defcon11

Hey, I have a 29 gal and recently bought a T5 HO system it comes with:
2 x 24w T5 HO 10,000k daylight
2 x 24w 460nm actinic
2 led moon lights
Is this too much for my tank? Will it bleach out my rock, or will it help? I eventually want to turn it into a reef tank, but for now it is a FOWLR. My fish don't seem to mind and in fact like the added stability of the varied lights.

clinton1621

I would say its a little too much light unless you have corals, if I'm reading that right you have four 24 watt bulbs... that equals 96 watts of light, or a little over 3 watts per gallon. It may bleach out your live rocks and or cause an algae outbreak especially with the actinic bulbs. If you can run one set at a time with the other set off, either the two 10000k or the two actinics at one time then that would be about right

sgould

I'm going to respectfully disagree with Clinton on this. 96 watts of light is not too much for a 29 gallon reef tank. I have 130 watts on my 29 gallon and have thought about upgrading it further. Now, with no corals in the tank, you do have more than you need right now. On the other hand, since you are planning on a reef tank, there is nothing wrong with having the equipment you will need in place before buying your first coral.

defcon11

Yeah, did notice a little bleaching of rock. Will it come back? Also, noticed an outbreak of gold brown algae. Heard it was normal, (especially in a new tank, 2 months), and snails would take care of it. However I have a C&C star and they will eat anything I put in there. Is there another way to help control the algae growth? Maybe should just exchange for another star, like sand sifting. What ya'll think. Thanks for input, really helped.

fishrule101

The bleaching means that the bacteria in the LR is dying. Yes it will come back. I have that lighting sytem and it did wonders to my LR. I would change the SF for something reef safe since you said you wanted to make it a reef. The snails are the best way to take care of alage problems.

defcon11

I'm going to try this advice, thanks everyone though

sgould

Yep...both the bleaching and the brown are perfectly normal in a new tank, and both will resolve themselves as the tank matures. Just keep up on your water changes and keep nutrient levels in the tank down by not overfeeding and wait it out. Snails are your friend.

Slug

I'm running 25watts per gallon on my 10gal....

To much light depends on a few things. Your lighting schedule and the actual PAR of the light, which is more important then watts really. Run them all at the same time, running atinics by themselves won't do anything for the tank itself really, just supplements the daylights to give the tank more blue.

Bleaching is normal, the coraline will come back in time, its probably not your lights. The fish can be adapted to a certain light and light schedule, when you get into coral is when you really need to pay lots of attention.

So no thats not to much light, run them all at once for no more then 12 hours per cycle IMO.

clinton1621

I do agree that the watts per gallon you have with all the lights at once is not necessarily too much, but it is more than you actually need without corals... and I will amend part of what I said earlier, bleaching of the algae is normal on live rocks, but just like plants they have to acclimate to any changes in the water they live in (lighting included) so if you suddenly go from low watts per gallon, or from a low intensity type of light to a high watts per gallon high intensity type of lights then the coralline algae will have to acclimate to that light, usually resulting in a bleach out for a short amount of time followed by regrowth after it adjusts to the new light.... during which time you will get a buildup of brown diatoms and possibly excess "bad" algae that will stunt the regrowth of the coralline algae.

As for the one set of lights at a time, what I meant (should have been more specific) was that usually most people use the actinics as a "dawn" and "dusk" light with the main lights off and then use the main lights as "daytime" with the actinics off.... its completely up to you however but personally why waste excess power to run lights that you dont need, the actinics really arent sufficient to grow corals with even as a supplement, they dont produce enough light of the right spectrum for good photosynthesis, its better to have more full spectrum light than just stanadard 50/50

defcon11

Once I offload this Choc Chip Star, planning on picking up some. One or two should be enough for 29 gal. Don't want to starve the little buggers.

defcon11

Sooooooo what you're saying is the actinics really don't do anything for corals or anemones. That they're mainly used for "dawn & dusk" stuff. So what would be better, metal halides? Can't even come close to affording the electric bill?

clinton1621

No, they will help with corals and anemones, just not as much as everyone thinks they do... corals and anemones and also other invertebrates all convert light to a food source, in the ocean corals and such are deep enough that the water absorbs most of the spectrum of visible light except for blue, so does that mean they prefer blue? No, it simply means that they use whats available to them... corals higher up in the water (in better spectrum light) have much higher growth rates. Keep in mind that you also need to maintain nutrient levels with corals as well... more light equals more nutrients used, less light is opposite. Also some corals require higher levels of light than others, just like plants. As always... research, research, research before you buy anything =)

defcon11

So the coralline algae will come back and my lighting is good for the tank, not too much?

clinton1621

Sorry, I know initially saltwater is confusing lol.... in the long run your lights are fine, once your coralline algae adjusts to the new lights it will grow back, just keep an eye out for excessive bad algae until it does and try slowly leaving the actinics on for longer periods every few days (turn actinics off later and turn them back on earlier, but keep the 10000k on the same schedule) to help the corraline algae adjust better if you want to run all the lights at one time.

defcon11

ok

defcon11

Just an update on the situation. Brown algae dying off. Snails eating what is on glass, got rid of starfish. Think I can see some coraline algae starting back. Bright orange and some pale greens and pinks. Will the brown algae eventually just disintegrate off the rocks totally? I mean what the snails don't eat of course.