Quick questions from a beginner

[BlackMoor]

I have had my tank up and running for about 3-4 months now without a great amount difficulty, or fish loss. A quick recap... it is a 54 gallon corner. 75lbs. of LR and an 1-1/2" live sand. I have recently had a custom refugium built to replace my original sump and skimmer setup. I have all forms of algae on my rock and a good amount of coraline forming as well. At present there are 5 fish in the tank. a Maroon Clown, a Yellow Tang, a Blue Hippo Tang, a Gold Rim Tang, and a Blue spot Jawfish. There are an assortment of snails,hermits, porcelain crabs, emerald crabs, a decorator spider crab and a red banded shrimp. I use RODI water for topping off. Lastly I have a crocea clam (doing well) and a GBTA that was just added a week ago. I have spent a fair amount of $$$ to this and devoted a sizeable amount of time as well. I don't mind doing it as I'm sure neither do any of the forum members but, I'm tired of buying a piece of equipment only to be ill informed and have to replace it before it even gets any use.
I was told by the LFS that in order to keep the clam the Compact fluorescent 10K with actinic would be fine so long as I place the clam high up on the reef, same with corals. I did as directed and the clam is healthy, I have no corals. Now I have a GBTA and I find myself back in the same spot... do I have enough light???? I have seen pictures of dieing anemones and don't want this to happen. Someone please advise, I'm at the point where the tank is pretty decent and I have gotten quite attached to the fish and have become serious about their well being, not to mention it finally looks good in my living room.
I am aware of the Tangs' concerns and will address that later, right now I just want to make sure I don't have any disasters to deal with. Thanks

 

[twistedteq]

Mushrooms, zoos and some leathers will do ok under that lighting but clams and anemones need much stronger lighting to thrive. Try to keep the clam up as high as you can and even then you might find the mantle "stretching" to get more light.

 

[BlackMoor]

The clam does fully extend its mantle. I thought it was to achieve maximum exposure too. Have had it for a few months and it has grown. This is my setup, I plan on soft corals in the future. What lighting is best for this scenario with the clam and anemone???? Thank you.

 

[jaa1456]

In my experience a PC might work, But I would switch over to T5's. At least a 4 bulb fixture. By the way that gold rim and hippo will outgrow that tank within a few months. They need larger tanks.

 

[Imbarrie]

Seems that you are relying on salespeople to tell you what you need. This has to end or your troubles are just beginning.

Consider what you want to have in a tank then research it independently before you ask anyone in an LFS.

Use this website and The Internets. Eventually you will understand exactly what you need and where to get it. I would also highly recommend the vendors on this website.

Seriously consider not going back to a store that sold you a clam if they knew you had PC lighting.


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[BlackMoor]

Thanks everyone, the LFS sold me the PC because I was buying the clam. I can't stand making these costly mistakes. I want to just get this right so that I may enjoy having this reef and not be worried that I am killing everything in sight. This is an excellent site with excellent advice but I am still a bit confused with the lighting. I don't want to spend $1000 on LED and I don't want to have outrageous utility bills either if I went MH and then a chiller as a consequence.

 

[JonnyJ]

T5 system is your best bet.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[Imbarrie]

Agree with the T5 suggestion.
The PC is not enough and that clam needs something soon.

What LFS sold you a clam and a PC light at the same time. I would return the light for a full refund, because it was the wrong light, and never go back there again.

But seriously, what LFS was this?

 

[wayne]

i bet i know which lfs it was but anyways t5s will do and depending on how much corals and the type you want to keep there's metal halides but that's only if your planning on keeping a lot of those type that you have right now.......

 

[Imbarrie]

there's metal halides but that's only if your planning on keeping a lot of those type that you have right now.......

His only light dependent livestock is the clam and a BTA.

T5 lighting is fine until you know what you want to do going forward.
MH lighting is fine also, but not really required for where you are right now.

 

[PIOTR]

Sales people at some LFS are killing our hobby