Lighting for 90 Gallon

[Kliman01]

I'm looking at setting up new marine tank (I'm new to marine, but have several FW tanks). It looks like what I aim going to be aiming for is FOWLR (for now). It just seems easier and I don't want to get in over my head too quickly. Having said that, a large part of why I even WANT a marine tank is that I love clown fish (It has nothing to do with the movie, I promise).

It's my understanding that a clown fish really needs to be paired with an anemone. Anemone sounds like it needs some serious light. I'm hoping to keep the day-to-day electrical consumption a lot lower than 500W of MH lighting will allow.

So, the question: Can I keep a few anemone in a tank happy/healthy with only T5 or LED lighting? If so...how many should I be looking at?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[BL1]

You can keep an anemone in a tank with T5 or LEDs ... But, what you really need to know is that clown fish do not NEED an anemone in the home aquarium. My two clowns have done just fine in my tank for 4-5 months now without one. The reason they need one in the wild is for protection from predatory animals ... things they do not need to worry about in your home.

 

[daugherty]

what size of tank

 

[Kliman01]

It's right there in the thread title..."Lighting for 90 Gallon"

 

[daugherty]

yea i missed it i would get a 6 or 8 bulb t5 with ir's

 

[Bifferwine]

Clowns do not need an anemone by any means. In fact, a lot of times, if given an anemone, they ignore it and won't even host it. Clowns will be perfectly happy and healthy without one.

I strongly advise against getting an anemone. If you think keeping corals is over your head, then you are definitely over your head with anemones. Anemones require stronger lighting and better water quality than most corals. They are one of the most challenging animals to keep in this hobby -- much more so than corals. They rarely survive in tanks that have been set up for less than a year. And if/when they get sick or die in your tank, you risk them killing everything else in the tank with them.

To keep an anemone, you will end up having to spend as much or more on lights than if you were just setting up a reef tank.

If you want to watch your clowns host something, there are plenty of good easy to keep corals that they will happily host. Hairy/frilly mushrooms are one of the best.

 

[Smitty]

+1 everyone. :)

 

[reeffreak]

+2 everyone

 

[slm32123]

+tres everyone

my clown has been happy the past year without an anemone

 

[yote]

What they said.

 

[Jmck]

i really don't like the 'new tanks' and anemones. my lfs always puts anemones in new tanks and has had no issues so far and at 3 months old i put an anemone in my tank and it is 100 percent healthy. if you have a good setup with strong lighting and maintain your tank, the nem will be fine, but in many cases they just won't open up fully for a year. the only reason established tanks are better is because as a tank gets older, the parameters become more stable. this just makes it easier for a nem but earlier just requires a well maintained tank.

btw, i have 1 nem and 2 sea apples. with another nem on the way if i find one i like.

but everyone is right, clowns do not need an anemone but if you want to eventually have corals, get lighting that is up to about 4-5 watts per gallon. t5 with individual reflectors will give you more lighting than traditional watts per gallon rule. so look at those.

sorry if i sound a bit annoyed about the nems I just don't agree that a nem needs a year old tank as a minimum.

 

[Ulta]

but in many cases they just won't open up fully for a year.

....eh :dunno:

the only reason established tanks are better is because as a tank gets older, the parameters become more stable. this just makes it easier for a nem but earlier just requires a well maintained tank.

+1, New tanks/hobbyists go through ALOT of changes in the first 6 months. Which can be very harsh on delicate creatures/corals.

And you can put whatever you want in there nems/corals only to find your clowns hosting the bottom corner of your tank.

 

[Jmck]

True about hosting anything, my clowns hosted a torch coral, I put my nem in, so i took that out, and they moved 3 inches over to the short tentacled plate coral XD when i got back from holidays though they were hosting the anemone.

 

[Solarfall]

If you're going to spend the money on high-output lighting, what's stopping you from just doing a reef tank?

Soft corals are much much much easier to keep than most anemones and don't run the same plethora of risks that anems carry. A reef tank is also a lot more rewarding than fish only IMO. It's kind of like comparing planted tanks to regular freshwater tanks, if you've ever done planted tanks that is.

And like everyone said, clowns definetly don't NEED an anem, they'll host pretty much anything. Hell, mine hosts my dwarf lionfish's fins.

 

[crazy cajun]

my Clown Host one of my powerheads !!!! and seems happy

 

[Kliman01]

I'm still learning about all of this stuff...I come from a freshwater background where everything is much simpler (so it seems). I'm excited to have a saltwater aquarium, but the reef thing is just a bit too intimidating for me at this point. I'm going to "cut my teeth" on a FOWLR tank and likely end up with a reef tank at some point. Since my initial post on this, I've found that I only really need minimal lighting for FOWLR, so I'm probably going to just use the 6-tube T8 NO fixture that I already have.

Can someone explain "hosting" to me? Based on what I assume it means, "host" seems like a poor choice of word, so I'm guessing I really have no idea what it means :)

 

[PRC]

The clowns basically lay in, on it, whatever. They make it their "go to" place. In the wild clowns use anenomes for protection. Clowns have the ability to not get "stung" by an anenome, other fish don't. So it's a safe place for clowns.

 

[Bifferwine]

It's a mutualism between the anemone and clown. The anemone provides the clown with a "home" where it is protected, and in return the clown will usually drop pieces of food into the anemone to keep it fed.

Clowns will carry out this same behavior not only with anemones, but pretty much anything in the tank -- a certain rock, a powerhead, a heater or a coral. So you don't need an anemone to see your clowns' hosting behavior.