Make sure to only run your lights at their peak intensity for only 6 to 8 hours a day. Running your lights at high intensities for long periods can lead to excessive algae. You may have some very dim moon lights running for the other 12 hours.
There are several LED lights on the market with dimmers that are either built into the light or controllers that you connect the light to that dim the light. In these cases you would not want to run the light more than eight hours a day because after a short ramp up period the light will be at full intensity. There are also some LED lights that do not ramp-up and ramp-down get gradually brighter and dimmer. But they have two or more LED channels.
In these cases you would treat each channel light like a separate power cord. Recommended Posts. Posted April 3, Share this post Link to post. If you are keeping corals, you will need a new light anyway! You can use a light timer to turn them off and on.
There are lots of hobbyists using the stock light on the evo with corals. Soft and lps don't need high light. The older version wasn't an evo. The Spec and its lights are for freshwater. Without an actual par meter reading in various locations in the tank, its all speculation.
Some see very high par throughout the tank while others- moderate. In this hobby everyone recommends more flow, more light, but that isn't always beneficial. Its important to provide what the corals actually needs. Posted April 5, Join the conversation You can post now and register later. Keeping lights constantly on is also not recommended!
This will stress the fish, overexpose corals leading to bleaching and lead to unwanted algae growth. The main thing you want to achieve is to try and have the lighting schedule on for as much time as you are in the room.
If the aquarium is in an office, start the lighting period at 7am, so the lights are on for your viewing pleasure while at work. If the aquarium is at home you will want to have the lights on in the evening when you are sat relaxing. In this case, start your lights to come on early afternoon so you get the viewing pleasure. There is no point in having a beautiful reef aquarium if the lights go off when you finally get to sit and enjoy it.
So long as the lighting schedule stays consistent your fish and corals will know no different. This is where timers come in! Aquarium lighting should simulate as close as possible the behavior of natural sunlight as well as the day and night cycle.
Using timers in conjunction with lighting equipment removes the necessity of manually turning the lights on or off. A process that could be, and usually is very unreliable! Successful reef tanks are all built around consistency and stability. As humans, we are hopeless at both of these! Timers are a perfect way to ensure that the lights go on and off at the same time every day.
In the real world, the sun rises gradually and sets just as gradually. This can be somewhat simulated by dimmers. For lights like non-dimmable T5s and Metal Halides that can only be turned on and off a timer or a series of timers used on individual or pairs of bulbs is a great way to increase or decrease light intensity as well as duration.
Dimmers are usually built into the light fixture and are configured either by a digital display, app, or online dashboard. These dimmable units may seem pricey but when light plays such an important part in the health of your coral, they are worth it!
The control you can get from the online and app dashboard for your lights is phenomenal! The amount of things you can do is truly mind-blowing and warrants a whole article all to itself. Sunrise, sunsets, coral acclimation programs, lightning storms, moon tracking, are all but a few of the features most dimmable LED and T5 fixtures are capable of. As coral owners, there are two measurements of light that are of particular importance to us.
It does not matter whether you are replacing Metal Halide or T5 lights with LEDs, light acclimation is a must for the healthy growth of corals and other marine creatures in your reef tank as well.
There are two problems that many reef aquarists may face when it comes to using LEDs for the first time in their reef tank. The first one is coral bleaching and the second is light acclimation. If you do not know the right PAR, duration, and spectrum required for your tank, you might end up bleaching the corals.
Similarly, LED light acclimation in the reef tank for the first time can be challenging if you do not know-how. When it comes to acclimating the corals of your reef tank to the new LED fixtures, you have to proceed slowly. It is not possible to acclimate the corals to the completely new LED fixtures overnight.
In case you have a hanging system or any other ways where you can effortlessly move the lights higher, it is better to raise the LED fixtures at the beginning.
When the reef creatures start to get used to the new fixture, you can lower the fixture gradually over the next 3 to 4 weeks. When you turn to LED lighting, you can still keep using the blue lights safely during dusk or dawn for a few hours. But, it is important to lower the active running hours of main lights during the daytime.
Begin with using them for 4 hours and then add about 1 hour per week. Just within a month, you can come back to your old schedule without bleaching the corals. A dimmer can help the marine creatures to get used to the change. Just hooking up a dimmer and lowering the intensity of light can work like magic in this respect. However, always keep a careful eye on the corals for any symptoms of bleaching in them.
If you see the sign of stress, you might need to combine this approach with another solution given above. If the corals in your reef tank are healthy and showing no signs of bleaching or stress, you can think of increasing the light intensity gradually to the appropriate level. Here too, do not hurry. Take about 1 month to get things settled to the desired level. Visit either a hardware store or a plant nursery to buy shade cloth or window screens.
If you cover the top of your reef tank with 3 to 4 layers of screen or cloth, the corals will remain unstressed. However, it is okay if you just remove 1 layer of the shade after about 4 to 5 days. If you see that the corals are still getting stressed, replace the shade to its prior position.
But, if the corals are fine with the change, you can go way faster and complete the cycle before 3 to 4 weeks. Finally, there is no alternative to being vigilant and patient.
You may choose any of the approaches mentioned above. If you see that the corals are losing the color, you should slow down the acclimation procedures. Maintaining the proper lighting hours in the reef tank is the key to the healthy growth of corals and fishes.
If the lighting is maintained for too long, the corals will bleach, and if the lighting period is too short, they will not be able to thrive. As a reef aquarist, you should aim to maximize the coral growth, maintain the appropriate water temperature, prevent coral bleaching, and control the growth of nuisance algae. All of these are possible only if you can maintain the appropriate hours and amount of lighting for the reef tank.
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