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Tag Archives: Coral Reef Lighting

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Upgrading Your Aquarium Lighting – What a Bright Idea!

January 7, 2010 0 4514 Views

Please welcome guest blogger Jeff Berdel, a member of our sales staff, who has submitted a few tips on helping your livestock to adjust to new lighting.

Upgrading aquarium lighting is a common step forward for many aquarists who are looking to get more growth out of their corals or plants, or open themselves up to newer species that may have higher light requirements. Other times, we may find ourselves buying new light-demanding inhabitants for our already stocked tanks. Often aquarists can be too anxious for their photosynthetic pets to get all the light they think they need, but fail to realize the effect that the newer, more intense lighting will have on them.

When You Install New Lighting

There are some easy things you can do to help the photosynthetic organisms in your tank to adjust to new lighting.

When you first install your upgraded fixture, start with a very short photo-period like 3-4 hours a day and gradually add an hour on every 2-3 days until you’ve reached the desired photo-period. You can also elevate the lighting system about 18 inches above the aquarium and gradually lower it a few inches every other day until it’s at the desired height above the tank. If the lighting system features numerous bulbs (like a T5 HO fixture), try the system first with a few of the bulbs out, and then after 3-4 days add a bulb until all the bulbs have been replaced. These small adjustments can help to ease the transition to what will soon make them very happy!

Introducing a New Inhabitant

When you can’t resist purchasing a new and exotic addition to your planted tank or reef, place the new specimen close to or on the bottom of the tank, or in a place with less direct light exposure. Then, gradually move the specimen to the desired position over the course of no longer than ten days. Be sure to let new additions remain at the lower position for 2-3 days before you attempt to move it to any other position.

Anemones can be more difficult as they generally adhere themselves to rocks or the substrate. However anemones and also mobile, and more often than not, the anemone will move to the desired lighting location. Remember, it has the ability to sting anything that gets in it’s way, so be sure you know where it is moving and where it settles so you can relocate anything too close for comfort.

Blue Carpet AnemonePhotosynthetic inhabitants aren’t the only ones to consider when upgradign your lighting. Fish are also susceptible to being stressed out from a sudden increase in the light’s brightness. Just like when you acclimate a new tank inhabitant to your tank’s water chemistry, it’s important to acclimate your livestock to your new lights. It may be safest to introduce new fish with the lights off for the first few hours, or with only actinic or accent lighting fired. Results of not doing so can lead to fish becoming severely stressed. Fish may be skittish and might want to jump out or hide under rocks, anemones and soft corals might retract, and hard corals may lose polyp extension or possibly bleach out. All of this can be avoided by following the above methods for acclimatin to new lighting.

Putting a light over the aquarium with a higher intensity requires a little more than just plugging it in and flipping the switch if the tank is already stocked with aquarium inhabitants. They have become quite used to their source of light being as bright as it is, and a sudden shift in that intensity may shock them.  If given time to adjust with these easy steps, your fish and corals will be more vibrant and your plants more lush than ever!

Thanks,

Jeff

New LED lighting technology coming to TFP – Part 1

December 23, 2009 39 Comments 14428 Views

Aquarium with 2 Panorama LED fixture Dave here.  I just got back from a trip to California to visit with the folks from Ecoxotic, a new aquarium lighting company that specializes in LED technology.  Many thanks to Ecoxotic for the opportunity,not only was the trip informative, but it is much warmer in southern California than it is here in frosty Pennsylvania.  Ecoxotic has just started shipping product this month, and we will have it here at TFP very soon, so I wanted to give a quick rundown of the new products that we will be carrying from this exciting new company. Read More »

The Use of Light Rails and Moving Aquarium Lighting in Reef Aquariums

June 30, 2008 2 Comments 5684 Views

The use of light rails, or mechanical light moving devices, has been used for many years in the horticultural industry. Now this technology is available for the aquarium hobby. By moving your light source, you can maximize the potential of an individual light fixture, by covering far more area with maximum light output vs. a stationary light source. Light energy, commonly measured in lumens, dissipates with distance from the light source. The only way to increase coverage area of a fixed light source is to move it farther away from its target area. This may cover a greater area, but will reduce the light energy that reaches the target. The other solution is to use more light fixtures, with more cost, more heat, and increased operating expense. Another problem with stationary light sources are the shadows that are created in the illuminated area, which can create unnatural growth patterns. In nature, as we all know, the sun is not in a fixed position in the sky. Areas that are shaded during parts of the day, may receive light during other times. Using a light rail mimics this natural occurrence, by changing the angle at which the light reaches its target. Areas that may not get any light with a fixed position bulb, will get light when using a moving light source.
Aquariums that require high output lighting, typically metal halide lighting, pose some problems for aquarists. These lights are very expensive to purchase, create a great deal of heat, and are expensive to operate, and replace. Using a moving light source on your reef or live plant aquarium can help solve some of these problems, you can keep your light closer to the water surface, and maximize the light energy that reaches into the aquarium. Another benefit to using a moving light system is the number of light fixtures needed to cover a given area. A six foot long aquarium can be sufficiently covered by two moving metal halide light fixtures, where it would require at least three were they stationary. Less light fixtures means less heat, less operating cost, and fewer bulbs to replace annually and more natural growth patterns.
Using light rails are not going to be practical for all applications. Smaller tanks are not practical to use these systems on, and you need to have the space to install the equipment. Applications such as “in wall” aquariums that have all the equipment hidden from view, and especially large aquariums or coral propagation systems will be able to take better advantage of what the use of light rails has to offer.
Beyond the cost and functional benefits of a light rail system, they are just plain cool to watch. The moving light source over an aquarium creates an ever changing mix of shadows and colors in your aquarium as the angles of light change on the livestock and objects in the aquarium. A moving light system is definitely a gadget geeks kind of device.
Until next blog,
Dave