How To Acclimitise Corals Correctly To Aquarium Lighting

Too often do I hear of people who go to an aquarium shop, see a coral, think to themselves ‘that would fit great in x position’, purchase it, take it home and put it straight into position.

To me this is wrong.

Corals when collected, propagated or aqua-cultured come from areas where they have been accustomed to different lighting levels to that of your aquarium. In the wild they may be collected from areas of different depths or even from under overhangs etc. In the propagated aspect they may have been grown out in an aquarium which is under weaker/stronger lighting than your aquarium. In the aqua-cultured aspect the corals may have been grown out in the ocean at a depth again where the light in your aquarium is either weaker or stronger than they have become accustomed to.

So what should you do?

Simply really - accustom them to the lighting slowly.

This is actually really simple to do yet it does require patience - doesn’t everything in this hobby?

When you purchase the coral be this at your local shop or via an online store you will of course researched it first - wont you? You then need to slowly acclimitise it to your water conditions. Once this has been performed and you are ready to add the coral to your aquarium do not simply place it in the area where you have planned for it place it at the bottom of the aquarium.

Leave it in this position for a few days whilst it becomes accustomed to the light it is receiving in this area. After a couple of days move is slightly higher towards its final position for again a couple of days.

A few days later do the same again and every few days move it slowly higher towards its final position.

Taking your time accustoming the coral to its new home will allow the coral to get used to the lighting slowly rather than being subject to too much lighting at once. This will also be beneficial to the symbiotic algae contained within the coral (dependent upon the coral of course).

Doing this does not mean that your coral will grow faster or be more colourful than other corals in your aquarium it simply means that you have given the coral enough time to adjust.

Let’s face it the corals cannot speak, they cannot tell you when they feel discomfort. For all you know the coral could slowly be getting burnt by lighting which is too powerful for it, the symbiotic algae may be expelled or worse the coral could perish.

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Tags: Aquarium Lighting, aquarium-livestock, Care, Corals, Equipment, reef-tank

Cloud Cover - Should We Simulate It

I am one of those types of aquarists who believe that we should try and emulate nature in as many ways as possible. This statement does not mean that I believe that we should not utilise technology at all as I believe we should. After all the technology available makes it easier for us and makes it better for the livestock we keep in our aquariums.

There are areas however where I feel that we can utilise technology to be able to simulate nature.

One of these areas is cloud cover.

In the wild the majority, if not all areas do not have beautiful blue skies every single days. There are days where there is partial cloud cover, other days when there is total cloud cover and other days when there are storms.

Life on the reef is not always sunny yet in our aquariums they are.

The majority of aquariums utilise lighting which is on for a certain period of time and then off for a certain period of time.

But what about the cloud cover, what about the thunderstorms?

As said most aquariums have lights installed above the aquariums with a few pumps creating water flow in the aquarium. The lights provide bright blue sky and the pumps create flow which is chaotic but still rhythmic.

It is of my opinion that the water pumps should occasionally be moved so that the water flow becomes different. Perhaps at times other pumps should be added occasionally so that the water becomes chaotic for a time.

It is also my opinion that we should be creating cloud cover above our aquariums. There are some lighting manufacturers which allow for this in their design and the lighting dims and brighten to simulate cloud cover.

I think that there could be another way, trickier but perhaps cheaper. Basically this entails a motor which moves a device in between the light and the water at varying speeds to simulate clouds moving between the sun and the water. This device could be turned off when not required and could even be made to have a variable speed or perhaps a random motion.

Just an idea - whether it is viable or not I don’t know.

Will simulating cloud over assist in the welfare of our livestock. That is an answer I do not know yet if we do not try we will not advance. For all we know our corals could certainly start growing at twice the rate, we may see more coral spawning etc.

On the other hand we may see no difference or at worst our corals could grow slower!

If you have any experience in this area then I would love to hear about it.

