How long should I leave the lights on my nano reef aquarium?
Feb 18th 2008adminNano Cube Aquariums
Tuck asked:
Hi I set up a nano reef aquarium in a 24g nano cube Dx 72W VHO Lighting (Compact Flourescent) As of now I have 2 tomato clowns and a small yellowtail damsel in there, along with some snails and some crabs, as well as a feather duster. the only coral i have right now are a couple mushrooms. When should I set the light timer to turn on and off at? Currently I have it turning on at 7 AM and off at 8 PM. what is the best schedule to run on?
Nano Reef Gear
Hi I set up a nano reef aquarium in a 24g nano cube Dx 72W VHO Lighting (Compact Flourescent) As of now I have 2 tomato clowns and a small yellowtail damsel in there, along with some snails and some crabs, as well as a feather duster. the only coral i have right now are a couple mushrooms. When should I set the light timer to turn on and off at? Currently I have it turning on at 7 AM and off at 8 PM. what is the best schedule to run on?
Nano Reef Gear
drama_cat29 on 21 Feb 2008 at 5:52 pm #
Well what I did when I had fish (I let them go in my pond by the way) We kept it off in the day and turned it on in the evening. It looks really pretty at night too
copperhead on 23 Feb 2008 at 4:55 pm #
If you figure that corals are from tropical areas around the Equator, they get about equal amounts of daylight and nighttime every day. The way most people set their timers is to have an hour of “dawn” (actinics only), 10 hours of “day” (white lighting, generally 10,000k) and and hour of dusk (actinics only). Leaving them on too long can cause algae problems, and this may also heat the tank water more (if the heat from the light transfers to the water).
The exact hours of operation are up to you - choose a time for them to be on when you’re home most often to enjoy your tank.
normy in garden city on 26 Feb 2008 at 4:33 am #
As long as it’s exposed to some sort of indirect light from windows or table lamp you don’t need them on at all. Only turn them on when you are there and want to enjoy the view. A few hours of daylight is sufficient. The more light you expose it to the harder it’s going to be to control the algae.