Help With Lights On Fowlr

ok. 72 gallon bowfront. Live rock fish only. I have read articles on both sides. Lighting for visual effects only. To proper lightning for. Algae growth. Are my full spectrum led lights ok for this set up. They have blue night mode. And could I just run that. I like the look of that

 

HI and welcome to Fishlore. For FOWLRs, any sort of light will do but you mentioned wanting algae growth.. can you elaborate on that? If you are trying to grow macrogae, those will need a stronger light. Standard issue algae I’ve found will grow regardless of your light situation. As far as blues, you’re more than welcome to only have blues on but I personally prefer the look of my fish under a combination of blue and white.

 

Would like some coralline growing. Maybe place some other stuff in th future. No time soon.

 

Would like some coralline growing. Maybe place some other stuff in th future. No time soon.

Coralline will grow in but it takes time (ie 9 months to a year before you start seeing it). Not sure how your tank is setup but Protein Skimmers do help promote Coralline algae growth. You want to keep your lighting to 8 hours a day max or you will get all kinds of algae you don't want (most notably the ugly green hair algae that precious few things will eat). With FOWLR, as you are aware it's about the look rather than the function. Fish really don't care unless you are putting them under some intense grow light. So create the look you want and limit it to 8 hours and you should be good to go. Frequent filter sock or floss changes (ie every few days) will keep the uglies down as will having a solid clean up crew like the little red hermit crabs. They eat excess food bits that fuel hair algae growth.

 

It is a new tank in progress. You had recommended me a protein skimmer in another thread. I have a cheap hob filter on it. Which I will remove eventually. Going slow. Not many fish. I see some sites that sell coralline spores in a bottle. Does this work? 50lb of rock. Gonna add 10 or so more pounds. Looks bare with 50. Thanks

 

Coralline is something that takes time and unless you are buying established rock with coralline already growing on it, it just has to happen naturally. Personally I wouldn't buy the stuff in a bottle as the conditions have to be right for it to grow (ie mature tank). Just let it happen naturally and you will be better off.