First corals...

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Will this increase in lighting mean I'll have a lot more nuisance algae in my tank??
 
Actinic lighting is much too bright to be considered an alternative to the LED lights typically used for moonlights. LED's allow you to view into the tank without actually disturbing the inhabitants normal night routines due to the very low wattage. The actinics would be no different than the lighting of early morning or late evening.

If you can find something similar to >>these<< then a tube application would work. There are also several DIY topics on the site that can be utilized.

As I said on the time the lights are on, when is not so much importants as to how they are run. Actinics for 12 hrs, Whites 10 hrs and if you go with the moonlights they can be left on 24/7 or a few hrs at each end of the light cycle chosen. Try to keep the routine as much as possible once it's set. The animals do become accustom to it and can often be thrown off by altering too much.

Increased lighting can sometimes bring about increased growth in algaes but that is also the result of the nutrient being there to fuel the growth. Lighting alone will not be the cause. Best suggestion whenever you upgrade light intensity is to acclimate the tank over a week or two. This not only reduces algae outbreaks but also allows the tank inhabitants to adjust. The actinics can be run the full 12 hrs from the start but with the white lights set the time at first to about 3-4 hrs for the first few days and then increase by ½ hr every day or two until you get upto the 10 hr regular running time. If you opt for the moonlights they can be run any way you choose, they'll have no impact.

Cheers
Steve
 
Brilliant, thanks steve. If my current 2 T5 39w tubes increase my tank temp by about 1°C from the time they're on, would you expect the actinics (when they're on simultaneously with the whites) to increase it by a further 1°C? Or more, or less?

I take it the moonlights shouldn't affect tank temp at all?

I'll leave the moonlights for now, and perhaps cut back on my lighting time a bit. I can't seem to find any "moonlight" lights from fish places in the UK - I assume I can just get a low-wattage tube from any electrical place, if so, what spec would you get?

12pm - 1pm actinics; 1pm - 11pm actinics and whites; 11pm - 12am actinics. Got it? ;)

If I decide to go for the moonlights, I'll just put them on from 12am - 3am.
 
Feather dusters will do fine on the rock or in the sand. Leather corals are easy too. Pumping xenia is a easy one too, but will spread like wildfire under good conditions. You can just cut those up,throw a rubber band andound'm on a new rock, and trade'm in with most LFS. I get little pieces of rock from my LFS free since they know they're getting some nice stuff back. They give me $8 for the xenia frags and sell'm for about $24.

I just ordered Eric Borneman's coral book to find out more about coral I'd like to target. Folks say that's a good reference source that they actually carry to the LFS when purchasing.
 
MarkW19 said:
I take it the moonlights shouldn't affect tank temp at all?

I'll leave the moonlights for now, and perhaps cut back on my lighting time a bit. I can't seem to find any "moonlight" lights from fish places in the UK -If I decide to go for the moonlights, I'll just put them on from 12am - 3am.

Got mine off Ebay, mine came from the states & IMHO are better built than the UK ones, but here's a couple of links:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3212&item=4327960288&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46314&item=4328970541&rd=1

Just examples, I don't vouch for either! :)

Cheers Shelton.
 
Thanks guys! That coral book is also on the way!

I'm going to get 2 T5 39w actinic tubes to use with my 2 T5 39w whites.

And, do corals grow much? Do you have to trim them or anything?? :? I don't want them getting out of control :p

Is there any other maintanence with corals except feeding them (and making sure they're getting the correct flow/light etc.)? What if they show signs of being ill, how do you treat them?
 
The book covers most of that, when they get too big you FRAG them & sell those bits to your fellow reefers or LFS :)

Cheers Shelton.
 
Do they grow quickly? How often would you expect to frag them, given my lighting and tank?

Shelton: are there any particular requirements for the moonlight light? On that 2nd link the tube looks very small! :)

Can actinics emit UV light btw, which is bad?
 
Do they grow quickly? How often would you expect to frag them, given my lighting and tank?

Depends on the corals chosen. That xenia I mentioned can grow like crazy. My leathers haven't too much at all in 10 months.
 
I'm not at all experienced on lights tbh mate, I have 4x39w t5's, but I have the D+D tubes that are a 60/40 mix already inside, these are on from 8am until 7.30pm, the moonlights are on from 7.28pm until midnight, & then 4am until 8.02am.

I'll see if I can find a link to the link that I bought mine off, I ahve 4 leds that go from end to end on my 36" tank, he makes them to order :)

Cheers Shelton.
 
http://www.ledwerx.com/moonlight.htm

This one looks good, thinking about the 36" one. I guess it won't give off much heat at all? Therefore it won't affect the temp of my water...

What does anyone think? Is this spec ok steve for the moonlight?
 
They don't give off any heat (well mine don't!) hold fire as I've contacted the guy in the states to see whether he still does them & I'm just awaiting a reply :)


You can see what they look like from the little pic below my name :)

Cheers Shelton.
 
Did they come from the states with US voltage/plug shelton? How did you convert it?
 
I just used a cheap (£4) multi adaptor that I cut the plug off as they only require 12v @300ma

Cheers Shelton.
 
Cool, will you let me know what you find out about the light you have? This ledwerx place looks good anyway. They do 'em in wood in different colours...
 
You have to be careful which type of LED they use as some create more of a spotlight type effect rather than disfused, it also depends how close they are to the water surface as well...

I'll let you know as soon as he answers :) I don't want to give his email address out since it was July when I got mine :)

Cheers Shelton.
 
Nice one... :)

This adaptor you used for yours, do you think it'd work for the ledwerx one too? This one's from the states and has US voltage/plug. Would your adaptor work on it?
 
Depends on the amps it requires? I just used a bit of wiring block to connect mine to the plug suplied.

Cheers Shelton.
 
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