Lighting Intensity and Schedule Recommendations

[jalewis]

I have a Aquatop AIO 40 gal ECO Recife system that's been running for a little over 6 weeks. About 3 weeks ago I replaced the light that came with it with an Aqamai LRM light. It sits about 9 inches above the water surface. Currently it is a fish-only tank with two clowns, one dottyback, two emerald green crabs, three turbo grazer snails, three nassarius snails and two camelback shrimp. Ultimately I'd like it to be a mixed reef system. I've been running one of the Aqamai default programs for coral reef customized to lower the intensity somewhat. This is my current schedule:

	06:00 - 08:00	08:00 - 17:00	17:00 - 19:30	19:30 - 06:00
Cool White	0%	22%	0%	0%
Green	0%	18%	0%	0%
Red	0%	40%	7%	0%
Indigo	58%	74%	62%	11%
Royal Blue	29%	74%	31%	1%
Blue	17%	51%	18%	2%

I've been fighting brown algae (diatoms? cyano? not sure) pretty much since the new lighting. Am I overdoing it right now? What about when I start adding coral?

Thanks.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I have a Aquatop AIO 40 gal ECO Recife system that's been running for a little over 6 weeks. About 3 weeks ago I replaced the light that came with it with an Aqamai LRM light. It sits about 9 inches above the water surface. Currently it is a fish-only tank with two clowns, one dottyback, two emerald green crabs, three turbo grazer snails, three nassarius snails and two camelback shrimp. Ultimately I'd like it to be a mixed reef system. I've been running one of the Aqamai default programs for coral reef customized to lower the intensity somewhat. This is my current schedule:

	06:00 - 08:00	08:00 - 17:00	17:00 - 19:30	19:30 - 06:00
Cool White	0%	22%	0%	0%
Green	0%	18%	0%	0%
Red	0%	40%	7%	0%
Indigo	58%	74%	62%	11%
Royal Blue	29%	74%	31%	1%
Blue	17%	51%	18%	2%

I've been fighting brown algae (diatoms? cyano? not sure) pretty much since the new lighting. Am I overdoing it right now? What about when I start adding coral?


Thanks.

Bump. Only true way of knowing par is to rent a Par meter to see what your light out put is.

 

[Glott3133]

What is your overall intensity level?

 

[jalewis]

What is your overall intensity level?

Not sure what you mean by overall intensity. Those are the only readings that I'm aware of that I can get. BTW I had the time wrong for daylight, it's 08:00 - 19:00 and twilight is 19:00 - 21:00.

Here are pics I just took today, one day after cleaning the glass. You can see it's starting again.

 

[Glott3133]

That's pretty typical to have to clean the glass often (especially because your tank is so new). It sounds like the only way to measure your lighting intensity is with a par meter. Since you only have fish, you may be ok with your current settings. Once you start buying corals, you will have to know how much light you are subjecting your corals to (hence the par meter). I have Radion lights, so I choose a template that promotes coral growth, but adjust the lighting intensity based on how well my corals respond and look.

Sorry I don't have a definitive answer for you.

 

[jalewis]

Knowing that this is a typical situation is help enough. I decided to let the algae on the glass go for now to see if it increases. It seems to have stabilized(?) meaning I'm not getting additional algae and the snails, etc. have started to remove what there is now. I'll see how it goes when I add coral and adjust the lighting again.

Thanks.