Absolute minimum lighting.....

[snowprince]

Hi to all,

Finally took the plunge and signed up. Still consider myself a newbie when it comes to saltwater tanks. So I'll get right into it.

Is there an absolute minimum lighting requirement in reef tanks? Take, for example, a 10 gallon tank. I know it will depend on many factors such as stocking level, coral types, etc...But is there still an absolute lighting amount that you just got to have in order to have a functioning reef tank, with corals such as softies like zoas and mushrooms.

Let's for argument's sake use the Innovative Marine fusion 10 gallon. What is the absolute minimum lighting you can have in order to have corals such as zoas and mushrooms grow?

All feedback welcome and greatly appreciated! Thank you and have a great week

 

[mcarroll]

1000-5000 lux will do it if you give them good flow and a nice population of fish to poop on them.

Use a light meter to set up your lights such as the "LX-1010B" lux meter that I use. That meter only costs about $15, delivered, so don't go without one! If you can swing a PAR meter someday, they are more accurate – but they are a lot more expensive and for what you're doing now, they aren't necessary.

 

[mcarroll]

(That said, you might get better results with some corals at around 20,000-30,000 lux. Clams require 30,000 lux at minimum.)

 

[Reefing Madness]

1watt LEDs in a fixture would do ya. Small 2 lamp T5 unit, provided we are talking about a relatively small tank.