Turning lights on for the first time

[seaofbytes]

Hey Reef!

A little backstory, I have a 35g (21x21x21) cube tank with a AC HOB 110. Currently in the tank, 2 hermits, yasha/randalli pair, and a midas blenny.

The tank has been up for 2 months now (without lights), added my first fish a month ago. So far, other than picking out the two most inactive fish in the world, it has been smooth sailing.

I've ordered my lighting (SmartFarms G5 95W LED), and it's coming today so I have a few questions about turning light on for the first time.

1. Should I start low, and slowly ramp the intensity up over the course of a few days/weeks? If so, how low?
2. How much time should my lights be on in the beginning? I keep reading about the 1-8-1 format, should I jump straight on to that, or do something like 1-2-1, 1-3-1 and slowly ramp it up?

Thanks!

 

[Koh23]

Lower intensity = longer running hours
Higher intensity = shorter running hours

It all depends, 1-8-1 is guideline, personaly, i like longer running times, so 3+8+3...

 

[SamsReef]

Lights are very powerful these days with high PAR. 10 hours of photoperiod is more than enough with 5-6 hours of peak. So you could do 2 hours if ramp up and down. Which will work out as 2 hours of ramp up, 6 hours of peak and 2 hours of ramp down.

Sam

 

[seaofbytes]

Lights are very powerful these days with high PAR. 10 hours of photoperiod is more than enough with 5-6 hours of peak. So you could do 2 hours if ramp up and down. Which will work out as 2 hours of ramp up, 6 hours of peak and 2 hours of ramp down.

Sam

I am planning on starting with lower intensity, and ramping up from there. I'll also get a PAR meter sometime soon, so that will help.

So I am OK to just run something like 1-8-1 with lower intensity on day 1 of lights being on?

 

[chris k.]

If you are a fish only tank you dont need high intensity. Just whatever you like is all you need.

 

[seaofbytes]

If you are a fish only tank you dont need high intensity. Just whatever you like is all you need.

I will be getting coral soon, as of now it's fish only. Was waiting on the lights.

 

[damsels are not mean]

With no corals in it doesn't really matter. I'd ramp it up like sunrise sunset so the fish don't get shocked but they won't notice any difference.

 

[seaofbytes]

With no corals in it doesn't really matter. I'd ramp it up like sunrise sunset so the fish don't get shocked but they won't notice any difference.

Thanks for the answer! Yeah I was asking mostly because of the fish. Don't want to shock them or something like that.

I guess I better strap in for the beginning of the ugly stage now with the lights too.