T5 lights for a 12 gallon nano

[Braun036]

I have a question about T5 lights. I am kinda new to this, I successfully ran a tank about 15 years ago and it is amazing how fast you forget stuff. So I have a 12 gallon nano tank with I guess 4 T5 lights on the hood. Will those lights be strong enough to maintain healthy corals and how long should I leave them on per day? The tank right now is cycling and has been for about a week! Should the lights be on during the  cycling process or should I leave the tank dark?  

[Weetabix7]

Are the t5 lights in a separate T5HO fixture or are they in a hood for an all in one tank?

 

Leave it dark while cycling. 

 

Also,  to N-R!!

[Braun036]

They are 12 inches long and yes they are in all in one for the tank! And thank you for the advice on leaving the tank in the dark. Will I experience  algae  bloom when I start running the lights? 

[Nano sapiens]

My Cadlights 12g used to have these 12" tubes stock.  I used to run (2) Daylight and (2) actinic (blue).  You can keep moderate and lower light loving corals (which covers most of the easier corals).

 

If the lights are on two power cords (as I suspect they are), then you can put the Actinic on one timer and run it for up to 12 hrs, and the daylight run for around 10 hrs on second timer.  This will give the corals a good amount of light (to compensate a bit for the moderate intensity) and a 'Ramp-up' and 'Ramp-down' effect, too.

[Weetabix7]

Start running the lights once your tank is cycled. 

You may have an algae bloom but you will be able to add snails at that point to combat it. 

That light should be perfectly fine for soft corals, which is what you said you wanted on another thread.

As for fish, you could do 1 Clownfish, some of the smaller Gobies (there are plenty to choose from), smaller Blennies, inverts like Shrimp, that kind of thing. 

Read tank threads for people who have tanks this size and see what you enjoy and are drawn to.

[Braun036]

They are 12 inches long and yes they are in all in one for the tank! And thank you for the advice on leaving the tank in the dark. Will I experience  algae  bloom when I start running the lights? 

[Braun036]

You are correct the light that are in they are what you say they are the only difference is mine have a blue and a white on the same outlet I guess! I will post a picture of these lights. And thank you I was hoping you would say a clown fish as my daughter really wants one! Thank you for the quick responses and the advice. I just did a water test and my PH is a little low at 7.8 which from what I have read is normal for a new tank my ammonia was 0 tonight which I find strange my nitrie was 0 and my mutate was 0! Ian sure when I do another water test tomorrow these numbers will be different! My salt measured at 1.025 not sure if that is good and my  calcium is 300 ppm! 

[Clown79]

Don't worry about ph. It fluctuates throughout the day and is completely effected by photosynthesis.

 

Don't run lights during cycle, its a waste and just aids algae growth.

 

For fish you can do 1 of the following

 

 clown and watchman goby

Clown and tailspot blenny

Purple firefish and watchman goby

Pink streaked wrasse

 

Check out nano fish on Liveaquaria.com for other options.

[Braun036]

Okay thank you I will check that out. 

I would like to do corals before fish will that be a problem.  

[Braun036]

Second day in a row my ph is 7.8  ammonia is  0 nitrate is 0 nitrite is 0. How could this be the tank has only been running for 8 days. 

[Weetabix7]

What was your source for the live rock?

Was it live or dried out and dead?

If live, was it cured or uncured?

[Braun036]

Cured live rock 12 pounds of it and 8-10 pounds of live sand 

[Lula_Mae]

If your rock was already cured, your cycle may well be complete.  Doesn't hurt to wait a bit to be sure.

[Braun036]

Oh yes I totally agree I plan on waiting at least another month or two before I add any fish 

[Braun036]

I was surprised when the local fish store told me it was okay to start adding some things they recommended that I get some hermit crabs so I went this his advice. They seem to be doing really well. I have a question about these pods I keep hearing about is that something I need to add to my tank. I do not and do not plan on putting in a goby of any sort. But I would like to do some frog spawn and hammer coal along with the pulsing Xenia ( not sure of the spelling) so I am not sure what you feel those corals.  Trust me I plan on doing hours of research On these but if anyone is willing to give me a couple pointers I would appreciate it. 

[Weetabix7]

Keep an eye on the hermits and feed them lightly, watch ammonia and nitrite levels as well. 

 

You really don't need to add pods, don't worry about it. 

They're likely to hitchhike in on something at some point anyway. 

[Braun036]

Okay thank you they seem to be eating a lot of this brown fuzzy  algae  that is Rock had. But here is my new problem I am hoping to get your advice on. So I went to clean the sponge that is in the sump I guess. It was done in there so tight as I was pulling it out a lot of the stuff that was in the sponge started to release into the water. This just about about 15 minutes ago so I quickly did a one gallon water change I plan to retest the water in about 1 hour or so. I don't even know why I did that. I just checked my levels and they were all good to go  minus  the ph still being 7.8. So in the future do I need to clean that sponge out on a weekly basis? 

