lighting question, can you have too much light?

[shellygirl55]

hi everyone
my lighting system is asunpod metal halide reef lite (1x 150 watt bulbs)
12x sunrise/lunar leds, and i am wondering if this is too much light?

the guy that had the tank before us had the lights had them hanging from the celing above his tank, but because we had vaulted celings we used the little feet that the lights came with where the lights are directly above the tank

we have a little purple mushroom that we moved a couple of days ago on to a rock closer to the lights, it started shriveling up pretty quick... we then moved the mushroom closer to the bottom of the tank and it perked right up

well, yesterday we purchased a bubble anenomne and 2 clown fish, and when we put the anenomne in the tank we had the lights on and he started shriveling up... we worried that the transport kind of shocked him, but later that evening when we turned the lights off he opened right up and looked happy as a clam (or anenomne hehehe) and did great all night and looked great this am... but as soon as i turned the lights back on today he shriveled right up again!! quickly!! is this too much light??

i know anenomne move to a place that suits them, but he seems really happy in the crevece we placed him in on the rock, and dosn't look like he is going anywhere, but i don't want him to burn up from lights or anything...

do i need to find a way to hang the lights like the other guy did? is this just coincedence? is there such thing as too much??

thanks all

 

[melosu58]

Maybe I missed it but what size tank?

 

[AaronH]

if he is not happy he will move to a shadded area giv him a littel time. it may be the shock of the lght coming on. how long did u acclimate him for and did u have the lights on or of throughout hte acclimation and whats you water reading and how long have you had the tank running for ?

 

[rush]

What size tank?

Have you check you water parameters?

 

[acanthus]

hi everyone
my lighting system is asunpod metal halide reef lite (1x 150 watt bulbs)
12x sunrise/lunar leds, and i am wondering if this is too much light?

the guy that had the tank before us had the lights had them hanging from the celing above his tank, but because we had vaulted celings we used the little feet that the lights came with where the lights are directly above the tank

we have a little purple mushroom that we moved a couple of days ago on to a rock closer to the lights, it started shriveling up pretty quick... we then moved the mushroom closer to the bottom of the tank and it perked right up

well, yesterday we purchased a bubble anenomne and 2 clown fish, and when we put the anenomne in the tank we had the lights on and he started shriveling up... we worried that the transport kind of shocked him, but later that evening when we turned the lights off he opened right up and looked happy as a clam (or anenomne hehehe) and did great all night and looked great this am... but as soon as i turned the lights back on today he shriveled right up again!! quickly!! is this too much light??

i know anenomne move to a place that suits them, but he seems really happy in the crevece we placed him in on the rock, and dosn't look like he is going anywhere, but i don't want him to burn up from lights or anything...

do i need to find a way to hang the lights like the other guy did? is this just coincedence? is there such thing as too much??

thanks all

Hi Shelly. It is rate to have too much light. It could be that the bulbs are too old. Generally you get about 10 months to a year out of the bulbs and if it was a used fixture the bulb could need to be replaced. Just the halide bulb btw. Led lights should be good for many years.

 

[shellygirl55]

tank is 26 gallon
we acclamated actually with the lights off... with the lights being so close to the top of the water we were afraid of melting the bag or burning the anemone

 

[shellygirl55]

also, how do you know if the bulb is too old?

 

[Gti_Leo]

the lighting from where you brought the anemone probably nto the same as the lighting you current;y have, it make take a few days for it to adjust to the different lighting so it may stay in hiding and come out a little bit

 

[shellygirl55]

ok, that sounds good... it's funny, he actually started looking a little better this afternoon... what about my shrooms? should i just keep them on the bottom?

 

[Gti_Leo]

i would see if that helps. i don't see how corals would be effected by to much light though

 

[acanthus]

It's hard to know if your bulbs are too old on a used fixture. I would prolly ask the person you bought the setup from. As a general guide though, if you are growing a lot of pest algae such as hair algae it could be a sign that your bulbs are nearing the end of their life. Pest algae can also grow with a nutrient rich system as well ( high nitrates due to over feeding or moving

 

[acanthus]

It's hard to know if your bulbs are too old on a used fixture. I would prolly ask the person you bought the setup from. As a general guide though, if you are growing a lot of pest algae such as hair algae it could be a sign that your bulbs are nearing the end of their life. Pest algae can also grow with a nutrient rich system as well ( high nitrates due to over feeding or moving a tank ) so it's hard to guess accurately.

 

[acanthus]

I also agree that it takes a few days for new animals to acclimate to your lights/water chemistry as well. Mushrooms for the most part are a lower light coral so keeping them lower in your tank is prolly good.

 

[mr_X]

a 150 watt halide is not too much light for your tank. an old bulb will not negatively effect an anemone. it will just lack intensity, and the color may shift. is there a piece of glass between the bulb and the water? you do need one.

you should always slowly acclimate photosynthetic creatures to new lighting. put any corals or anemones on the bottom and work them up over a period of weeks. the anemone will probably work itself up, or down as necessary.
light shock is another story though.

 

[shellygirl55]

is there a piece of glass between the bulb and the water? you do need one.

you should always slowly acclimate photosynthetic creatures to new lighting. put any corals or anemones on the bottom and work them up over a period of weeks. the anemone will probably work itself up, or down as necessary.
light shock is another story though.

yep.. a piece of glass is there i read on here earlier about someone shattering a bulb not having one... that would be horrible!!

i didn't slowly acclimate my anemone like you said and it's too late now!!! akkk!! at least i know for next time!! anything i can do to help him? he is in about the middle of the tank currently?

 

[mr_X]

it's not just that. that piece of glass blocks harmful ultraviolet light. it needs to be there.
i would just watch him. if you are concerned about the light being too strong, you can always order a 20 k lamp for it. it will be a lot more blue, but considerably less PAR.

 

[shellygirl55]

It's hard to know if your bulbs are too old on a used fixture. I would prolly ask the person you bought the setup from. As a general guide though, if you are growing a lot of pest algae such as hair algae it could be a sign that your bulbs are nearing the end of their life. Pest algae can also grow with a nutrient rich system as well ( high nitrates due to over feeding or moving a tank ) so it's hard to guess accurately.

over the last 3 or 4 days i have been growing a huge amount of pest algae.. i was asking on another post about a cleanup crew... i did talk to the guy i bought the system from, the bulbs are 7 months old, and he did have the recipt to look for certain....

any thoughts on the algae.... am i leaving the light on too long maybe... the dude at the lfs said 12 hrs is good??

 

[acanthus]

12 hrs is good yes but I would have the daylight halide on for about 9-10 hrs and your actinic or LEDs come on in the morning for about an hour first, and stay on for another hour or so in the evening. This way we can not only limit the algae growing light time. But you are simulating sunrise and sunset as close as you can with what you have.

 

[mr_X]

water changes with good source water (r.o.d.i.) is what is needed to combat this algae. what kind of algae is it?

 

[shellygirl55]

water changes with good source water (r.o.d.i.) is what is needed to combat this algae. what kind of algae is it?

ok, not to sound dumb but what on earth is rodi? we get our water currently from the lfs... it's premixed and the salinity is right in the middle... ok or not so much?

looks like hair algae to me... growing on some rocks, the glass and a little on the sand... don't know why, but that is what i am assuming it is... any way to tell for sure... i am not good at all at taking pics of the tank, my camera has auto focus and with the lights shimmering it will not focus!!