Light Requirements

Coral Commander

Coral Commander

Reefing newb
I have fish as well as soft corals and sea anemones and I am having a problem with algea. I use RO water at all times and keep my feeding to once every other day. I figure that the problem is with my lighting so I am wondering what the recommended minimum/maximum light requirements would be for my tank. Right now I have the light on for 8 hours a day I believe.
 
thats about normal some people have there lights on anywere from 6 to well over 10 hours mine are on about 16
 
i dont think it is all your lights that is just part of it it still needs food to grow. what kina of food do you feed frozen, flake. one other thing you can do is get a phosban reactor and run some good GFO that will help. one other thing you need to do is keep removing as much as you can by hand i use a still brush like one you would use for doing the dishes.
 
I feed an alternating diet of Tetra MicroCrabs granuals and Mysis Shrimp cubes. What is a Phosban Reactor and GFO? I remove the algea every other day.
 
We also need to know what type of filtration do you have? and what is your maintenance schedule like? You just may need to do more water changes etc.

How old are the lights? What is your livestock in the tank?
 
I have a 55 gallon tank with a sump. I have a 100 gallon protein skimmer. I change the water once a month. The last time I checked the water it had very low nitrates. I am not sure what kind of lights it has, I just know that it has two sets of long bulbs. One set is blue and white and the other set is two whites. I only use the blue and white bulb. I am told that I have enough light to be able to support clams and every kind of coral. If I recall correctly the lights are about 6 or so months old. I have an Atlantic sea anemone, Coral Beauty, Percula Clown, Cleaner Shrimp, Peppermint Shrimp, Yellow Watchman Goby, 1 small Sea Mushroom, Turbo Snail, and a whole bunch of those underground snails. I figure that as the biological load on my tank increases then perhaps I will increase the water changes but for now I think it should be adequate unless it's too high and increasing algea.
 
Coral Commander said:
I have a 55 gallon tank with a sump. I have a 100 gallon protein skimmer. I change the water once a month. The last time I checked the water it had very low nitrates. I am not sure what kind of lights it has, I just know that it has two sets of long bulbs. One set is blue and white and the other set is two whites. I only use the blue and white bulb. I am told that I have enough light to be able to support clams and every kind of coral. If I recall correctly the lights are about 6 or so months old. I have an Atlantic sea anemone, Coral Beauty, Percula Clown, Cleaner Shrimp, Peppermint Shrimp, Yellow Watchman Goby, 1 small Sea Mushroom, Turbo Snail, and a whole bunch of those underground snails. I figure that as the biological load on my tank increases then perhaps I will increase the water changes but for now I think it should be adequate unless it's too high and increasing algea.
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does the sump have bio balls in it? if so you may need to clean them. How big of a water change do you do? How much are you feeding?

depending on the brand of bulbs you may need to replace them, they should be changed every 6 - 12 months due to the spectrum shifting which can encourage algae growth, algae needs two things to grow light and nutrients, we want to get rid of your nutrients not the light.. I'm thinking that you will have difficulty keeping some corals and clams under your lighting sounds to be flourescent or Power compact.
 
I don't have any bioballs in the sump or any pads. The only thing I have in there is a filter sock. I do a 5 gallon water change once a month. I feed the fish once every other day. I believe the brand of light I use is a CoralLife but I am not sure. It's hard to see on the bulb. Below are pictures of my tank.


IMG_0222.webp

IMG_0223.webp

IMG_0224.webp
 
Yeah,those are power compacts.Not enough for clams and anemones.Though you can get by with most softies and mushrooms.
You also need to be doing those 5 gallon water changes one a week.I'd probably bump em up to 10 gallons a week personally.
 
I'd imagine it wouldn't cost too much to install new bulbs in there, it's a custom tank anyway. What kind of light would you recommend? I know it has little to do with my problem but if you think I need better lighting then what would you recommend? I'd prefer something reletively economical without sacrificing too much performance because I don't really want to see my power meter spin out of control.

The next time I do a water test I will post the results on here and you can tell me what you think.
 
You should go with T5s for new lights. T5s will allow you to keep any animal you want, and won't cost any more to run than your current lights. I agree that the lights you have now are not strong enough to keep most animals.
 
yote said:
Yeah,those are power compacts.Not enough for clams and anemones.Though you can get by with most softies and mushrooms.
You also need to be doing those 5 gallon water changes one a week.I'd probably bump em up to 10 gallons a week personally.
Click to expand...



As yote mentioned doing more water changes is going to help you with your algae issues.
 
yea you can see on the ends of thoes bulbs that they have been pretty warm, watch out on thoes corallife lights when they get hot, they cook the wires inside, and could cause you some problems, i would also suggest moving up into some t5's.
 
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