Lights

[yamahaguy06]

my question is, are lights a good thing to have for a regular community tank? I have a 60 gal. community but I see pictures of all this cool live rock in reef tanks. This is because of the lighting correct? so would lights just be a good thing to have even 4 a plain community tank and would it make live rock look better? thanx

 

[1979camaro]

well, live rock does generally need some light just to keep it going but normal output (NO) flourescents are usually sufficient. there isn't any reason to go crazy with the lights unless you want to keep corals and other photosynthetic organisms

 

[yamahaguy06]

ok that is what I was thinking, so if I wanted the purple LR and the different colors and stuff I would need to go reef? But could I put lights on and keep it a community? without changing anything..

 

[dbacksrat]

you will generally acheive the purple stuff (coralline algae) by good lighting

that may be tough because of the unusual shape of your tank--and it height may require a bit more light--can you give us dimensions so we can give you lighting recommendations?

 

[yamahaguy06]

shure I just did in anouther post, they are 29inch(hight) by 24inch(width)hex, so one side to the other. umm, do you think i twill be tough to find lights to fit on my hex tank? thanx

 

[S.Reef]

I find coralline algae comes from strable water conditions, and high amounts of calcium...lighting kinda comes last.

 

[1979camaro]

agree with same, high Ca and good water is much more important for coralline growth; in fact, coralline is less prevalent in high light tanks (compare a 55g MH tank to a 55g PC tank and you will see what i mean)

 

[dbacksrat]

agree with same, high Ca and good water is much more important for coralline growth; in fact, coralline is less prevalent in high light tanks (compare a 55g MH tank to a 55g PC tank and you will see what i mean)

hmm...I always thought it was the lighting...i guess that's why you two are the gurus here

lucky for you yamahaguy, 24" lighting is common, and you could probably get a nice PC fixture for not a lot

 

[1979camaro]

it isn't easy to light hex tanks, a good solution if you want coral and other photosynthetics might be a metal halide pendant with either a double ended 250W or single ended 400w bulb with a spectrum of 14000k to 20000k...

 

[yamahaguy06]

well, I meght look into lighting 4 the future but right now I am going to concintrate on keeping my tank clean, lol. I am going to buy a skimmer firt though. I think that is the most importint thing. so camaor and S. reef you guys say that kind of algea is from good water conditions? or what does strable mean?lol and high calcuim? reef tank LR always looks good though.

 

[aresgod]

i agree, hex's due to their shape cause natural dead spots in lighting, if you like to keep corals halides are the way to go, and yes coraline actually does better under moderate lighting, it tends to fade in intense lighting, add Ca and you should see exponential growth

 

[yamahaguy06]

oh and one other thing, my light cycle right now is 7 hours a day. is this cool. It used to be 12-13. lol not good

 

[1979camaro]

yes stable: limited temp fluctuations, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, pH around 8.3, salinity at 1.024-1.026

calcium can be dosed in a liquid form available in bottles from your LFS or you can get a calcium reactor to constantly inject (not the right option for you because your tank won't use that much calcium). as far as your light cycle it is impossible to say without knowing about your bulbs but since all you have is some LR 7hrs should be fine.

definitely get the skimmer first and maybe some more LR too

 

[yamahaguy06]

cool, I think I am going to get more live rock. I have always though I needed a little more, I should buy it and stick it in a bucket w/ a power head for a couple of weeks huh?(using the tank water) oh and about salinaty Camaro you said, 1.024-1.026, mine is at .022 is this to low? should I slowly rais it a little higher? and would you say I should pick up some calcuim and just do what it says on the bottle

 

[1979camaro]

you definitely want to bring the salinity up slowly. depending on whether your LR is cured or not when you buy it you may have to put it in a bucket and cure it yourself. most of the LR sold at the lfs is cured. a good test is to smell it. if the rock smells like slow death then it needs cured. if it smells fresh and somewhat oceany like a scented candle then it is cured. but, the LFS should tell you too....

you can dose calcium, but regular water changes should be enough to keep the calcium level up to grow coralline since you have nothing else in the tank using Ca

 

[yamahaguy06]

I had some growing but the algae would take it over to were you could not even see it.(green) um, when I scrubed my LR I found spots purple, it's a cool looking algae. Camaro how muck more live rock would you suggest?

 

[1979camaro]

hard to judge poundage other than roughly...based on the pictures of your tank from the other thread there is a lot of open swimming space at the top which isn't bad, but i would create a little ledge there if possible. i will attach a quick photoshop i did of your tank using some snipets of my own to show what i mean (kind of). you might also consider getting a piece to fill some of the emtpyness in front. i dunno, its up to you. look for some hex tanks online and see what inspires you

mostly, you want it to look good to you and provide enough little nooks and crannies for your fish to feel comfortable

 

[yamahaguy06]

LOL, ok dude I see what you mean. man this is top of the line help. So your saying more live rock definitly and make a good base than stack my rock up more to reach higher. I think that would be a good idea to. oh and like the edited pic. k, Camaro thanx a lot

I think I will go with 7-8 big chucks of rock(if I can get money, lol)

oh one more thing I basicly have two kinds of LR the flater smooth one(can look at my pics) and the pointy coral looking one. What do you think of the pointy one? I dont like it myself it collects gunk(gets stuck) and breaks off, just gets weak. I won't buy it anymore. it depends the LFS sometimes they have the normal stuff, and sometimes not. if you dont know what I'm talking about tell me, lol. thanx man

 

[yamahaguy06]

oh camaro one other thing, could you check out the green algae thread I had a question for you about a clean up crew-

 

[1979camaro]

http://www.lostmymarblz.com/42galhexreef.htm

http://www.dallura.com/reef/Hex05Mar99B-01.jpg