Partial lighting of the aquarium?

[Cody Ray]

Has anyone set up an aquarium and only had lighting over areas that were going to have liverock and/or corals? It seems to me that if you had a long enough aquarium with islands of rock that you really would only need to use serious lighting (mh, t-5s, etc) over these islands and supplement the rest with regular t-12s or t-8s.

 

[salty joe]

Yeah, and why not put some live rock under low light for sponges & non-photo critters.

I saw pics of a big tank that only lit the front rock. It gave the illusion of endlessness. I think it was the guy with a GIANT worm. Sorry, I don't have the link.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

This is done a lot actually. Usually this is the lighting of choice for many Japanese tanks. They focus high lighting in coral areas. It almost looks like they have spot lights in their tanks. Sorry, I don't have a picture.

 

[Aquaduck]

There are plenty of places on the reef where there are areas in complete shade for the entire day or half a day as the sun rises and falls. Life will grow where it will thrive and perish where it can't. I don't see any reason not to light a tank this way too.

 

[miwoodar]

The guy with the GIANT worm...are you talking about the oregon reef site? I thought it was fully lit. http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm

Is it another site? I'm curious to see good partially lit tanks. I tried it once in a 75 but it wasn't big enough to really set the ambiance I was hoping for.

 

[salty joe]

Thanks, that's the one. I could swear that I read on that site that the back is not lit, but I guess I'm wrong. It seems only the sides are dim. I have heard of leaving the back of a really deep tank dark though. I think that would be very cool.

Joe