My 6 gal letdown

[skylsdale]

Alright, so I spent my afternoon at Home Depot collecting supplies, the doing a retro on my battlescarred Eclipse 6 (this thing has been through EVERYTHING, from freshwater to orchids and now reef) to provide it one last stand before it become too unusable. So, now I've got a 3x14w curly-q retro in the hood, and not quite sure if my original plans will work.

I was hoping to just stock the tank with Pocilloporids and mabe various sponge spp. in the lower areas, allowing the Pocilloporids to just spread and grow. Maybe adding a Montipora spp. as well. I may or may not add a fish; haven't decided yet (the smallest appropriate fish that would fit this tank are from the Caribbean, and I just can't bring myself to mix biotopes).

Anyway, I know we're dealing with a pretty minimal amount of light here, and for some reason I thought it was so much more than it actually is (maybe because it's the most light I've ever had over this tank). But those of you with experience in keeping the above spp. of corals, give me your thoughts and experiences as to how well you think they would do under these conditions.

 

[skylsdale]

Well, I pretty much decided that I'm not going to risk it (and from the number of views and lack of replies, I assume it's not advisable). I think I'm going to go with a more Caribbean themed approach: zoos, sponges, etc. with maybe a trio of masked gobies and a sexy shrimp pair.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry I didn't see it earlier...I don't think you'd have much success with that amount of light and Poci. Zoanthids are a good idea.

 

[skylsdale]

Thanks Matt. I'll reserve the stonies for another setup.

 

[Anonymous]

Just curious ... what color is the curly Q light? I can only find those in very yellow shades, too much for my tastes.

 

[skylsdale]

I'm pretty sure they are around 6500k, although I can't find that info anywhere on the packaging. Reading older threads, I know it used to be on there. I got the ones labeled "daylight," which are in the blue packaging. There are green and yellow packages as well, but those are all 'cool white' or 'warm white' and they have a much lower kelvin rating, making them a pretty nasty yellow. Attached is a shot I just took of the tank with all three lights on. There is some green coralline on the rock, so that gives it a bit of a yellowish tint in the pic. I would say that the light is pretty white. Adding a 13w or 9w actinic would probably take away any yellow tint that you didn't like.