BigJoe

ok i decided pretty much that i want to convert my 14g into SW as a nano reef and i was wondering if my lighting was sufficient... right now i have 2 14w bulbs... i think i can possibly get some 26w cfls at wal-mart i just gotta make sure they are the same type...

I'm wanting to keep soft corals and zoas... with a couple clowns or a firefish and a small CUC

if the info i received was true about the "daylight CFL's" then they are 6500 k color... is this going to be ok down to at most 14 inches I really would prefer to stay out of T-5 fixtures and my wife would probably get mad at my messy wiring to mod a hood for it...

so to sum up my actual questions...

is 6500 k ok for soft corals and zoas and the fish
is 28w of that light enough or would i need to get more wattage??
any extra advice is appreciated also...

agsansoo

The K (color temp) of the bulb really doesn't matter as much as the intensity (PAR) of the bulb. So 28w of CFL light isn't as much as I would like for a 14 gallon SW tank. I would recommend around 70w.

BigJoe

ok so i did a little more research and i found some SHO cfl's that go all the way up to 105w per bulb i was thinking if I were to jump up to 45-even 75w per bulb could i possibly add maybe some LPS or clam?

the fact that i wouldn't have to mod my fixture is saving enough money that i might could afford to just upgrade the bulbs... do you think these are worth the investment??

BigJoe

nevermind on the LPS question after a very smal amount of research i don'tthink i wanna do that...

but would adding more wattage sat a total of 90-120 w total make the coral live better or be brighter?

Mike

90 - 120 watts, thats a good amount of light over a 14 gallon tank. PAR wise along with the depth of a 14 gallon I think you could keep most hermatypic corals. The problem though is the fluctuating water conditions in smaller tanks. That much light could lead to fairly big temperature swings and evaporation leading to salinity swings, etc. I'd stick with soft corals and zoanthids or some of the hardier lps species in a smaller set up. Not saying it can't be done, but it can be a big headache to keep lps/SPS in a small tank.

BigJoe

yeah I knew sps would probably be a headache... i will probably wait until i can get a bigger tank and more experience before trying that... i do plan to do away with the plastic hood as a whole and add a glass hood... that way if i need to get another hood to put a single bulb in i can do it cheap(er)... the only thing i don't know how to do is with the filter that i was planning to use as a ref. ... I might have to see if i can set up some kind of sump... but that would require more lights... and space... arg... this is torture...