What Kind of Corals with my Lighting?

[starrfish]

I have a Coralife fixture with 2 65 Watt 10Ks and 2 65 Watt Actinic 10Ks (all of that is greek to me!). Based on some research I've done, I think they are PCs. I have some mushrooms and button polyps, but I would like to expand into some other colorful corals. Can anyone help me to identify what would grow under the lighting I currently have? Eventually I will upgrade my lighting, but can't do that yet.

Thanks everyone,
starrfish

 

[this is me]

brains.........they are colorful and can be kept under PC lights.
Alot of LPS will do fine with PC. ie. frogspawn, hammer.
Zoanthids are very colorful as well.
Softies will do just fine under PC. But you have to keep in mind that when you finnally upgrade to Metal Halide and you want to keep SPS, you have to get rid of some of these softies, and mushrooms, as they will interfere with the SPS growth.

 

[JD46]

IMO, I don't think that your lights will be strong enough to keep LPS, or even a lot of softies, in a 75 gal. I think that mushrooms and polyps are about your limit. Some softies, such as a colt or umbrella leather, may survive but will not thrive.

I had 144W PC over a 46 gal and could not keep xenia or leathers with any success. They just withered away. I now have the 144W PC's over a 15 gal, and am concerned about having enough light to keep a torch in there.

 

[starrfish]

Hmmm...thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to give a brain a try and see what happens.

 

[newreefer03]

I ran the same lighting over my 72 gal bow for 8 months before I upgraded to MHs. I was able to keep softies, zoos, montiporas, some acros and xenias. Granted I didn't get great growth until I setiched to PC but they did fine. I did put the sps up high on my rockwork. IMO of the SPS the montiporas did the best.

 

[Matt L.]

There are plenty of corals you can keep with PC lighting. I think you would be fine with some LPS and soft corals. I used to have a 2x65W Custom Sea Life light strip over a 55gal tank before I upgraded to MHs, and I kept all sorts of soft corals, mushrooms, and polyps. You should not keep SPS or (especially) clams, however. But even without SPS and clams, there is still a whole reef world that can be explored with PC lighting,

Matt

 

[starrfish]

Thanks everyone - very encouraging. I'm leaning towards a purple short tentacle plate coral from liveaquaria.com. They are easy and good for beginners according to the website. Plus they look very pretty. Does anyone have any experience with these? Thanks again for the replies.