Naeusu

I bought a new ballast for my tank!

it's a dual ballast t5 HO setup...

now, i dont' get to spend much time at home except for the evenings and late evenings because of my work schedule (usually anywhere from 2pm to 3 am) and in order to reduce the possibility of over heating the tank (it's still fairly warm where i live) i've set the timers to put the light on in periods of about 4 hours so the tank gets about 8 or 9 hours of lighting during the whole day. I don't have any corals right now so they aren't an issue, but soon will be.

The light comes on between 7 am and 11am and then again between 6pm and 10pm. I set the lights for those time to optimize the heat and enjoyment while i'm at home.

Is that sufficient lighting or should the light be on the whole 8 hours straight? what about when i get corals? will they need the constant lighting or will it be fine with the times broken in two?

nemo addict

your lighting sequance should imitate natural timings as fish rest , with the timings this could stress the fish and depending on what corals you have affect these too ,, try putting a fan over your tank to keep cool or purchase a chiller ,

MizRamzi

+1 for nemo.

Naeusu

i plan on getting a chiller eventually... so consistent lighting it is!

ATP

a little info

most people put fans and I highly recommend that especially when summer comes. It doesn't all so make the water cooler, but it makes the bulb cooler as well. replicating the day light time on reefs is important. for example mine turns on at 10 am and turns off at 10 pm. Corals will need 12 hours of lights.if you observe your tank when lights are out, you probably won't see any fish as they will be sleeping in the LR and when the lights are on your tank will suddenly be alive.

Naeusu

I had a fan going as well as a few other measures trying to get the temp down on the tank.

I was also told that restricting the light in such a way would help to reduce the amount of nuisance algae in the tank.

I thought that since the room does get a good amount of lighting during the day time when the t5s were turned off that the fish really wouldn't notice. I was uncertain about the corals...

edit:

also, because of my erratic work schedule, i thought it would be awkward for the fish (maybe too much light?) if i kept the lights on when i wanted to enjoy them (up to 1 am)...

ATP

I would turn the lights on during the day for corals. As for algae, the light that comes from the sun most likely causes it rather than lights from your tank. Honestly, It would be best leave the lights on for 8-12 hours straight.

he HO lights on your 55 shouldn't be to strong so it shouldn't be the one causing too much algae problems. I don't recommend you restricting the lights, but I do recommend you to not let sunlight into your tank. I have three 175 watts halides and going to add 2 96 watts PC's over my 65 and I haven't had algae problems since it has finished cycling, but there's no sunlight touching the tank.