Kinda's Large Tank Adventure (LTA)

[Kindanewtothis]

What should I look for in terms of lighting. How many watts? K, lumens? What is the stat I should be looking for?

[seabass]

Spectrum (K) is important, but most reef lights are capable of a suitable spectrum (many are controllable).  Watts is usually a good indicator of how powerful they are (intensity).  Lumens is a measure of brightness; however, for reef purposes, we usually use PAR (both require meters to determine).  Normally we are concerned about PAR readings at certain spots in our tanks, but PAR meters are expensive so most of us don't have one (some places rent meters, but a PAR meter isn't usually a critical piece of equipment).

 

When recommending lighting, we usually want to know your budget, the dimensions of the tank, and what you will be keeping.  Are you looking for a light for this tank or for something bigger?  I'd recommend that you let us provide you with a few suggestions based on your budget and dimensions, then you can give us some feedback and finally make a decision.  Are you looking for the ability to control color, and to simulate sunrise and sunset, or is price the bigger concern?

 

Keep in mind that you don't have the luxury of time when making this decision.

[Kindanewtothis]

Here's what I got but I don't know how to setup each parameter of the light yet

[Kindanewtothis]

[seabass]

So you are running two AI Prime 16HD pendants?  Those are so much better than the light you were looking at, that you linked earlier.  Kind of feels like we're being played, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.  Those lights are probably adequate for your existing tank.

[Kindanewtothis]

I've decided to upgrade the budget a little 😉

 

Could you recommand settings for the uv and colours?

[Kindanewtothis]

I followed your advices, I did not played anyone don't worry

[seabass]

13 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

I've decided to upgrade the budget a little 😉  Could you recommand settings for the uv and colours?

I've never run those lights before.  But I believe there are some threads about it:

https://www.nano-reef.com/search/?q=ai prime settings&quick=1

 

If you are still confused, you might try starting a new thread specifically about recommended AI Prime 16HD settings.

[seabass]

16 hours ago, Kindanewtothis said:

I followed your advices, I did not played anyone don't worry

Sorry, I was confused that you were just asking about what you should look for in terms of lighting; and then two hours later, have a couple of AI Primes over your tank.  I initially thought they might have even been your original lights.  However, you must have picked them up locally.

 

I think you did alright; and you can add another should you decide to buy a larger tank down the road.  I saw you asking questions about them in the lighting forum.  That's good; they are a fairly popular fixture, so people should be able to help you with them.

 

How did the anemone react to your new lights?  It's possible that you might have to slowly acclimate it to the more intense lights.  We all want these animals to do well.  Make sure to feed it a little once or twice weekly.  Good luck!

[Kindanewtothis]

Thanks a lot, you have been really helpful. I took the lights a my local petshop... cost me 800$ (CAD) for both with the flex arms... I went over budget...

 

I use presets available on the website.

 

The anemone already looks better, the peek UV is at 50 right now, but I'm wondering if I should bring it to 75 or something like that.

[Kindanewtothis]

[seabass]

I Photoshopped that pic a little for you.

[Kindanewtothis]

Yeah my cell makes it look too blue

[Clown79]

8 hours ago, Kindanewtothis said:

Yeah my cell makes it look too blue

Ai primes are more powerful than regular aquarium lighting, its best to slowly acclimate the anemone to it.

 

Keep greens and reds low, they encourage algae growth and white light already provides these.

 

Popular schedules are ab+, pirates of the caribean, and saxeby. You will want to slowly raise your percentages over time

[Kindanewtothis]

I use the Eddy Putra preset right now

[Kindanewtothis]

The anemone moved in the night. Now the clown are looking for it.

[Kindanewtothis]

Update: they are back in the anemone 

[Murphs_Reef]

Wow 2 primes over a 30g.. get the factor 50 out and have fun! BSR have some recommended settings but I would say out your UVs higher than the blues, just a touch of white and kill the green, red and that awful moonlight .. 

 

To give an idea I have my UV at 100 and blues at 80, white at 30 but I have a 24 inch deep tank so a little deeper than yours. 

[DevilDuck]

Congratulations, That's a heck of an upgrade! The tank looks much better.

 

Finger crossed thing working out with the new anemone. Keep us updated on the progress. 

 

 

[Kindanewtothis]

I beggining to have some brown seaweed, I guess it's the new lights. Should I get some snails?

[DevilDuck]

Your going to go through several months of the "ugly phase" as your tank stabilizes with different types of algae. Snails and other clean up crew will help, but if its bad you may need to manually remove it. Here's a guide: Nuisance Algae ID Guide- Reef Cleaners

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels at?

[Kindanewtothis]

I have no idea, need to get them tested

[Murphs_Reef]

Don't use API for testing. Go red sea, Salifert or Hanna if you can 👍🏼

[Kindanewtothis]

How fast is an anemone growing? It already looks bigger! I feed it every day with brine shrimps.

[seabass]

I would feed thawed frozen mysis shrimp (which are more nutritious than brine shrimp) twice a week, or other thawed frozen fish food.  Your clownfish will enjoy this food as well, but don't overfeed.  As the anemone gets larger, you will feed it larger bits of food.  Eventually, as it gets more mature, you might even choose to buy seafood at a grocery store, that you chop up for it.