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Tags: Aquarium Lighting, Aquarium Maintenance, Aquarium Water, Care, Equipment

T5 Aquarium Lighting - Suitable For Which Corals?

Aquarium lighting for a reef aquarium is very important. It is second in importance only to seawater quality. The lighting system needs careful consideration if corals are to prosper.

In a fish only system the lighting is not particularly important. The fish need to see and also be seen, that’s all. Two fluorescent tubes¸ one white and one actinic blue are sufficient. Two tubes are required in order to create a ‘dawn and dusk’ cycle. Of course, the aquarist could use more tubes if desired.

For the reef aquarium there are options. The aquarist could choose metal halide lighting¸ which is the most popular at the moment. This popularity is likely to change because halides are expensive to run and give out a lot of heat which can affect the seawater. The light of the future is the LED array though at present these are expensive to buy. They do not put heat into the aquarium and are much cheaper to run. There are also fluorescent tubes which have been available to aquarists for many years, which don’t develop the heat of a metal halide and are again cheaper to run.

Fluorescent tubes have developed over the years - T12 tubes, then T8’s, and then T5’s which are the current type. All types are still available though it is the latter one that is of most interest to aquarists. The numbers 12, 8, and 5 refer to the diameter of the tube.

The development of fluorescent lighting has included spectrum. Aquarists can choose tubes of differing spectrum. For example, a marine white tube will give a spectrum of around 10000K (K=Kelvin which is a measure of colour temperature). White is an important and much used colour in the aquarium. Another is blue actinic which is used by perhaps the majority of reef aquarists.

The reason why colour output is so important is because in the sea colours disappear at various depths - red disappears quickly¸ blue penetrates deeply so the corals are used to certain colours and require them (this is a generality). Within the flesh of most corals kept on a captive reef are zooxanthellae which are single celled algae. These algae require light of the correct type to flourish. This in turn means the coral will be healthy.

T5 tubes could be used for any coral as they can be obtained with the correct colour output. However, there is one more consideration and that is intensity.

Metal halides are powerful and can ‘punch’ light to the bottom of deep aquariums. T5 lights do not have as much ‘punch’ and this is the area where particular care needs to be taken. The aquarist who has decided to use T5 lighting should be aware of this limitation.

If the aquarist wishes to keep hard corals (SPS) then the aquarium needs to be shallow, or at least it does if the hard corals are to cover the reef. A depth of around 12” is probably the limit, though even then the aquarist will have to watch that corals lower down are settled. Not all corals require as much light so those that are happy with less can obviously be placed lower. It is probable that most success will be obtained in the top 6″ or 9″ from the surface.

Most aquarists will not be happy with an aquarium of 12″ or less depth. Most are 18″, 24″ or even more. If the desire is to have an entire reef of hard corals (SPS) then T5 lighting will not do, though blue actinic lighting can still be used.

If the aquarist wants to have a mixed coral reef, that is some hard corals and also soft corals, then T5 lighting could be used. As above the hard corals that need a lot of light will need to be placed in the top 6″ or 9″ from the surface. The rest of the reef can house corals that will accept less light such as many soft corals. Even so, the lower areas will be the place for corals that can settle with low light levels, there is a fair choice. Some aquarists do not like an arrangement as described as it could appear too stratified and unnatural. In this case the choice is really soft corals and those hard corals that can survive without high light intensity, though they will probably still require to be in higher areas of the reef.

Soft corals are generally easier to place, though once again care is needed to ensure that they receive sufficient light.

When fitting T5 fluorescent tubes it is advisable to use reflectors and to fit as many as possible lengthwise. These tubes need electronic ballasts and types that can drive two tubes are available which makes for more convenience. The tubes should be equally divided between marine white and actinic blue. Lay them out white then blue then white etc so that there is a good and even spread of both. If the tubes total an odd number, make the additional one a white. In addition the tubes should be fitted as close to the water surface as is practical to ensure maximum light availability. Creating a ‘dawn and dusk’ cycle is easy, just wire the blues and whites separately and make use of two electric timers.

