My question is if I plan on getting soft coral , or pulsing Xenia how long do I leave

[Clownfish25]

I Have a 38 g tank with 2 clowns a skunk shrimp and peppermint shrimp. My question is if I plan on getting soft coral , or pulsing Xenia how long do I leave my actinic light on for. Right now all I have is a fowlr and I have the light on a timer for 12hrs . Is this currently ok? And would it be ok for soft coral? Any and all thoughts and advice welcome.
Thanks everyone

[crister13]

It depends on how much light you have.

[LarryS]

Great questions! In fact, I was about to post a very similar set of questions regarding the need for actinic use for SPS (softies) & LPS growth.

Given adequate light (which will stir some controversy), I have run my T5s and actinics in tandem for periods of 10-12 hours. On a 20g long and in a 65g with good growth results. In fact, I've gradually cut back the 20g photo cycle down to 9.5 hours and everything seems quite happy.

Not wanting to hijack your thread but add to the discussion, if I were to rephrase it your questions:

• Is the actinic necessary for growth and color?
• Or, can it be used only for viewing hours and still get great growth and color in softies and LPS?

Has anyone experimenting with cutting back or leaving off the actinics?

[melosu58]

Aquarium Lighting: Choosing the Proper Lighting For Your Aquarium

This article will help to explain why the blue spectrum is important. It does help to recreate the marine settings. When light travels through the sea water the blue spectrum is what makes it to the corals.

[Sniperhank]

Originally Posted by LarryS

SPS (softies)

SPS are not soft corals. It stands for small polyp stony.

[Clownfish25]

Originally Posted by LarryS

Great questions! In fact, I was about to post a very similar set of questions regarding the need for actinic use for SPS (softies) & LPS growth.

Given adequate light (which will stir some controversy), I have run my T5s and actinics in tandem for periods of 10-12 hours. On a 20g long and in a 65g with good growth results. In fact, I've gradually cut back the 20g photo cycle down to 9.5 hours and everything seems quite happy.

Not wanting to hijack your thread but add to the discussion, if I were to rephrase it your questions:

[*]Is the actinic necessary for growth and color?[*]Or, can it be used only for viewing hours and still get great growth and color in softies and LPS?

Has anyone experimenting with cutting back or leaving off the actinics?

Thanks for posting, I'm still learning things everyday, so rephrasing to get more feedback is great.

[Clownfish25]

Originally Posted by melosu58

Aquarium Lighting: Choosing the Proper Lighting For Your Aquarium

This article will help to explain why the blue spectrum is important. It does help to recreate the marine settings. When light travels through the sea water the blue spectrum is what makes it to the corals.

Thanks for the article. Will the blue actinic or lighting in general effect live rock ? Because I have noticed a piece of rock that looked like it had bb start to turn white. I have cut back on the lighting to see if it would start changing back

[melosu58]

No the lighting should not affect your LR. Did you recently add your LR. Usually after adding LR it will turn white only to turn back into vibrant coralline corors.

[Cantareadio]

Os there a such thing as "too much" actinic exposure. Meaning length of exposure not light intensity

[circus clowns]

Where did you get that skull, pretty cool, ?

[Clownfish25]

Originally Posted by melosu58

No the lighting should not affect your LR. Did you recently add your LR. Usually after adding LR it will turn white only to turn back into vibrant coralline corors.

The tank has been up and running for a month or so now,. Ok so then it's going to take time for the colors to come. Thank you

[Clownfish25]

Originally Posted by Cantareadio

Os there a such thing as "too much" actinic exposure. Meaning length of exposure not light intensity

Ok, right now the actinic light is on for 12 hrs. It's a 24" 20 watt bulb. Tank size is 36x19x12

[Clownfish25]

Originally Posted by circus clowns

Where did you get that skull, pretty cool, ?

Thanks, when I purchased the tank it came with some cool stuff and that was one of them.

[circus clowns]

Is it stone?