Hello.... so embarrassed. These are such newbie questions and everywhere I read everyone says something different.
I have a 50 gallon 30wide, 18 deep, 20 inches high tank.
Currently I have 2 - Jebo 24" power compact light fixtures on it. I hate hate hate flipping them up to get into my tank, however the price was right.
I now have moved the tank to a new residence and now have the ability to hang a fixture. I was thinking of getting the 24" Coralife Pro (Metal Halide). It has a 15K MH bulb (150watt) and 2 65w antinic bulbs, plus the lunar lamps.
I also have 60lbs of live rock, 80lbs of live sand, a fluval 304, seaclone 100 protein skimmer, a green hammer head coral, 2 joined purple/green ricordea mushrooms, 2 tomatoe clownfish, 3 emerald crabs, and whole bunch of snails and crabs.
Q1 - Do you think the new light is a good choice? 280 watts (approx 5watts per gallon)
Q2 - I want to hang this fixture, how high from the top of the tank should I hang it? Does the height matter much?
Q3 - Do I need to shut off the protein skimmer to put my essentual elements or phytoplankton in the tank?
Q4 - What timings do you use for your light cycles? Just wondering how long I should keep the MH on by itself and how long to keep the antinic on with it, and then how long to keep the Lunar on by itself. (I know I need to acclimate the new light to the tank when I first get it)
Q5 - I want to move my ricordea to a new rock and dispose of the rock it is on. I've heard you can just slice them off the rock with a razorblade and move them. Anyone tried this or have other suggestions?
Sorry for all the q's. Thanks in advance!
Lori
I have a 50 gallon 30wide, 18 deep, 20 inches high tank.
Currently I have 2 - Jebo 24" power compact light fixtures on it. I hate hate hate flipping them up to get into my tank, however the price was right.
I now have moved the tank to a new residence and now have the ability to hang a fixture. I was thinking of getting the 24" Coralife Pro (Metal Halide). It has a 15K MH bulb (150watt) and 2 65w antinic bulbs, plus the lunar lamps.
I also have 60lbs of live rock, 80lbs of live sand, a fluval 304, seaclone 100 protein skimmer, a green hammer head coral, 2 joined purple/green ricordea mushrooms, 2 tomatoe clownfish, 3 emerald crabs, and whole bunch of snails and crabs.
Q1 - Do you think the new light is a good choice? 280 watts (approx 5watts per gallon)
Q2 - I want to hang this fixture, how high from the top of the tank should I hang it? Does the height matter much?
Q3 - Do I need to shut off the protein skimmer to put my essentual elements or phytoplankton in the tank?
Q4 - What timings do you use for your light cycles? Just wondering how long I should keep the MH on by itself and how long to keep the antinic on with it, and then how long to keep the Lunar on by itself. (I know I need to acclimate the new light to the tank when I first get it)
Q5 - I want to move my ricordea to a new rock and dispose of the rock it is on. I've heard you can just slice them off the rock with a razorblade and move them. Anyone tried this or have other suggestions?
Sorry for all the q's. Thanks in advance!
Lori
I work very long hours at work and I'm not home on a schedule well enough to turn them on and off all the time. I've got some red slime algae because I didn't have enough flow in the tank (and my lights were on too long), but I added a powerhead and moved the rocks around a bit. I'm waiting to see if my snails eat up the rest of the algae in the morning (the usually do) and crossing my fingers that the slime is gone. I aching to add more corals, so I hope the powerhead is my answer. I decided against moving the mushroom... it's just too much work, you live and you learn I guess.