T5’s are the latest incarnation in fluorescent lighting. The aquarist who makes use of them will have a good choice of lighting tube lengths and colours, and will also know that they are less expensive to run than metal halides. A number of tubes as described when housed in a close fitting hood generate quite a lot of heat so the aquarist should be aware of any effect this may have on seawater temperature, though any problem is not as great as with metal halides.

Success can be achieved with T5 lighting as long as the restrictions, mainly to do with depth of aquarium are taken into account. It is also important to change the tubes every 6 months to a year, the latest being a year. This is to minimize light intensity reduction and spectrum shift.

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Tags: Aquarium Lighting, Equipment, marine reef, marine-aquarium, metal-halide, reef-tank

Base Your Lighting On Your Livestock Or Your Livestock On Your Lighting

This article is aimed more at aquarists who are interested in keeping corals. Aquarists who decide to keep a fish only aquarium do not need to concentrate on lighting as much as aquarists who keep corals do. Fish only aquarists need to use lighting to create a day/night cycle to provide an inhabitant which the fish feel safe in and also to make the aquarium more visibly attractive to the aquarist.

In a coral only or coral/fish aquarium it is a different matter. The corals utilise the light to gain much needed energy from the light source. Actually it is not the corals themselves it is the symbiotic algae that live within the coral which use the light and provide the coral with energy.

Very much like a ‘thank you for keeping me safe’ kind of thing.

As with the fish only aquarium there is still a requirement to create a day/night cycle so that the aquarium inhabitants are both not engulfed in light as well as being suddenly plunged into darkness.

The trouble is different corals have different lighting requirements. There are some corals which require very intense lighting and other corals which prefer lower levels of lighting. There are even some corals which do not need lighting and gain their energy purely from feeding. These are called non-photosynthetic corals but I won’t cover these in this article.

Photosynthetic corals receive the majority of their energy from the light and the remainder of their energy from actively feeding. As the corals receive so much energy from light it is therefore imperative that the correct lighting be supplied to them.

Aquarium lighting is quite a large topic due to the various types of lighting available, the different spectrums etc. I am not envisaging this article to cover the different types of lighting available but to hopefully provide a little bit of guidance when it comes to ensuring that the correct lighting is installed for the corals you either have or hope to keep.

There are too many times I hear of people purchasing a coral and then attempting to find out what the corals requirements are or even worse not bothering to find out and then wondering why the coral is not thriving or even unfortunately dying.

It is of my opinion that every single purchase made should be thoroughly researched prior to the decision being made to part with your cash. I do appreciate that this is very hard to do and at times is not even possible.

I firmly believe that there are two options available which are covered in this articles title:

‘Base Your Lighting On Your Livestock Or Your Livestock On Your Lighting’

I will cover these one at a time however it is also important to consider the depth of your aquarium. The reason for this is that the colours of the spectrum in the lighting are stripped out the deeper the light has to penetrate.

The following examples are based upon an aquarium which has a depth of 24″.

Base Your Lighting On Your Livestock

In this scenario you have decided upon the type of corals you wish to keep and now you will need to select your aquarium lighting based upon the requirements of your choice of corals.

It is presumed that the aquarist is still in the research stage and has not actually purchased any corals prior to installing all the required equipment.

In the hard only coral scenario you will need to have lighting which is quite strong and has the ability to be able to ‘punch’ the lighting to the entire depth of the aquarium. In this example I would recommend either metal halide lighting or the new LED aquarium lighting. As said it is important to consider the depth of the aquarium. If you do not consider this and purchase lighting which is not strong enough then the lighting which is at the bottom third of the aquarium may not get enough light and therefore any corals you place in this area will not get enough light.

In the soft coral scenario you will still need to have lighting which is of the correct spectrum however you will not need lighting which is as strong as the metal halide/LED lighting option. The reason for this is that whilst soft corals do still need a good amount of lighting it does not need to be as strong as hard corals require. In this scenario I would recommend using either T5 or T8 lighting.

