Lighting

[jxlex]

Hi kind folks

Again, i will have to trouble some of the experts here

How do i determine if i have enuf light for my tank?

My tank is actually outside my house. Although it doesnt get direct sunlight it seems to be nicely litted during the day.

Do i still need to on the lights? i currently practice keeping the Blue light on but not sure if i should on the rest of the white lights....

Any adverse effects if i do keep the lights on?

I intend to keep some simple corals once my chiller n skimmer runs in...

Some photos of my tank to share with lights on:

my son trying to catch his starfish.... silly boy

side profile

Thanks bros

[Solo77]

Bro, depends on wat u want to keep and choice. If u going t5, normal lps, 4 to 6 tubes should be enough. For mh, 4 ft will need at least 2 150 to 250 w with supplement of t5. Led, not sure, lol. Nice scape.

[DUCADOS]

How outside is your house outside? If got kana uv ray I feel that the lighting is good enough.

Coz those lighting thou not directly from sun but it's strong enough to come out algae...

[jxlex]

Bro, depends on wat u want to keep and choice. If u going t5, normal lps, 4 to 6 tubes should be enough. For mh, 4 ft will need at least 2 150 to 250 w with supplement of t5. Led, not sure, lol. Nice scape.

Thanks bro... think i will go for LPS for a start till experience enuf.... i intend to go t5 soon but i more concern whether i need to keep my lights on in the day as i get quite a good light from the ambience due to position of tank.

I thinking of only oning my lights at about 5pm until about 8pm only cos the tank seems (to inexperience me) as quite decently litted prior to that...

here's a shot of the tank with different light modes taken about 1:45pm today:

The lighting is about similar between 10am till about 5pm... I see only slight difference so checking with experts if its ok not to on the lights during the day and supplement during the evenings (for my viewing pleasure of course )

Do let me know

[jxlex]

How outside is your house outside? If got kana uv ray I feel that the lighting is good enough.

Coz those lighting thou not directly from sun but it's strong enough to come out algae...

Ya thats what i tot too... just wanna on between 5pm to about 8pm for my viewing pleasure

I also scared algae thats why my sump i leave my 2ft T5 2x24watts on for 16hrs... hoping to get my hands on some macroalgae (correct term for good algae?) to dump into my refugium to mitigate the algae problem.

Read somewhere that by doing that, i "encourage" the algae to "infest" my sump instead.... dunno whether can or not...

[comycus]

Sunlight = promotion of algae. Hope you're prepared to clean your tank everyday.

I would still suggest keeping a normal lighting schedule of 6-8hrs or 12hrs if you're keeping spses.

[yikai]

sunlight is an extremely useful advantage for coral keepers as it covers all the par and spectrum and everything that a coral needs to grow, as per in the wild.

however, you still need to suppliment with T5 or MH (if keeping SPS).

do note that sunlight promotes algae growth but if your nutrients are kept in check, this shud not be a problem.

it will help you if you know what kinda corals you want to keep. softies? LPS? SPS? these are the three main categories to choose from.

if you intend to keep soft corals (excluding zoanthids), your current lighting is enough for most soft corals. some zoanthids need very bright lighting to retain their colours.

for that, i suggest supplementing with T5s and a proper lighting fixture. supplementing with T5 enable you to keep LPS and zoanthids.

For SPS, Metal halides are required. Also do note that you need a chiller if you don't have 1 already.

keeping macroalgae in your sump does not encourage nuisance algae to grow there. by keeping macroalgae in the sump, the macroalgae absorbs nutrients like phosphates and nitrates as they grow. as the macroalgae uses the nutrients to grow, they starve other nuisance algae from growing in your main tank and everywhere else.

[[V]tEc]

sunlight is an extremely useful advantage for coral keepers as it covers all the par and spectrum and everything that a coral needs to grow, as per in the wild.

however, you still need to suppliment with T5 or MH (if keeping SPS).

do note that sunlight promotes algae growth but if your nutrients are kept in check, this shud not be a problem.

it will help you if you know what kinda corals you want to keep. softies? LPS? SPS? these are the three main categories to choose from.

if you intend to keep soft corals (excluding zoanthids), your current lighting is enough for most soft corals. some zoanthids need very bright lighting to retain their colours.

for that, i suggest supplementing with T5s and a proper lighting fixture. supplementing with T5 enable you to keep LPS and zoanthids.

