Lighting question ( time scale )

[avalanche wolf]

In the morning I turn on the actinics for about an hour or so then I turn on the daylights as well .

The daylights run about 8 - 10 hours then I shut those down and run the actinics for about 1-2 hours. Then at bed time all lights get shut off. Also the large power heads get turned off and 1/2 the flow rated power heads get turned on in the reverse direction of flow paths. ( hoping to have moonlights soon )


The ? is should I be shutting the actinics off while the daylight are on ok keep with the running of both. I am starting to get over run with copperish alge ( one problem is I dont have a single snail in there yet , getting fixed today ) but am I running these lights too much during the day ?

[Geoff]

actinics are just for our viewing pleasure. if you like the look with them on with the rest of the lights than leave them on. if not, than leave them off. not sure how much PAR would be coming off othe actinics anyway, so they may not be helping growth much anyway.

moonlights- hate them, but a lot of people use them. one of those things that do not help the tank in the least. they are for you benefit, but prolly do not hurt the tank much. i would not run moonlights all night though. moonlights are a lot stronger than the actual moon is, so they are at the very best, just a nite lite for your critters.

as for algae, lights are not a cause for algae. nutrients are. it does not matter what K your bulbs are, or how old your bulbs are. if you do not have any nutrients in the tank than you will not have any algae. if you are getting algae and the tank is over 6mo old than you have a nutrient export problem.

G~

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Geoff

if you are getting algae and the tank is over 6mo old than you have a nutrient export problem.

I am curious about this statement,... Why 6 months? Are you thinking the tank is setup with un-cured rock and it takes that long for the rock to fully cure? Or it this even in the case of tank transfer using rock from an established tank?

Thanks,
Whiskey

[avalanche wolf]

I had about 40lbs of LR that was transfered from a 3 year running tank. I added about about 50lbs of base rock when everything was transfered to the new 100 gallon.

I know a lot of the water to top off the new tank was tap water mix. since I have starte using the Ro.Di premix to top off the tank everyday. I would expect most of my neut was coming from the tap water and not have a clean up crew at all wasnt helping matters either.

[Geoff]

6 months is just a safe length of time to assume the major algae blooms associated with setting up a new tank have finished. i guess your first statement is the one i am referring to.

G~