Nano tank lighting, is it enough? Coral recommendations?

[Brie]

Just a quick question. I have an 8gal Oceanic Biocube, that runs 2 18w PC lights. Is a combined 36w of light over an 8gal tank enough for most LPS/soft corals? I figure its not enough for SPS so i'm not even going to ask about them.

Also, any coral species recommendations for such a small tank would be great. I picked the tank up from someone locally who had it loaded with stuff that should never be in such a small nano. lol. Just looking to get it restocked with coral that will not explode and fill the tank in a month of proper care and feeding. lol.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[returnofsid]

I would think you'd have plenty of lighting for most soft and LPS corals. I would suggest Zoanthids, Mushroom Polyps, Candy Cane, maybe Frogspawn or Torch Corals if kept higher in the tank, White Pom Pom Xenia doesn't tend to take over a tank as rapidly or enthusiastically as Elongata, Kenya Tree, although it can drop buds and reproduce pretty fast.

 

[Brie]

I would think you'd have plenty of lighting for most soft and LPS corals. I would suggest Zoanthids, Mushroom Polyps, Candy Cane, maybe Frogspawn or Torch Corals if kept higher in the tank, White Pom Pom Xenia doesn't tend to take over a tank as rapidly or enthusiastically as Elongata, Kenya Tree, although it can drop buds and reproduce pretty fast.

Thats good to know...

Yeah, I plan on stocking a good assortment of zoos(my fav)... I do really like torch too, but doesn't it sting anything within like, 6" of it? This tank is about 12" across by about 10" deep.

Not a big fan of xenia, and Kenya. ugh. lol. I just got rid of most of the kenya that was overpopulating this tank when I bought it. The stuff dropped branches EVERYWHERE within the first couple weeks and really took off. Goes to show what some supplementation can do. lol.

 

[returnofsid]

Ya know, I've read all kinds of warnings about Torch stinging nearby corals. Neither of mine have ever produced long sweeper tentacles. I take that back, one has. The placement of this one is at the edge of a powerheads flow pattern and there's no other corals directly "downstream" of it. This keeps the sweeper tentacles away from anything else.

 

[arc eye]

I think the low height of the nano should allow you to keep most corals

 

[ronj]

i've always thought a nano with all mushrooms and zoo's would be cool!! your lights should be enough

 

[Anthony Calfo]

plenty of light indeed for literally anything you'd want to grow (the most demanding corals will just need to be kept at the top)

the most important thing to remember is the bulbs need changed frequently for keeping corals healthy... likel every 4-6 months. You will see some corals suffer fast if you get lazy on bulb changes.

I have been running 36 watts of PC light over an 11 gall nano for years that I use as a bank tank (reserving small specimens of my favorite corals). All have done well under it without exception (varying degrees... but growing and well)