Light problems!! need advice!!

[skae310]

Today I noticed my one bulb on my oceanic 14 gallon biocube was out. I immediatly called the company and went through a process to get a new one shipped to me. The problem is with the transformer which means that until a new one ships to my house (he said it may take till Thanksgiving!) im going to be without one light. The guy told me since I have to choose which one to run until then the 10000k Daylight would be better for my coral over the Actnic. My question is will my coral be ok for this long with only the 10000k Daylight running? Its a 14 gallon tank and I believe that is a 24 watt bulb. I have polyps, ricordea, leather and frogspawn. Will these be ok for that long?? And I also have 2 clowns, but im assuming they will be fine

 

[factorboa]

how long until it gets shipped? i would sAY polys be fine but the other 2 i wont know but i would do id have white on the day when it starts to get dark put the blue light on, if i was in your situation but have back up lights leds just in case, other people might give u better advice than me with more experienced

 

[pat8you]

You will be better running the 10k bulb. Your coral should be fine on one bulb until then. If you have any difficult to keep coral you may want to supplement their feeding a bit while the light it out.

 

[skae310]

Ok well with just the daylights i know its not enough for long. Im just making sure it will be good for short period of time. The person who helped me with the problem from oceanic said it should be here by next week, but if UPS is slow it would be delayed til after thanksgiving (almost 2 weeks). I figure the polyps will be fine no matter what. Im just no sure about the leather and frogspawn for that long with only 24 watts over 14 gallons.

 

[skae310]

Another thing is I know nothing about coral feeding.

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

Well to make you feel better, my Pc light went without actinics for a few weeks before i got a new bulb. Actinic lights are for color not growth.

 

[skae310]

Ok well im gonna just keep the daylights on and hope for the best. If anyone else has any ideas or helpful information please give your input.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...Actinic lights are for color not growth.

Mmmmmm... I think those actinic Watts are just as valuable as the 10K Watts. My understanding is that the actinics give you the blue wavelength of light that's normal at the depth the corals are underwater. Yes... it does add up to better coloration from our eye's standpoint, but it also serves as valuable and needed lighting for coral. Or maybe I'm just reading what you wrote wrong.

Regardless... I agree that you can go without for a bit. No LFS around you have any replacement bulbs available?

 

[skae310]

Its not the bulbs that are the problem. Both bulbs work fine because ive tested both to clarify that isnt the problem. Its the transformer type thing that the bulbs connect to which then connects to the power outlet. The only way to get a new one fast is to buy a whole new biocube. Its probably the worst feature about the cube. Its parts arent easy to get fast and thats what i need. And as for the actinic vs daylight? They seem to both play an important part in the corals life, but which one is best to just keep things living?

 

[pat8you]

both provide light for nutrition to your coral. The 10k because of the spectrum will provide more energy then the actinic.

 

[skae310]

Ok the frogspawn is only coming out part way..... all other corals seem fine as of now.

 

[thincat]

You can bring the frogspawn up higher(closer to the light) until you get you lights repaired.

 

[skae310]

I plan to tomorrow. Its already pretty high but im gonna try to raise it as much as i can. even though it is in the perfect spot

 

[thincat]

Great, give it a fighting chance at max light.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Ahhh... sorry. Didn't see that about the transformer in your first post. That sucks. But yeah... I'd keep the 10k in versus the actinic. As pat8you mentioned, the 10k light spectrum has more of a variety... including the wavelengths found in actinic bulbs.

 

[skae310]

Just a thought, would keeping the lights on longer allow them to get more light? or would that not really help at all? and by the way everything still seems out and ok. The frogspawn seems to be more open today.

 

[thincat]

You can leave the lights on a tad longer..ie: 1hr, but remember that corals are animals and need a day/night cycle to survive. Since it's only going to be a week at most it won't really matter.
remember with a longer light cycle you may get an algae bloom that will take you longer then a week to get rid of.

 

[skae310]

Ok. just a thought

 

[melosu58]

Actinic lights are for color not growth.

Hmmm. I run 2 actinic lights and 2 50/50 lights which are half actinic.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f71/before-and-after-89898.html

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f71/before-and-after-part-2-a-89916.html

 

[Bige]

I too had heard that actinic were only for visual effect. So after doing some reading, actinic are a spectrum of the sun. The 10000k is half the spectrum while actinc are the other half. I would run the 10000k full time until new transformer arrives. I say this because it is a broad spectrum while the actinic is on the blue side of the scale.