light and flow question for corals

[kjasjg]

Hi everyone,
I am researching corals and keep running into descriptions such as "needs moderate light and medium water flow".
these terms are vague and I don't want to buy a coral that will die because I don't have the correct environment.

Is there any translation into Gal/hour per size of tank?

How about low medium and high lighting?
thanks

[Darth]

well what size tank do you have? What corals do you have in it or are purchasing  what type of lights do you have, what do you have as far as water movement is concerned now?

[Aquaticfinatic]

Corals are much like fish in their description. An acan say can live in high flow but is suggested to be in medium to low. A flame angel is not reef safe but in some tanks they are. That's why they are general descriptions. You know how well a hammer will do in your tank because you have kept an octospawn etc. I think I might be rambling now but I hope you get the point?? 

[Darth]

I think there are lots more questions to be asked before we go into lighting and flow requirements

[Aquaticfinatic]

I think there are lots more questions to be asked before we go into lighting and flow requirements

I agree darth. Just trying to give a side that's maybe easier to understand for future.

[Darth]

I understand that, just suggesting to the OP that these 2 are the least of worry, in the post about researching the corals it leads me to believe this is someone really new to the hobby, while it is great he/she is doing research to keep the coral alive, there are a lot of other factors involved as well. Which have to do with the orginial question like lighting intensity, sheesh when I first started I had no idea about light, I put on my old fw aquarium hood went and bought a condy, fed it, and was like oh yeah this is cool, it lasted about a week before it died. then I realized they were photosynthetic and needed a different intensity and spectrum of lights. Flow is also dependent, I used the rule too much is never enough if the sand bed doesnt get washed up its okay. I would like to hear from the OP as to the type of setup they are using, so we can really help, the more info the better the advise =)

[Greatwhite]

the more info the better the advise =)

+1

Rule of thumb...  With flow, it's better to have about as much flow as you can get in there without blowing your sandbed around.  Coral gets placed in the aquarium in areas where the flow varies.. ie/ "Requires high flow" - stick the coral directly in the path of your powerheads.  Medium flow -- somewhere around the middle of the tank where the water is moving nicely, but not so much that it's getting blown over.. Low flow - down low, out of the way..  There should still be movement, but it needs to be gentle.

Coral requirements really shouldn't dictate the size / type of powerheads and there's no rules about where the powerheads are actually placed...  BUT, the type of coral you want to keep WILL direct you to the type/size of light to get.  Generally, you can keep MOST coral with T5 lighting, but if you plan to get into the fancy, more expensive coral - you'll be best looking at LED lights these days...

But ya - like Darth said, it'll help to have more info on the system you are setting up, starting with the tank size and configuration (sump/no sump, etc).

[Aquaticfinatic]

I agree with you both and was maybe not the best Time to insert that message before knowing more info. 

On a side note really liking being on this site 

[Darth]

I agree with you both and was maybe not the best Time to insert that message before knowing more info. 

On a side note really liking being on this site 

it was fine your info was spot on, just a horse before the cart in my opinion =)