For SPS, Metal halides are required. Also do note that you need a chiller if you don't have 1 already.

keeping macroalgae in your sump does not encourage nuisance algae to grow there. by keeping macroalgae in the sump, the macroalgae absorbs nutrients like phosphates and nitrates as they grow. as the macroalgae uses the nutrients to grow, they starve other nuisance algae from growing in your main tank and everywhere else.

T5 can also keep SPS...there r few reefers who r very successful with running T5 for full sps tank

[yikai]

tEc' date='23 May 2010 - 09:50 PM' timestamp='1274622641' post='912613']

T5 can also keep SPS...there r few reefers who r very successful with running T5 for full sps tank

yah vt snowman keeping SPS under T5. but need many tubes .

forgot to mention that. :ThanxSmiley:

[jxlex]

Sunlight = promotion of algae. Hope you're prepared to clean your tank everyday.

I would still suggest keeping a normal lighting schedule of 6-8hrs or 12hrs if you're keeping spses.

Ya... but unfortunately i do not have the luxury of space inside the house

I dont think i will be keeping spses for now... probably LPSes and Softies... was just checking as i really do not want to on the lights unnecessary.

THanks bro

[jxlex]

sunlight is an extremely useful advantage for coral keepers as it covers all the par and spectrum and everything that a coral needs to grow, as per in the wild.

however, you still need to suppliment with T5 or MH (if keeping SPS).

do note that sunlight promotes algae growth but if your nutrients are kept in check, this shud not be a problem.

it will help you if you know what kinda corals you want to keep. softies? LPS? SPS? these are the three main categories to choose from.

if you intend to keep soft corals (excluding zoanthids), your current lighting is enough for most soft corals. some zoanthids need very bright lighting to retain their colours.

for that, i suggest supplementing with T5s and a proper lighting fixture. supplementing with T5 enable you to keep LPS and zoanthids.

For SPS, Metal halides are required. Also do note that you need a chiller if you don't have 1 already.

keeping macroalgae in your sump does not encourage nuisance algae to grow there. by keeping macroalgae in the sump, the macroalgae absorbs nutrients like phosphates and nitrates as they grow. as the macroalgae uses the nutrients to grow, they starve other nuisance algae from growing in your main tank and everywhere else.

Thanks bro, very informative!!

Ya i was reading somewhere sunlight is good that was why i was checking if i should turn on my lights concurrently if i have sunlight coming into my tank lighting it up pretty well. (excluding the blue visual effects )

I think for a start i will be keeping LPS and softies first la... chiller is coming in today too

Understand the theory of the macroalgae better liao

[Digiman]

Very very nice rockscape. I like your scaping a lot!

The sunlight will be ample for almost all softies (easily leathers and fingers) and some LPS, there's no need for extra lightings. However if u can turn on 3 to 4 T5s for another 6-8 hrs u'll be open to a wide variety of LPS corals. Since u foresee yourself keeping LPS as well it'l be best u turn on the T5s for 6hrs so that there's less restrictions on the species u can keep when u're selecting your corals.

Do also take note if there's enough flow in your tank (cos u seem to have only one wavemaker?) as good amount of flow is also very important in coral keeping.

[jxlex]

Very very nice rockscape. I like your scaping a lot!

The sunlight will be ample for almost all softies (easily leathers and fingers) and some LPS, there's no need for extra lightings. However if u can turn on 3 to 4 T5s for another 6-8 hrs u'll be open to a wide variety of LPS corals. Since u foresee yourself keeping LPS as well it'l be best u turn on the T5s for 6hrs so that there's less restrictions on the species u can keep when u're selecting your corals.

Do also take note if there's enough flow in your tank (cos u seem to have only one wavemaker?) as good amount of flow is also very important in coral keeping.

Thanks bro... lots of credit goes to iwarna for the scaping...

Yup will probably go with the T5s as supplements for now...

I will probably get another wavemaker soon suddenly alot of sockets so tidying up abit before i proceed... ahahaha...

[DUCADOS]

Thanks bro... lots of credit goes to iwarna for the scaping...

Yup will probably go with the T5s as supplements for now...

I will probably get another wavemaker soon suddenly alot of sockets so tidying up abit before i proceed... ahahaha...

How much does iwarna charge for scaping your tank?

[jxlex]

How much does iwarna charge for scaping your tank?

actually i dunno leh... i bought the LR from him so he help me scaped too....

maybe u can check with him??