In the mixed hard/soft coral scenario then you need to be a little more careful. The reason for this is that these two types of corals require different strengths of lighting. The reason why you need to be careful is in relation to the placement of the corals in the aquarium. If you place a hard coral too low down in the aquarium then there is a risk that the coral will not receive enough light. If you place a soft coral to high in the aquarium then there is a risk that the coral may receive too much light and actually could get burnt. In this scenario the recommendation would be that you can use either metal halide, LED lighting or even T5 tubes as long as you can place enough of the tubes in the hood. As said though in this scenario you need to ensure that you place the corals in the correct position so that they receive the correct amount of light based upon their requirements.

Base Your Livestock On Your Lighting

This option is my preferred option as you are able to setup all of the equipment required prior to even considering the actual purchase of a coral however I do appreciate that a lot of people do actually set up their aquarium based upon what they know they want to keep and for this I applaud them.

OK, let’s have a look at some of the lighting options available:

T8 Lighting – With this type of lighting you will need to put quite a few tubes into the hood in order to give good coverage of light. It is recommended that you utilise an even split of white and actinic tubes in order to give a good colour spread. T8 lighting whilst economical do not provide that much power and therefore cannot push the light that far down into the aquarium. For this reason it is recommended that you only consider keeping soft corals with this type of lighting.

T5 Lighting – T5 lights are very similar to T8 lights with the exception that they are slimmer in design and are slightly more powerful. As with the T8 lights it is recommended that you install an even mix of white and actinic to give a good colour spread. At the top of the aquarium (about 6″ inches or so) they have a good amount of power, however further than that they have about the same power of a T8. For this reason you should be able to keep certain types of hard corals in the upper quarter of a 24″ deep aquarium and soft corals under that. Certain LPS (Long Polyp Stony) corals may be suitable to thrive in the mid/lower regions however I would recommend that you check their requirements prior to committing to a purchase.

Metal Halide/LED Lighting – This type of lighting is the most powerful and there are a vast variety available in relation to the power types available. The power as with all lighting is based upon the watts. The higher the wattage the more powerful the lighting is and the further into the water the unit can push the light. Using this type of lighting you should be able to keep both soft corals and hard corals; however you will need to ensure that the corals are placed in the aquarium in a location where their light requirements are met. For example you would not want to put a soft coral at the top of the aquarium as it would receive too much light and could even get burnt.

Conclusion

It is exceptionally important that the correct environment be created for the corals which are being kept. Not just lighting but also water movement and the actual physical placement of the coral.

When in the store looking at making a purchase do not be afraid to speak to an employee of the store and ask if the coral(s) in question are suitable for your aquarium. Inform them of your lighting and they should provide you with the correct information for you to base your decision upon. I say should as unfortunately there are some stores who will just say ‘Yeah, that will be fine’ just so that they can get the sale. The majority of stores are not like this and have a huge interest in the well being of the animals they sell but unfortunately there are some that do this. My recommendation if this happens - walk away and purchase elsewhere.

It should also be noted that proper acclimatisation techniques should always be followed - not just in relation to actually transferring the coral from the shop to the aquarium but also correctly acclimatising them to the light.

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Tags: Aquarium Lighting, aquarium-livestock, coral, Equipment, metal-halide, reef-tank

Night Time Is Just As Important As Day Time

Most (perhaps all?) life runs to a light and dark rhythm. Humans certainly do, we need our sleep.

Life on the wild reef isn’t an exception. During the day many fish and other life forms are out and about finding food. As soon as darkness approaches they find a safe sanctuary where they can pass the night, as at night other life emerges, much of it predatory.

So life is tuned to a night/day cycle. So it is in the aquarium as the livestock need the cycle to function. I don’t know what would occur to daylight loving stock if the lights were left permanently on, or vice versa, but it isn’t an experiment I’d care to undertake.

