Proper water flow brings in fresh oxygen and helps flush away waste. Just like lighting requirements, different corals have different water flow requirements. Soft corals without a stony structure require the least amount of flow, while SPS or Small Polyp Stony corals require the highest water flow.
Water flow also needs to be both random and indirect. Instead, they prefer a varied flow pattern with water coming from different directions at different times and with different intensities. Keeping corals is a challenge, and to maximize coral growth is an even greater challenge! Growing very brilliantly colored corals is a greater challenge still. Keeping proper and stable levels of light, food, nutrients, elements and water flow is the key to maximizing both coral growth and color in a reef aquarium.
Just remember, nothing good happens fast! Lighting Intensity and Spectrum Most corals kept in aquariums are photosynthetic and rely on light for a considerable portion of their energy needs. Nutrients Corals also need nutrients, like nitrate and phosphate, for optimal coral growth and coloration.
With an LED light fixture, no lighting change is necessary! As a result, aquarium coolers which can be ridiculously expensive are often necessary to bring the water temperature down to normal levels. LEDs, on the other hand, put off very little heat compared to other types of light fixtures. This not only lets you skip the cooler, but also helps reduce electricity costs and is less of a fire hazard. LED reef lights are generally much smaller than other types of aquarium light fixtures.
This not only saves space, but also helps create a much more natural and minimalist look. When I set up my first reef tank with a T5 fixture years ago, one of the biggest hassles of buying new bulbs every 8 months.
Not only did I have to special order bulbs online, but they were extremely expensive. Most of the time it was cheaper to replace the entire light fixture than order only the bulbs weird, huh? LED light fixtures, though, last a ridiculously long time.
There are tons of corals that reef owners of any experience level can keep. Luckily for us, most soft corals are pretty forgiving when it comes to water conditions! In the list below, we will cover the five most common species of soft coral and their care requirements; Xenia, Green Star Polyps, Zoanthids, Mushrooms, and Leathers. Xenia was the first type of coral that I ever kept, and boy was it fun.
Xenia is known for being one of the fastest growing corals available, which is usually extremely satisfying for new reef keepers. Watching something, especially a coral, thrive and grow in your tank is the best feeling ever. It is known to take over tanks and sometimes smother other corals in the process. I never had any problems with Xenia growth being too excessive. Keeping Xenia is really just a hit or a miss.
In some tanks, even dirty and unkept, Xenia thrives. In other tanks it simply melts away. Reefers have been speculating as to why this happens, but no one really have the perfect answer yet. Xenia is pretty forgiving when it comes to lighting. If you can splurge for a good LED reef light like one of the ones we covered earlier , I would highly recommend it. Like I said before, it is not necessary to have LEDs to keep many soft corals, but growth will be much better and you will have the option to venture into LPS and SPS corals in the future without upgrading your lights!
Keeping a consistant temperate is one of the most important things in reefkeeping. They tend to like their water on the warmer side, but hate swings in temperature. It is best to just pick a temperate and stick to it. Salinity is another important factor when it comes to growing Xenia. Much like temperature, it is more important to keep salinity consistant than at a specific spot.
I would recommend somewhere between 1. Big swings in salinity have been known to cause Xenia to melt away, but it really depend on the specific occasion. When it comes to water parameters, just remember to keep your temperature and salinity stable.
Preventing swings will allow your Xenia to acclimate and thrive. Keeping your parameters stable is a learned skill and may take a while, but thankfully Xenia are pretty resilient! Where you position your Xenia in the tank relative to the powerheads depends on how you want them to look and grow.
When placed in direct water flow, this pumping usually stops. Growth will be stronger and a big patch of Xenia getting blown around by powerheads looks stunning!
Remember, Xenia will grow in the direction of the water flow, so place appropriately! If you really love the pulsating hands of Xenia which I do , keep them in a low water flow area. As your Xenia spreads and takes over the rock, the hundreds of pulsating hands will look mesmerizing! Xenia placed in low flow areas also tend to develop thicker stalks. Green Star Polyps are another personal favorite of mine.
