Help! Do I have too little or too much light?

Discussion in 'Reef Lighting' started by Dairy, Nov 20, 2009.

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  1. Dairy

    Dairy Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2009
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    Location:
    New Brunswick, Canada
    I have a 77 gallon tank with fishk, inverts an corals. The tank came wit T8's so I have one daylight T8 and one blue T8 both are 39W, i then bought a ballast and installed two T5's, again one daylight and one blue, so am running 4 in all, is it enough? Too much?? and how long should I have them on? I also don't know how old the T8's were when I got the tank, how often should I change the bulbs? This is a deep tank by the way, 47 inches long X 24 inches deep.
    Thanks for your help!
     
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  3. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    The bulbs should be replaced about every 9 months, give or take.
    A normal lighting schedule is around 10 to 14 hours a day. Some people like to stagger them, the get a sunrise/set effect.

    Do you have good reflectors above all 4 lights?

    With 4 bulbs you should be able to get all softies, leathers and some LPS to grow in your tank.
     
  4. unclejed

    unclejed Whip-Lash Squid

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    I would replace the T8 with T5s. T5s last 12-18 mos. T8 I believe only 6-8 mos. The T5 should be HO or VHO depending on what the ballasts are rated for. A total of 10-12 hours is more congruous with nature. Some will have their "blues" (actinic) start out their light cycle for 1-2 hours and then the "daylights" come on (actinic stay on) for 8-10 hours and when the "daylights" go off the actinic stay on for another 1-2 hours.
    Also it seems to me you would want 54 watt but I am not that expert to tell you that you need to have 54 watt.
     
  5. Beaun

    Beaun Fire Shrimp

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    East Hampton, NY
    What are the dementions of your tank, specifically how tall is it?
     
  6. Jason McKenzie

    Jason McKenzie Super Moderator

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    What are you thinking about keeping in the Tank? More that softies (mushroons, toadstools, some zoa) I'm afraid you are under lighting by quite a bit