24 Gal Nano Cube DX - Light Bulb suggesting...

[waterman78]

Hello to all reef keepers...

I would love to hear from you guys on this issues.
I recently purchased a the 100% Actinic 03 Blue (420 nm) & 50% Super Daylight 10000K, 50% Actinic 03 Blue Compact Fluorence lights bulbs made by Coralife from my LFS. What can I say, I love the color blue.

Today I noticed that the temp in my tank has increased to 80 degrees rather than the 78 degrees I am used to seeing. My green chromis are not swimming free throughout the tank...These are top water swimmers and this should be considered....deep water light versus shallow lighting I guess.

At this point, I am not shocked by the light output....right. However, my question is what would be the perfect ideal lighting for this size aquarium? How have you arranged the lighting of your tank? Lighting cycles, wattage??? Is there a such thing as TOO MUCH BLUE?

My next idea is to swap the 100% atinics for the stock 50/50 light bulbs to create a brighter daylight theme for my fish. :eek2: :rolleye1:

[LTJGAlex]

Yes, too much blue is going to take away from your bright light thrivers. It looks awesome, but you'll lose out on coral growth and everyone in your tank will probably think they're living in the twilight zone :-).

I have 150w MH on my 12g and keep it on 9 hours, then switch to lunar, and those go off 3 hours before the MH comes on to simulate early morning (natural and house light).

On my 55g I have 200w PC and I do 12/12. I'd personally recommend 50/50s.

As far as heating/cooling, I was afraid at first that my MH would cook the 12g, but it's the opposite. It keeps it at about 76 and I have a small heater to just keep it constant at night, since I keep the A/C at a chilly 68 in my apartment. In fact, the fan on my MH never worked, and there's still no problem with cooking. One thing to expect though: if you keep warm lighting, esp. in a small tank, be prepared to do topoffs daily. In fact, I think I have to do twice daily in my 5g with 36w PC over it!

[steelhealr]

Just want to add....80 degrees is not a bad temp. Mine runs between 80-82 and my tank is fine. You'll get lots of different opinions on this. RShimek feels the 70 temps are too low. So, unless you are hitting mid 80's or above, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Reef temps in the Carribbean are 83 in summer. SH