New tank question on Lighting

[SaltSolutions1]

I was given a 45 gallon (i think) tank recently that was well established. (36 x 24 x 12). It has a 350 magnum canister filter, 2 powerheads, and live rock and sand (about 2 - 3 ") One anenome and some type of coral growing out of a mussel shell.(this one is wierd, I'll be posting pics of it soon to let you on here a stab at "guess that coral"....The tank is well over a year old and has 2 percula clowns and a leopard wrasse. 2 small crabs and 6 snails. 1 air stone

The lighting is 360 watts (regular light and moon light. I have them both on separate timers and the regular light goes off about 9:30pm) Not sure what time it goes back on, but it's after 7:00 as I was still home then.

Just wondering if there is something else I should do for light. Should the lights stay on all day?

 

[Nano Chris]

I would have them on at least 8 hours.

 

[IslandCrow]

Generally, somewhere between 8 and 12 hours for your lights is good. I wouldn't leave them on any longer than 12 hours. On a different subject, you may want to consider getting a protein skimmer. It will remove organic compounds from your water before they break down into ammonia, nitrates and phosphates. I'd then just use that canister filter to run either carbon or use it with a micron filter. I run my canister filter for about a week out of every month with a micron filter just to keep my water crystal clear.

If you haven't found it yet, this is a good place to start reading if you're new to the saltwater world: http://www.reefcentral.com/modules.php?s=&name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=1

You may also want to get your hands on a book called The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner.

Good luck!