Lighting instructions for dummies please

[paintgirl427]

I’m running a 120 gallon tank currently
2 tomato clowns
1 lawmower blennie
3 chromis
1 coral beauty
1 serpent star
1- watchman goby
And a large clean up crew .
I have soft corals ( mushrooms / green star / and a couple of others .
Running skimmer and parameters are doing great .
I currently have 1 57” Ai grow blade and 2 Fluval aqua sky lights
And I have NO CLUE what I’m doing .
Every thread I read refers to abbreviations that I don’t understand at this point .
Do I need to add more light ?
Ramp up the blade ? ( it’s now at 40% 40% and 20% white )
I could really use some direction . TIA
I’ll add photos if someone can show me how

 

[Uncle99]

You have no light demanding corals and fish don’t care.
If they look good, your light is fine. Resist changes, it can take months for corals to adjust to higher light.

If you want to “know” the right amount then you’ll need a PAR meter (rent it) and for your corals I’d say 50-100PAR is fine.

 

[paintgirl427]

You have no light demanding corals and fish don’t care.
If they look good, your light is fine. Resist changes, it can take months for corals to adjust to higher light.

If you want to “know” the right amount then you’ll need a PAR meter (rent it) and for your corals I’d say 50-100PAR is fine.

Thank you ! Do you know anywhere I could go or any type of book that I could read to start gaining an understanding of lighting ?

 

[Pickle_soup]

How are your corals doing? Are they not opening up? Extending looking for more light? Why do you feel like you need more light?

 

[Reefering1]

Pic of tank...(?)

 

[Uncle99]

Thank you ! Do you know anywhere I could go or any type of book that I could read to start gaining an understanding of lighting ?

This site has section with tons of stuff, You tube has a ton.
Don’t over think it.
Most reef type lighting comes with the correct spectrum, favouring blues, it just the intensity that we play with.
It’s very easy to overnight. Start low, watch corals, do they inflate daily?
Lots of antinic blue, some purple, a tiny bit red/green, and add white until the tank looks great.

 

[paintgirl427]

How are your corals doing? Are they not opening up? Extending looking for more light? Why do you feel like you need more light?i

 

[paintgirl427]

I had read that you need around 3-4 watts per gallon and I was worried I wasn’t offering enough wattage . I’ve got around 1 watt per gallon running currently .

 

[Pickle_soup]

I had read that you need around 3-4 watts per gallon and I was worried I wasn’t offering enough wattage . I’ve got around 1 watt per gallon running currently .

That's old lights like Metal Halides, T-5, etc. With LEDs, it's very different. With LEDs PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) is more important. You can probably find some charts/graphs on your light's PAR and dispersion. Besides, as it was said earlier, your corals do not demand much light.