Providing a day/night cycle is simple. Let’s start with a fish only system. This system type is not normally lit by metal halide bulbs, but by fluorescent tubes. For the cycle to work there needs to be at least two tubes, one actinic and one marine white. There also needs to be two electric timers.

Each tube is connected through its ballast to a timer. The timers are set so that the actinic tube switches on about ½ hour before the marine white. At the other end of the cycle, the marine white is set to switch off ½ hour before the actinic. The marine white can be left to run between 8 and 10 hours, meaning that the actinic tube will be on 9 to 11 hours. The fish will now wake up to a ’dawn’ and be stimulated to prepare for night at ’dusk’.

The reef system is very similar, except that lighting on a reef system is more critical and more lights will often be present. This does not make any difference to the lighting cycle system though. If a metal halide is in use, then an electric timer will be required for this. The metal halide is the main light for the day period. If marine white tubes are in use, they will need to be connected through one electric timer. If not already present, the aquarist will need to provide one or better two actinic tubes, which need to be wired through the other electric timer. Again, the actinics switch on and off ½ hour before and after the main lighting. The main lighting can again be left on between 8 and 10 hours, again meaning the actinic will be on for between 9 and 11 hours.

The lighting periods suggested above are not critical, and the aquarist can make the timing choice according to the needs of the livestock.

Sometimes it is recommended that the main marine lighting should be on for 12 hours. This recommendation relates to the average tropical day which is circa 12 hours. However, there isn’t a need for intense lighting for this length of time as it doesn’t occur in the tropics. Either side of midday the light is intense, but earlier and later it is less. In addition, the power of the sun cannot be equated in the aquarium.

If a lighting regime such as outlined above is implemented, the aquarist will perhaps be surprised at how quickly the fish ‘learn’, appearing a little after ’dawn’ and preparing for night at ’dusk’.

The lighting regime is also good as it is much more natural than plunging the aquarium into light or darkness, which is bad. The closer to nature’s dawn/dusk environment the system is the more contented the livestock will be.

There is an advantage to the aquarist too. Watching the fish react to lighting changes is one. Using a torch and watching the night life is another, though more for the reef system. The aquarist could be surprised at the amount of life and movement there is after dark.

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Tags: Aquarium Lighting, Equipment, lighting cycle, marine lighting, moonlight, reef-tank

Shaping To Circumstance?

The beauty and diversity of a wild reef is well known. Fish and corals have adjusted to their niche.

What about the captive reef? The aquarist does his/her best to meet the needs of the corals (and fish) to try and ensure their health and longevity. The fish and corals have preferences. For a fish example, many wrasse like to bury themselves in sand and so the aquarist provides it in sufficient depth. Corals have a spot on the reef too, where they are subject to varying seawater currents, light intensity and spectrum. The aquarist tries to meet these differing needs as well.

What if the coral receives continuous directional seawater flow, not strong enough to cause damage, will the coral react? Well, yes, it usually will over time. A land based tree subject to nearly continuous directional wind will lean away from the wind, thus reducing the trees resistance to it. So it is with corals - a coral with directional water flow will tend to grow heavily influenced by that flow. If it is a branching coral, probably particularly a ‘hard’ type, it will reduce the resistance to the flow by growing ‘with’ the flow - in other words it will lean away from the flow.

On the wild reef a hard coral near the crest where it is subject to great turbulence and wave power will have short stubby branches to present less resistance to the water. In areas of less flow, the branches will be longer and possibly more slender.

In a similar way some corals react and grow according to light availability. The shapes are natural, and these are the normal shapes the coral is expected to be. The coral in the wave area with short branches receives considerable light as it is near the surface, so the short branches are not a problem. The coral lower down with less seawater turbulence has longer branches and thus more is exposed to the lowered light level. Some corals form horizontal plates which often overlap one another, and these present a large area for light to strike.

