Lighting

[marcoz]

how long should you leave the lights on for? I have arcadia T5, two types- blue for night and white for day. At the moment I have it set up so the blue starts up for 3 hours, then the white for 6 and finally back to blue for another 3. Is this too long/short or just right?? I have a few soft corals, too many aiptaisa, hermits, snails and four fish- a tomato clown, six line wrasse, psychedelic mandarin and a scooter blennie :shock:

[Buster]

if you are trying to simulate a more natural enviroment then maybe cut your atinics back to two hour either side of the marine whites. all in all if your tank looks fine and the inhabitants are happy and you are not suffering any algea problems then you should be ok. but don't forget to replace your tubes on or just before the manufacturers recommendations.

Regards Ian.

[total*clowns]

Not really sure if there is a right and wrong amount of time for lightening but here's what I do-

8.30am turn on blues (2 lights)

9.30am turn on one white (T5)

10am turn on other two whites (T5) and turn blues off

All day with three whites (T5) on.

6pm turn on blues and turn off one white

7.30pm turn off all whites leaving blues left on

9pm turn off all blues

From 9 pm until 8.30am i have little LED blues that shine down (5 of them ) through the tank like moonlight, looks really cool and it let's you see all the goings on during the nightime !!

HTH.....

[Wilfy]

I have 5 T5's and they are switched as so.

9am - 2 x Blues On
9.30am 1 x White On
10am - 2 x White On

9pm - 2 x Whites Off
9:30 - 1 x White Off
10pm - 2 x Blues Off

Why are you switching the blues off when you switch the whites on. The blues have a much deeper water penetration than the whites and a mix of blue and white light looks far more effective than white alone. Blue light is what your corals will need to produce zooellanthea (spelling!) and so are a necessity in a reef tank.
If you have fish only then the corals ignore the corals point but the blue/white combination is far better than white alone.

[marcoz]

Thanks for the advice- a few differing ideas (when isn't there in this hobby!) but all running in the same general direction. I like the idea of the LEDs, I'll look into getting some of them - I've always been curious as to what the reef inhabitants get up to at night :roll:

[tonyponty]

ian why do you have to change the tubes if there still working and how often do you change them for new ones thx

[total*clowns]

you should change the lightening about once every twelve months as they aren't as intense as they should be for your corals etc as time goes by. HTH 8-)

[Dons1903]

I added a set of six blue LEDs a few weeks ago from eBay and they look awesome. I would advise everyone to get a set.

[liquidlogic]

ill be doing

x2 54wat blue antinics come on at 11am (on for 12 hours)
x2 150 wat 13,000k halides 1pm (on for 8 hours)

but i got to work out how im going to give them ther breaky while im at school :-?

[marcoz]

I can't find a set of six LEDs on ebay, only 3, can you tell me who the seller was please? :?

[total*clowns]

try this, I got ours from here. :-D

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AQUARIUM-MOONLIGHTS-POWER-SUPPLY-INCLUDED-DIMMABLE_W0QQitemZ130014917528QQihZ003QQcategoryZ4 6314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Dons1903]

That looks like the very item! :grin:

[marcoz]

Excellent, thanks. It's also much cheaper than the 3 LED set-up I was looking at :grin:

[Buster]

ian why do you have to change the tubes if there still working and how often do you change them for new ones thx

over time with lighting esp flouresent the light spectrum degrades, this may not be noticable to the naked :oops: eye but it may have an adverse effect on coral's and may help the growth of unwanted algea.

[Dons1903]

I change my flouresent tubes every 6 months and metal halide bulbs every 12.

[marcoz]

I currently have a four T5 tube arcadia luminaire, are these ok for growing soft corals?

[marcoz]

If I chose to grow hard corals would I need to upgrade to metal halides?

[Dons1903]

T5's will be fine for soft corals in a tank up to 24", I would think that you would get away with hard corals too if you keep them right to the top of the reef.

Also Bubble corals don't need massive amounts of light so they would definately be fine.

[marcoz]

Cool, thanks dons - time to get some frags! :-D

[tonyponty]

luminaire if i got one of theses for a 4ft tank should i have 2 blue tubes and 2 white

[marcoz]

if it's any help I have a 4ft tank with 2 tubes of each in my luminaire. the more light the better! 8)

[flying Jock]

Hi

I agree with Dons you would get away with T5's for some LPS and a few easy hard corals but IMO there is no light that can compete with halides.

You will get much better growth and colouration from hard corals under halides and there is not a light on the market that will recreate the glitter lines you see in your tank when running halides.

I have just sold a halide to a friend who was running a luminair and he is stunned at the difference! :shock: :wink:

I run my halides around 8 hours per day and do not change my lamps for around 18 months as i have seen no benefits to changing them every 12 as advised! :roll:

As you lamps gets older they will reduce their output of kelvin so if you are running 10 or 14k lamps they will have around a 6500k (natural sunlight) afer 18 months.

I run 2 refugums 24/7 on 3-4 year old flourescents and my caulerpa's are growing like mad! :wink:

I hope this helps. :grin:

Cheers

FJ

[tonyponty]

just goes to show thx for sharing your knowledge with us