[Nano sapiens]

8 minutes ago, Braun036 said:

So in the future do I need to clean that sponge out on a weekly basis? 

At least once a week.  I haven't used a sponge since circa 1990, but back then it was customary to clean them out 2x/week and some went so far as to do it everyday (which is a bit OTT, perhaps).

[Braun036]

If I don't sure the sponge what would I have back there! I do not have a skimmer in this 12 gallon bio cube.  So I was just using a sponge carbon and the ceramic balls 

And planned on doing a water change once a week. 

[Nano sapiens]

There are many ways to run a reef tank, so using a sponge is fine as long as it's cleaned regularly.  For the ceramic balls, I'd put them a mesh plastic bag so they can be easily removed when you clean out the back chambers of detritus.  My personal preference is not to use anything at all in the back chambers of my old 12g other than a pump, heater and thermometer, but that's just me 

 

Water changes of around 10% once a week should suffice.

[Braun036]

Really! So I am good to remove all of that stuff from the back but my heater and pump! What keeps the water clean? 

Also I didn't know I was suppose to clean those balls.  Okay my tank is only 2 weeks old so it is not like stuff has been browning back there for months   

*growning 

*growing good lord. Lol

[Nano sapiens]

36 minutes ago, Braun036 said:

Really! So I am good to remove all of that stuff from the back but my heater and pump! What keeps the water clean? 

Also I didn't know I was suppose to clean those balls.  Okay my tank is only 2 weeks old so it is not like stuff has been browning back there for months   

*growning 

*growing good lord. Lol

The main idea behind the floss is to mechanically remove detritus and food particles.  Since these particles decay and begin to pollute the water, the recommendation is to clean regularly to keep water quality high.  If you don't use floss, then the particles are free to circulate around the tank where they will either be consumed, or advected into the substrate (sand and under the rocks) where it feeds the microorganisms such as worms, amphipods, bacteria, etc..  However, too much buildup is not good for a system, so when a tank is a few months old, regular vacuuming of the detritus from the sand bed, rear chambers, etc. will help keep the system clean, stimulate new microorganism reproduction and promote good water quality.

 

With even a moderate amount of live rock and a live sand bed, there is ample substrate for the multitudes of bacteria and other micro-organisms to colonize.  The ceramic balls are simply not a necessity in a properly managed reef tank, but they can be used if you like.  If you do remove them, remove them in something like 1/3 amounts over a few weeks time (reef tanks do best when changes are gradual, especially where the bacteria are concerned).

 

There are many ways to run these systems, from the uber-complex to the uber-simple.  I'm just pointing out what is possible  

[Braun036]

Wow thank you for all of that. I do not use filter floss because I am really not even sure what it is. I have never heard of that term until about a week ago. As far as cleaning the sand bed how often should that be done.  To be honest when I had my tank about 15 years ago I never even thought about cleaning the sand bed. And when I do clean the sand bed do I have to take all the rock out and just quickly do it or do I just  siphon around the rock. That would be easy to do right now because nothing is in it. 

 

You seem to really know your stuff. so as I have said before my tank is only 10 days old and it seems that it is cycled so the guy at the LFS store told me to start out by putting 10 hermit crabs in. Which I did on Sunday.  I would really like to add a cleaner shrimp when would you find it okay to do so. If I do add one what would I feed him? Should I be putting fish food in the tank now for the hermit crabs to eat? They seem to be eating stuff off the rocks, not like I have fish in there, so I am not really sure.  

 

 

I do test my water every day and today the PH 7.8  ammonia was 0  nitrate was 0  nitrite  was 0 and the calcium is about 320. I do know that PH and calcium is low I am slowing trying to bring that up. I am using two products called coral up not even half a cap full once a week and then I am using a half dose of alkaline buffer daily. 

[Nano sapiens]

Some might say I do ramble on, but there's a lot to take in when starting out.

 

'Filter Floss' or 'Sponge', they do the same thing by mechanically filtering out particulates.

 

Since your tank is very young, you don't have to worry about your sand bed, yet.  After many months they do tend to fill up with detritus.  This is a little write up I did a while back that can be used as a guideline:  

 

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/327364-maintenance-and-the-nano-reef-tank/

 

Feed the crabs a little bit...everyone likes a varied diet.  Personally, I'd wait a while with the cleaner shrimp to make sure your water parameters are correct and stable (give it a month or so).  They are more sensitive to the environment than your hermit crabs, but they'll eat anything a fish or crab would.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Braun036]

Thank you