So, I'm trying to bring my 55g (standard AGA) mixed reef tank back from the dead after 3+ years of neglect. I want this to be a low-maintenance, easy-care reef tank with mostly softies and LPS coral.
For the past 3 years, I was lighting my tank with a 48" Ecoxotic E-series LED fixture. It's only a 56 watt fixture, but I was basically running my tank as a FOWLR as that's all I had in it since a massive coral die-off and aiptasia outbreak several years ago.
Now that I am bringing it back online as a mixed reef tank, I needed to increase my lighting. I had added GSP, Frog Spawn, Toadstool Leather, Zoas, and Xenia to my tank over the past couple of weeks. They weren't doing all that great under the low levels of the Ecoxotic LED fixture. To supplement, I added more LED fixtures. I am keeping the Ecoxotic 48" LED fixture, but I have added (2) Fluval Sea Marine & Reef 3.0 48" LED fixtures. Each Fluval fixture is 59 watts. So, the total wattage over my tank is 174 watts LED.
All of my coral improved significantly after I added the extra lighting. I'm fairly certain this should be enough light for the corals I plan to keep. I don't intend to get any corals or inverts that require high-intensity lighting, such as SPS or clams.
Now my dilemma is trying to program a daily lighting cycle that will make my corals look their best, and help keep them healthy and growing. The Fluval 3.0 LED fixtures have Bluetooth connectivity, and you can use the FluvalSmart app to set the timer and coloring of the fixtures. The app has three preset color profiles: Deep Sea Glo, Sunny Reef, and Color Burst. It also allows you to manually program the intensity of the separate colors (Pink, Cyan, Blue, Purple, and Cold White) from 0% - 100%. It allows you to program the timing for Sunrise, Sunset, Midday, and Night.
My questions are:
1. What is an ideal light cycle for a softie and LPS reef tank? Total hours of illumination?
2. For the Sunrise and Sunset programs, you cannot change the color mix, only the timing. It uses whatever color mix you have set for the Midday program and simply ramps up/down over the duration of time you set. What is a good amount of time to ramp up/down for Sunrise and Sunset?
3. What would be an appropriate mix of color to use for the Midday setting? I can manually set the pink, cyan, blue, purple, and cold white colors. I ran out of time to mess with all the color settings last night before getting called to bed by my wife. So, I just set both Fluval fixtures to use the "Deep Sea Glo" setting for the midday program. The Deep Sea Glo is mixed with Pink @ 10%, Cyan @ 100%, Blue @ 100%, Purple @ 100%, and Cold White @ 30%.
4. Should I use more or less Cold White intensity during the midday program? I know white can have a significant impact on the growth of coral, but it also encourages nuisance algae growth. Plus, there's the aesthetics of the tank to consider. More white blows out and diminishes the fluorescence of the corals.
5. What kind of light setting (if any) should I use for the overnight program? The default setting for the Fluval program is to turn off all colors except the blue channel and run that @ 5% overnight. However, when I tried the 5% blue setting last night to check it out, it seemed pretty bright for leaving on all night. I even turned it down to 1-2% blue, and that still seemed too bright. Should I just turn off all lights overnight? Or is there any benefit to having a moonlight on during the night?
6. The specs for the Fluval 3.0 LED fixtures state there are 336 LED bulbs. However, it does not provide the makeup of the bulbs (e.g. how many white, how many blue, how many purple, etc.). I can only assume that at least half of the bulbs are probably the Cold White color. If I significantly lower the Cold White intensity during my midday lighting program, is the remaining blue/purple light going to be intense enough to promote coral growth and health?
Thanks for any help anyone can provide!
For the past 3 years, I was lighting my tank with a 48" Ecoxotic E-series LED fixture. It's only a 56 watt fixture, but I was basically running my tank as a FOWLR as that's all I had in it since a massive coral die-off and aiptasia outbreak several years ago.
Now that I am bringing it back online as a mixed reef tank, I needed to increase my lighting. I had added GSP, Frog Spawn, Toadstool Leather, Zoas, and Xenia to my tank over the past couple of weeks. They weren't doing all that great under the low levels of the Ecoxotic LED fixture. To supplement, I added more LED fixtures. I am keeping the Ecoxotic 48" LED fixture, but I have added (2) Fluval Sea Marine & Reef 3.0 48" LED fixtures. Each Fluval fixture is 59 watts. So, the total wattage over my tank is 174 watts LED.
All of my coral improved significantly after I added the extra lighting. I'm fairly certain this should be enough light for the corals I plan to keep. I don't intend to get any corals or inverts that require high-intensity lighting, such as SPS or clams.
Now my dilemma is trying to program a daily lighting cycle that will make my corals look their best, and help keep them healthy and growing. The Fluval 3.0 LED fixtures have Bluetooth connectivity, and you can use the FluvalSmart app to set the timer and coloring of the fixtures. The app has three preset color profiles: Deep Sea Glo, Sunny Reef, and Color Burst. It also allows you to manually program the intensity of the separate colors (Pink, Cyan, Blue, Purple, and Cold White) from 0% - 100%. It allows you to program the timing for Sunrise, Sunset, Midday, and Night.
My questions are:
1. What is an ideal light cycle for a softie and LPS reef tank? Total hours of illumination?
2. For the Sunrise and Sunset programs, you cannot change the color mix, only the timing. It uses whatever color mix you have set for the Midday program and simply ramps up/down over the duration of time you set. What is a good amount of time to ramp up/down for Sunrise and Sunset?
3. What would be an appropriate mix of color to use for the Midday setting? I can manually set the pink, cyan, blue, purple, and cold white colors. I ran out of time to mess with all the color settings last night before getting called to bed by my wife. So, I just set both Fluval fixtures to use the "Deep Sea Glo" setting for the midday program. The Deep Sea Glo is mixed with Pink @ 10%, Cyan @ 100%, Blue @ 100%, Purple @ 100%, and Cold White @ 30%.
4. Should I use more or less Cold White intensity during the midday program? I know white can have a significant impact on the growth of coral, but it also encourages nuisance algae growth. Plus, there's the aesthetics of the tank to consider. More white blows out and diminishes the fluorescence of the corals.
5. What kind of light setting (if any) should I use for the overnight program? The default setting for the Fluval program is to turn off all colors except the blue channel and run that @ 5% overnight. However, when I tried the 5% blue setting last night to check it out, it seemed pretty bright for leaving on all night. I even turned it down to 1-2% blue, and that still seemed too bright. Should I just turn off all lights overnight? Or is there any benefit to having a moonlight on during the night?
6. The specs for the Fluval 3.0 LED fixtures state there are 336 LED bulbs. However, it does not provide the makeup of the bulbs (e.g. how many white, how many blue, how many purple, etc.). I can only assume that at least half of the bulbs are probably the Cold White color. If I significantly lower the Cold White intensity during my midday lighting program, is the remaining blue/purple light going to be intense enough to promote coral growth and health?
Thanks for any help anyone can provide!
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