Since most LEDs are dimmable, you can change the intensity to adjust to your coral placement. Compact fluorescents are becoming less popular which is understandable since they limit your coral selection. With compact fluorescents you can place your coral almost anywhere in the tank; LPS corals should be placed on top with soft corals everywhere else. SPS corals should be kept out of tanks with compact fluorescents. Metal halides are a favorite among SPS junkies. They can be used with any coral and they are known to grow coral quickly.
From start-up to sundown, the Orbit Marine can replicate and stimulate the realistic sunrise, bright daylight, dimming sunset, and moonlight in your aquarium.
This product also boasts a no-brainer installation process with its extendable brackets, which enable it to fit most aquarium fish tanks inches wide. Other options are also available for tanks from inches long. This enables the product to provide higher PAR values, and the improved optic design ensures a better spread and penetration of light in the tank. This product is designed with ease of use in mind, and an excellent quality of life feature that this LED light has is the ability to control it via your phone.
This can be done through an existing myAI app, which is free, simple, and easy to set up. The light connects to your smart device via its BLE Bluetooth Low Energy onboard without an additional device requirement. The app allows you to easily create a lighting schedule for your aquarium so that all the LEDs work in conjunction with each other.
It also features an acclimation mode allowing you to set starting intensity for your livestock to settle in, which will then increase over time. It also allows for the period which you require. Luckily, it is compatible with many hardware options from the manufacturer to serve different applications from mounting to hanging. These devices can work with many light units. This clip-on LED light is ready to use for a nano reef tank under 10 gallons. It is built with 68 x 3W LEDs, which are divided into four channels for independent and easy control with a remote.
Thanks to the design, you can fully customize the light to reach your desired color and intensity. It is compatible with a Wifi controller sold separately , which works with a mobile app to control many light units.
The Wifi controller allows for timing, color adjusting, and features a few ready-to-use modes. Lominie S saltwater LED light ad. What I love best about this product is its setup ease and flexibility.
It is very easy to set up with the bendable gooseneck, just slide it onto the back edge of your aquarium, then secure it with two included plastic screws. With the recommended spread of inch diameters, one unit is perfect for a inch cube or a small reef tank under 20 gallons. You may need more than one unit for larger tanks. This product uses a densely-packed LED array to provides a powerful light source for better penetration without sacrificing coverage. It is capable of providing up to 24 inches of the spread of light from a compact fixture measuring 3.
The main selling point of this product is its high performance and low maintenance design. It is compatible with a spectral controller from Kessil ad buy separately , which allows for an automatic lighting schedule and customization ability.
Each unit features two ports for connecting with a controller and another light one. This forms a daisy chain of multiple lights controlled with only one controller. Image from Kessil. By setting up many light units at small intervals, you can make the total PAR output as high as you want to meet the needs of a deep reef tank. This feature is also useful for aquarium stores that have many nano reef tanks.
The light also has a wide range of different features, such as the shimmer feature, which imitates natural sunlight on a coral reef. Two control knobs on its back allow you to respectively adjust the intensity and color spectrum to meet your desired lighting.
This simple and compact unit operates so quietly with its innovative heat management. It comes with two hanging kits for the setup. Another option from Nicrew but with a bar-structured fixture and extendable brackets for easy mounting on aquarium edges. This saltwater aquarium LED light is not only cheap but also comes with everything you need for the setup, including a dual-channel timer wired within the power cord. That are all most saltwater starters want to have in a small reef setup from gallons.
The set comes with a controller that is specifically designed to simulate the effect of natural sunlight on home reef tanks. The smart controller allows you to fully customize light intensities at specific times of a day and it will repeat your setup day by day. It also gives you so many preset modes and weather effects that are ready to use.
Smart controller with multi preset modes ad.
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