I keep a soft coral reef and wonder if the same thing applies to these. I know the shape and the lean of the coral can be influenced by water flow, but wonder if these corals can alter their growth to gather the light they need? What if they need more light and are in a position too low down to get it?

I have been watching the growth of a soft coral for quite a time. It appeared very close to the bottom of the reef, and the growth is slow. The water flow is quite gentle in the coral’s area but is sufficient and multi-directional, and I don’t believe this influences it particularly.

The coral is a normal branching type, that is, it would normally grow vertically with several more or less vertical branches, with a few side growths as well. It started very small, and I assume it is a ‘dropped’ branch or similar as I didn’t place it there.

The aquarium is 24″ in depth and lit by an array of fluorescent tubes (marine white and actinic blue). I assume the coral’s growth is slow as it receives low light.

The interesting thing is, the coral spent a long period not growing toward the light as might have been expected, but growing horizontally. I wonder if this was to gather as much light as possible by presenting the largest surface to the available light as possible? The coral is now showing vertical growth in several places, so maybe it has enough energy now to be able to do so?

I don’t know what the answer really is, but the above seems feasible as fluorescents are not able to punch much light into nearly 24″ of seawater.

There’s a photo to show the coral (it is now about 5″ across) - I’m not a photographer so I apologise for any shortfall.

Aren’t marine aquariums interesting! There’s always something to watch, just for pleasure or to ponder over.

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Tags: Aquarium Lighting, aquarium-coral, Coral Reef, hard coral, reef-tank, soft coral

It’s All Costing More

Nearly everyone is feeling the increase in cost, the cost of energy that is. Much of the world’s energy is derived from oil, and the price of oil is very noticeably going up. This is possibly going to continue for a longish period until some kind of equilibrium is achieved. The days of cheaper energy are probably gone forever.

In some oil producing areas output has been boosted to try and control the price increase. This isn’t going to have any immediate affect on cost, and if and when it does probably the cost of oil isn’t going to come down to its former level. Oil is becoming more scarce as well, and demand is rising.

So we are generally stuck with the cost - the motorist, the air passenger, the housewife and everyone else. This includes the marine aquarist.

The largest numbers of marine aquarists live in North America and Europe. Manufacturers of marine equipment, retailers and anyone else to do with the marine hobby, must be concerned. Marine aquariums are luxuries and, if things are bad enough (which I hope and believe they never will be) they will be one of the items that are not necessary and therefore represent a good saving if closed down.

Well before the need to close an aquarium down completely there are actions that can be taken to reduce energy use, with different levels of effectiveness.

The aquarium can be looked at in the same way as our homes - by using insulation the cost of heating them, or keeping them cool, can be reduced.

The first thing then, is to consider insulating the back and side panes of glass to reduce heat loss. This can be easily achieved by the use of polystyrene. This material is readily available and is best about 1 to 2″ thick. Cut it to size with any cut-outs done for pipes etc. It may be considered unsightly, so the inner surfaces of the polystyrene can be painted blue or whatever colour the aquarist prefers. I always think matt is better than gloss. The edges and outer surfaces can also be painted if wanted to match in better with the surroundings. If the tank has a back panel the polystyrene can usually be inserted between the glass and panel with a bit of adjustment, although not always. If not, put the polystyrene on the outside of the back panel. The polystyrene can be fixed in place with silicone glue, which secures it easily.

Talking of polystyrene, obviously a panel cannot be permanently fitted over the top of the aquarium as this would interfere with the lights a little! However, why not put polystyrene over the top of the aquarium after lights out and remove it before lights on? This doesn’t take any effort and only a few seconds, so isn’t going to interfere with the aquarists routine. With metal halide lighting it isn’t a problem as the light unit is usually well above the aquarium. If fluorescent lighting is in use then these lights are often nearer the water surface, but raising the tubes just enough to allow a polystyrene sheet to be inserted is usually possible and this should not be detrimental to the corals. Another advantage is that doing this will reduce evaporation. It is easy to stick the polystyrene to one or more glass or stiff acrylic sheets. Using glass or acrylic stiffeners for the top is not absolutely necessary as 1 to 2″ thick polystyrene is stiff anyway. This polystyrene can be painted too if required.

