Do corals grow much more slowly under cf bulbs?

[glb]

I have a 12g nano with stock flourescent lights. The lights are 75% blue actinic and 25% 10000k white. My corals (softies like zoas and lps lord acans) have good color but they grow slowly and some don't grow at all). My water parameters check out so I'm wondering if these lights are really insufficient for optimal growth. I'm planning on upgrading to LEDs but I was curious about this.

 

[glb]

The lights are 3 months old btw.

 

[Ron Reefman]

In a tank that size I think you are fine with CF bulbs. And 3 actinic and 1 white is a good combo, IMHO. How old is your tank set up (you said the bulbs are 3 months old)? It takes time for any tank to mature and settle in. And smaller corals grow less (not necessarily slower, but less) than bigger corals. I have a Hollywood Stunner that was less than 2" in diameter when I got it 3 years ago. So it only grows at the edges and there is only about 4" of edge. So it doesn't add a lot on new coral at that size. But the bigger it gets, the more growing edge there is and the faster it adds new material. At a year it was 3"-4" in diameter. At 2 years it was 12" in diameter. Now it is 18-24"" in diameter (depending on where you measure it) and it has maybe 100" of growing edge! I've even taken off a lot of material in frags and small colonies for friends and for sale. Give your tank some time (6-12 months) and keep the water parameters good and the corals will start to grow better.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Question, are we talking about Compact FLourescents or Power Compacts? Big difference there. If you are using CFL, they really aren't strong enough for corals.

 

[glb]

The tank is four years old. Fowlr for over 3 years and added coral for the first time 5 mos ago

 

[frankdontsurf]

Question, are we talking about Compact FLourescents or Power Compacts? Big difference there. If you are using CFL, they really aren't strong enough for corals.

Can you elaborate?

I cycled my (10g) tank with 3x 14w 6500k Compact Flo's (the little swirly ones used to replace regular incandescent). I have a Favia skeleton that started to regenerate in the month I had it running with those cheapo lights. I'm actually about to put them back in my hood. They dont look great, equivalent to Daylight but they seem to do well for growing corals in size - they don't do much for color it seems.

I have little experience, none really if we compare it to yours but I'm pretty sure it worked. These are also the same bulbs horticulturist use to raise clones or maintain mothers.

 

[glb]

Question, are we talking about Compact FLourescents or Power Compacts? Big difference there. If you are using CFL, they really aren't strong enough for corals.

They're compact flourescent. At first the corals grew fine. My Florida ricordea and acan lords are growing. My zoas aren't. The weird thing is that I had never changed the bulbs on the tank (3 years) because it was fowlr before and it seemed the corals did better with the old bulbs, which doesn't make any sense.

 

[DSP]

Cfls grow coral just fine in smaller tanks the only difference between t5s and cfls is t5s penetrate a little deeper so there better for taller tanks.Id stick with the cfls on that size tank if it were for me

 

[glb]

Cfls grow coral just fine in smaller tanks the only difference between t5s and cfls is t5s penetrate a little deeper so there better for taller tanks.Id stick with the cfls on that size tank if it were for me

You don't think LEDs are a good idea?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Almost anything would be better. I'll admit my bad, when you said CF I read CF and my brain thought PC.:frusty:

And you didn't ask if anything else would be better, you asked if CF made coral grow more slowly. So as to 'would leds be better?" The answer is probably, just be careful with them and don't bleach everything in the tank.

 

[glb]

Almost anything would be better. I'll admit my bad, when you said CF I read CF and my brain thought PC.:frusty:

And you didn't ask if anything else would be better, you asked if CF made coral grow more slowly. So as to 'would leds be better?" The answer is probably, just be careful with them and don't bleach everything in the tank.

Thanks! I convert by running them very low at first, right?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Cfls grow coral just fine in smaller tanks the only difference between t5s and cfls is t5s penetrate a little deeper so there better for taller tanks.Id stick with the cfls on that size tank if it were for me

T5 is a high output lamp, that puts out many times more lumens than an ordinary Compact Flouresent Light, one that most just use to light their Fuge that has Macro Algae in it. There is a huge difference in the lighting.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Thanks! I convert by running them very low at first, right?

Yes.

 

[DSP]

T5 is a high output lamp, that puts out many times more lumens than an ordinary Compact Flouresent Light, one that most just use to light their Fuge that has Macro Algae in it. There is a huge difference in the lighting.

T5 ho is the high output t5.theres not much difference in regular t5s and cfls its from personal experience not from what people think or hear say.Iv grown the same coral with cfls that iv grown with t5s and t5hos in the exact same tank.Have also done the same in planted aquariums lol

 

[DSP]

You don't think LEDs are a good idea?

Depends on the led.The Ai nano would be a great light for that setup imo.

 

[glb]

Depends on the led.The Ai nano would be a great light for that setup imo.

Thanks! I'll check it out.