lighting help

PufferGuy

PufferGuy

Reefing newb
My tax returns are coming in soon and i was gonna upgrade the lighting on my 40gal. I want to keep an anemone for sure and maybe a clam, also will probably look into some other corals.

This is the light i was looking at, would it be enough?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+16770&pcatid=16770

Also, i have a White Ribbon Eel, which needs a sealed tank otherwise they can escape. Will the temp get too hot if the tank is sealed? I have a glass top for the tank.

Lastly, are the White Ribbon eels reef safe??

Thanks
 
I can tell you, I had the older version of the light you mentioned, I took two stabs at anemones, both of em croaked. I'd be looking at a 6 bulb version minimum if you want to keep nems
 
i'm looking on ebay now to see what i can find... what about moon lights? are they important at all? Or just for looks? What are some good moonlights that i could get if i dont end up upgrading my lighting?
 
Moonlights are just for looks. They are believed to aid in the spawning of corals, but 99.999% of reef keepers don't have to worry about that.
 
really? if its rated for 192, even if its 50% as effective as it says it should still be at 91W which is plenty...

I'm not trying to have you guys agree with me, just trying to ration this out... im trying to get lights on a budget here haha
 
on my old tank i had 4 96w bulbs and i got a couple nems that never did good and that was on a 50 gal tank. i here you about the budget look on aquatraders.com they dont have the best stuph but they do have a lot of cheap things also
 
so on a budget, what would you go with for lights? I want to keep an anemone for my 2 clowns for sure, i dunno if ill keep very many corals, maybe some mushrooms and polyps but thats down the road.

Also, will an anemone be ok with a Coral Beauty? I know they can nip at corals but do they nip at anemones too?
 
If you want to stick with low light corals like mushrooms and zoanthid polyps, then PCs are fine. But like others have said, anemones need about twice as much light as most commonly kept corals. So if you have your mind set on having an anemone, you'll need to pony the cash up for badass reef lights. If you don't want an anemone, then you can buy lights with a much more friendly price tag. Clowns do perfectly fine and are completely happy without anemones. They are by no means a necessity. In fact, with PC lights you can keep hairy or frilly mushrooms, which clowns find just as appealing to live in as they do an anemone.
 
are there any "lower light" anemones? I just really like the anemone/clown symbiosis but i definitely cant drop $350 on lights, so i will probably hold off on getting lights at all if i cant find a happy medium between lights and price.
 
Odyssea is a brand that had problems in the past with their fixtures catching on fire. They've since fixed that problem, but never quite got their reputation back. That said, I've never heard anything bad about their T5s (it was their metal halides that were starting fires). You would probably be able to keep an anemone under those (I kept an anemone just fine with 4 watts per gallon of T5s).
 
It has been years since they went through that. If you are on a budget, they will definitely work. But that's a choice you have to make!!
 

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