Remember that if there is a sump polystyrene sheets can be fixed to the vertical glass panes as well, and of course the top, though equipment in the sump may make this a little more awkward.

The aquarist should - over a period of some weeks - be able to note the reduction in electricity usage for heating the aquarium. It might be thought that lower wattage (W) heaters could be obtained. This is not necessary and would be wasting money, the heater(s) will come on as required but once the design temperature is reached they should stay off longer because of the insulation, which is where the saving is achieved.

With heating, also consider the temperature setting. If it is set at, say, 80 deg F, does it need to be? Could it not be turned down to 77 deg F? If reducing the temperature, do so slowly, not all at once. 1 deg a week should be fine.

For many aquarists, probably most, heating is the biggest user of electricity. There is another big user though, and that is lighting.

For a hard coral reef the current lighting used by most is metal halide. This lighting is very effective for the corals needs. However, it is usually high powered, that is to say the wattage (W) can be from 150 to 400. There are lower and higher wattages but these are probably the most frequently used.

Let’s say that a 250W metal halide bulb is in use. For every hour that it is ‘on’ it uses ¼ of a kilowatt (a kilowatt is 1000 watts). So if it runs for 12 hours then it will use 3 kilowatts per day. Over a week it will use 21 kilowatts, and so on. Most electricity suppliers charge per ‘kilowatt hour’, and the units are not cheap, and they certainly aren’t now! Many aquarists use lighting systems with multiple metal halide bulbs, so the cost also multiplies.

The first thing to consider is if the metal halide bulbs in use are too powerful for the depth of aquarium. If a 250W bulb is in use, would a 150W be sufficient?

Secondly, what is the lighting period in use? Are the bulbs running for 12 hours, or 11, or 9 maybe. Could the period be reduced? It is often said that 12 hours is a good lighting period for corals as that is more or less what they get in the wild. Well, yes, but it takes no account of the lighting power reduction in the morning and evening when light slants down through the water because the sun is not overhead.

Lighting periods can be reduced within reason. Many successful reef systems have 8 hours with the main lighting on. Actinic tubes may well be on for 8½ or 9 hours (coming on ¼ or ½ hour before the main lights and turning off after them).

If the aquarist wishes to reduce the lighting period, the exercise must take place over a considerable period, as the corals have become used to the lighting availability. Reduce the period by about 15 minutes every week until the target period is reached. The corals should not be adversely affected.

Another way of reducing the cost of lighting is to change the lighting system. Subject to the depth of the aquarium, many aquarists are successfully using fluorescent T5 tubes. Changing to these from metal halides is a big jump and needs to be done with care. It also entails a monetary cost - the tubes of course, but also the electronic ballasts. Soft corals can generally be kept under fluorescent tubes without problem, but light loving hard corals may need to be restricted to the upper third or half of the reef. Therefore it may mean redistributing some hard corals, and possibly changing others for soft corals.

For the aquarist who would like to reduce the cost of running his/her aquarium and at the same time is not too concerned about the cost of the change (how many aquarists are as lucky as that?) the relatively new LED lighting arrays could be of interest. They have several advantages including the running cost. They’re currently expensive.

Of course, there is an obvious way of reducing cost but probably not a very popular one. This is to reduce the size of the aquarium. If the new aquarium is not too deep then cheaper to run fluorescent tubes can be used, and it will not require so much heating. Many of the nano tanks are very popular and attractive, and some beautiful results are being achieved. There is also a reduction in the cost of routine water changes because of the smaller volume.

As said, the cost of energy has risen rapidly and what we were used to will probably never return. The aquarist can, to an extent, control the cost.

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Tags: Aquarium Heater, Aquarium Lighting, Aquarium Maintenance, Aquarium Water, Care, Equipment

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