping your day day light lights. Your tank needs atleast 8 hours of day light.

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To be safe I wouldn't add an anemone until this tank is atleast 6 months old. Those light you have have the right wattage but almost every hobbyist that I have heard that you used them have had problems. Keep this in mind when it comes to this hobby you get what you pay for. Cheaper is not always the best way to go.

__________________
If It Is To Be It's Up To Me!!!
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Really? LFS that does saltwater & corals only told me 4-5 hours of daylight is all it needs. I have no corals, and also no fish at this time. (Tank needs to be fallow till end of the month.)

I figured I might want to increase the daylight when I add corals, but do I need to for the fish too?

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

With only 4 hours of day light you would even have a hard time growing corallin algae. These tanks are suppose to mimic nature as close as we can get it right? Other then the Arctic in the Winter time, Where else on Earth do you know of that only gets 4 hours of day light? How long has your tank been setup?

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If It Is To Be It's Up To Me!!!
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(Long story, but) 4 months. (Bought a previously established tank and transported it) I lost all my fish due to an unseen dead fish that was in there an unknown amount of time. He was under a rock. So end of July will be 10 weeks fallow for the ich/velvet cycle to be gone. (Even though I basically restarted it) I now have a 30 gal QT tank setup.

But I do have coralline algae growing on some rocks.

I had the actnics coming on for an hour before the days, and on an hour after the days. with the actnics shutting off while the days were on. And had the days on from 8am-7pm. But adjusted it after the suggestion from the LFS.

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

Light are the life blood of our tanks. Your time frame was right using your actnics an hour before and a hour after. The only reason I can think of to cut day time lights that short would be to battle a algae problem. Just try upping your lights for a week and see what happens.

__________________
If It Is To Be It's Up To Me!!!
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He also told me the actnics should be on the whole time the daylights are on, is this right?


BTW, OP, sorry to hijack your thread. But this info is also valuable to you.

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10 gallon fresh setup with 1 giant danio, 3 placos, and 1 guppie.
30 gal bare bottom QT
55 gallon salt setup with a bunch of crabs and snails. false perc clown, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, a green mandarin, and 1 cleaner shrimp. And a few corals
180 gallon acrylic not setup yet. (Need a few more things before it gets filled with water.)
Tanks not setup, 10, 30, 55 with stand. Either 30 or the 55 will be the sump for the 180

This is not a hijack this is all the same subject. I use 400watt MH with 12k bulbs so to balance out the color I keep my actnics on all day. The lower the kelvins the more yellow the light the higher the kelvin the bluer the light.

__________________
If It Is To Be It's Up To Me!!!
http://www.aquariumforum.com/vbgoogl...216796875&zoom

i suggest you use some led aquarium light,it good for coral.

I agree with this.

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