T5HO Reef lighting help

Get your alkalinity up to at least 7dKH and no more than 11dKH. You can increase by 2dKH a day. Use sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to achieve this.

Bulk reef supply has a calculator for this. Just select recipe 2 for the alk type.

 

So, do you think my lights are fine? Or should I go with two more 10k's?

 

Lights are probably OK. If you do change I would get blue not actinic or 10k.

 

What would be the purpose of the non actinic blue, is it just for color? I haven't researched lights much, thank you for responding to me by the way.

 

12hrs is a long time for lighting....8-10 at the most.

 

I've always been told 12, is 12 too much?

 

Bump for knowledge

 

12 hours is the total day light period at the equator. There is very little light until the sun reaches a high enough level. 8 to 10 is plenty. I run my lights a total of 10 hours and the coral look great and grow very well.

 

If you have the t5ho with the timers do a total of 11 hours but have your blues come on for about 45 min first and stay on for about 45 min after the whites go out.. I have the 4bulb 48in t5ho and it works great. I would def. bump up that alk. btw. Also read that you said the bulbs were new?? If this is the case you have to realize that your old bulbs were not nearly as strong as your new ones.. You could get away with leaving them on for 12 hours. But if you dropped new bulbs in i would def. lower your lighting time during the day for a while.. And build back up to around 11 hours after the algae growth goes down. Your corals could be getting way to much light from new ones and could also be the cause of algae. Look at it like this.. your old bulbs got to a point where it was like spring time in the tank.. not to hot or cold.. then you put new bulbs in and its like taking everything in your tank and dropping it under the sun in the middle of summer... (If that makes any sense to you) Hope it helps and good luck. I ran into this issue when i had a nano i got crazy algae growth and corals started looking small and fried as soon as i put new bulbs in. Lowering the time helped alot.

 

I don't mean to steal your thread but i would also like to know what's the difference between actinic blue and blue, what's better for corals?