acclimating new tank to lighting

[fishmonkey]

so i've had my tank for about 3 months with no lights and just fish. i plan to add lighting next month for introducing coralline algae. lighting will be five 48 inch quanta pro led bars 8 inches over my bare bottom 48x24x24 120 gallon tank. sump has chaeto growing currently. its all dry rock and i plan to live reef rubble from aquabiomics to speed up the beneficial bacteria process when its in stock.

first question is how do i go about ramping up the lighting in my new tank to avoid dinos etc? my original plan was to run 1 bar for 8 hours and add 1 bar every month. is this too fast?

second question is how much lighting is necessary in the introduction of coralline algae? will one bar with 8 hours be enough?

 

[blaxsun]

I'd probably just ramp up the light over 2 weeks - mainly for the fish to adjust to. Without knowing output (etc.) I couldn't tell you how much to ramp up your lights - other than a PAR meter will be helpful if you plan to add corals, etc.

 

[fishmonkey]

I'd probably just ramp up the light over 2 weeks - mainly for the fish to adjust to. Without knowing output (etc.) I couldn't tell you how much to ramp up your lights - other than a PAR meter will be helpful if you plan to add corals, etc.

I think with 5 bars it can get up to 500 par from tests I’ve seen people do with the exact same setup

 

[blaxsun]

I think with 5 bars it can get up to 500 par from tests I’ve seen people do with the exact same setup

The clarity of the water can even influence PAR. If it's just for fish you don't need a lot other than whatever looks nice aesthetically. For corals, anywhere from 100-250 PAR for mixed reefs is the range where most try and keep their corals (with some SPS needing more).

 

[fishmonkey]

The clarity of the water can even influence PAR. If it's just for fish you don't need a lot other than whatever looks nice aesthetically. For corals, anywhere from 100-250 PAR for mixed reefs is the range where most try and keep their corals (with some SPS needing more).

It will be sps only

 

[blaxsun]

It will be sps only

Then you'll probably want 200 PAR minimum at the bottom of the tank.