What should i do about lights?!

[davefan13]

I am thinking about starting a new tank, probably around a 75-100 gallon reef tank. I am hoping to have plenty of corals and fish. I am starting to understand how some of the things work, but still don't completely understand the lights. I know that there are metal halide, but those were very expenseive. I also understand that lighting is one of the most important aspects of the tank and i really shouldn't be getting cheap on it, but i really don't have a ton of money to spend. What are T-5 fixtures, and are they expensive. I know that VHO is very high output, and they apparently work OK. And i also need to know about the timing system and lunar lights. I just feel very lost on this subject and hope that someone can help me grasp the subject better.

thanks

 

[davefan13]

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[t5Nitro]

Metal halides are not needed.

You can go get a good T5 lighting system that will run about the same as a metal halide though such as the 6 bulb fixtures with individual reflectors.

I have a T5 Nova Extreme 4x39 watt over my 46 gallon right now with SPS corals on the upper level of the tank and others on the lower. The Nova Extreme fixtures are probably a good price. They do not have individual reflectors so that cuts out some light, but I do keep a clam on the sand bed also with those lights.

For a light cycle, run a light like that around 9-10 hours a day. If you have actinics (blue lights), run those 30 minutes before the daylights come on and 30 minutes after the daylights go off. It doesn't have to be that way but you get to look at the corals under actinics which some "glow" and also makes it more like a sunrise/sunset.

You also do not need lunar lights. The T5 Nova Extreme fixtures do come with them though. These are basically to turn on when all of the other lights are off for your personal preference if you want them on or not.

If you wanted SPS/LPS/clams, go with the T5 or halides. If you wanted just zooanthids, xenia, mushrooms, or any other low light coral, you could get away with PC lighting.

 

[davefan13]

thanks for the reply. Also, i read an article that said that one person ran one set of light for 14 hours, had an hour of nothing (i think) and then turned on a different one for 12 hours. That adds up to 26 hours (i double checked) and would that just be supposed to simulate the solar cycle? And if i ran those t-5 lights for 10 hours a day, would i just put no lights on at night and some on during the day or would i have to do something fancy?

*edit*

and what do actinic lights do?

 

[t5Nitro]

You should only run the lights about 10 hours a day because too much light and you might get some big algae blooms along with the tank needing a night cycle. The moonlights would alow for a night cycle too, just you don't need them on. You can turn them on whenever you want for viewing if you like.

You should pick a time you want the lights to come on, then the actinics come on at that time, 30 minutes later the daylights come on. Now all of the lights are on. 9 hours later the daylights would go off (making 9 hours 30 minutes so far) and then the actinics come on for 30 minutes. So you would have 9 hours of all the lights on and 1 hour of just actinic.. 30 before and after the daylights.

Actinic lights are blue. Real white lighting like 10k probably would need to be supplimented with actinics to balance it out or it may look yellow. If you turned the daylights only on in that nova extreme fixture, you would notice it a little yellow.

Even though that's what they help for with that fixture, people suppliment their metal halides with actinics even if they don't need actinics. Actinics will just give a more blue color to the tank and making the coral colors be more vibrant.