Coral

[wayne]

Hey James/Steve

Will you be stocking coral again in the near future?, my first batch many moons back was from you guys and still going strong after 3 tank moves :wink: and also them halides i had off you steve need some livestock underneath them now :D

Its good to see everything on the move again :wink:

Wayne

[Macca]

Wayne,

I am sure Steve will be registering shortly. We will be selling frags /corals again very shortly. Just building the coral farm back up. I also hope Steve continues to be involved although his other Job has been demanding lately.

James

[Coral Cultivations]

Hi Wayne, nice to hear from you - its been a long time.

I am slowly but surely getting my frag system put back together - my accountancy workload is VERY heavy at the mo, so its a case of getting bits done on the tanks in between tax returns/year end accounts, but I am gradually getting there....

I'm glad the halides are working well for you, I'm on the lookout for some myself now... although being able to get them at trade prices certainly helps, but they are still a fair investment.

Steve

[total*clowns]

Cool 8) I was going to ask if you were going to sell any corals at any time !!! Got my answer now :lol:

[wayne]

Hey Steve
Good to see your still at it, halides have done there job for the last 7 months with no problems mate..did change the 20ks down to 14k, with the actinics it was a bit too blue for me but kept them for a change now and again :wink:

[Coral Cultivations]

Yeah, you will have noticed from the photos I used to the post on the website and (the other forum I can't name!) that I struggled with the blue content on my photos..... still, the African Blues i used to grow by the dozen looked amazing under them!

Steve

[Macca]

Talking about bulbs I just replaced one of our units with a 250 watt coralvue 14k and I must admit it is the best colour I have seen for viewing corals. It looks very natural with a slight tinge of blue. I am really happy with it, just hope the softies appreciate it also.

James

[tonyponty]

hi what sort of corals dont need a much light as i only have the 2 that came with the tank (strip lights ) but wondering weather to get one of those with 4 lights in that bolts on to each end of tank and can you tell me if these are any good thx
my tank is 4ft by 15inch and 18 inch deep been up and running about 11 mth

[Macca]

I think you are refering to a luminaire. I used one for growing out soft coral, mushrooms and some LPS (Candy Cane) Worked well. Being a tight ****** I used to only use the 4 lights seldom and found 1 blue and 1 white to work ok. I am sure others on the forum (Steve and Chris) as well as other members will be able to point you in the right direction. What corals were you hoping to keep?

James

[Wilfy]

I have a mate who hs a 36 x 15 x 15 tank with 3 x T8's. 2 x white and 1 x blue. He keeps mushrooms, pulsing xenia, leathers, finger corals, most softies really but keeps away from and LPS (brain, slipper, candycane, trumpet,, etc) , anemones and SPS (acros) corals.
I used to keep similar under 4 x T8's (2 x white and 2 x blue) in a tank your size but upgraded to 5 x T5's several years back.

[Coral Cultivations]

For an 18" deep tank 4 (or more) T5 tubes is your best bet, T8 tubes are too weak to penetrate that depth of water efficiently, unless you intend limiting your stock to mushroom polyps, zoo rocks, leather corals and similar animals - in which case leathers and similar soft corals would be ok on the higher levels, with zoos and mushrooms nearer the base of the tank.

4x T5 tubes would open up far more options, including lps corals such as torches, hammerheads, trumpet corals and brains, as well as allowing the full range of soft corals to be placed anywhere in the tank.

If you intend eventually getting into sps corals, such as Acorpora and Montipora then metal halides are the ultimate lighting option for a reef tank, and to be honest T5 tubes can't compare with them, but they are expensive to run, require open top tanks and in summer cooling fans to prevent the setup from overheating, not to mention the cost of the units themselves.

Steve

[tonyponty]

hi thx to all for your views as these will be my first corals im not really sure which would be the best to use to start with james so any ideas will do but prob a few that been mentioned on here although a list would be nice if anyone as the time to do one then i could take it from there untill i get more light sorted out and how much are the lights that have 4 light in them thx

[liquidlogic]

ahh thats good to hear cant wait to see how this goes. rememb er to take lots of pics!!!

[Dons1903]

not really sure which would be the best to use to start with

A few mushrooms would be the best to start with as they don't require much light. Once you have a bit of light you can try any of the leather corals as they are really hardy.

[tonyponty]

thx for all your replys