Need some lighting help with Zoas

teaggs

teaggs

Member
I just got 2 rocks with some Zoas. This is my first time with any coral. I have a 135 Oceanic with Aquaticlife 72" T5. 10,000K daylights, actinic and moonlights. So far they are slowly opening up and look healthy, but I do not have a lot of experience with light cycles, so thats why I am asking. How long should I be running each light daily? Right now, I am running Actinic for 10 hours with 10,000K during 8 hours of that time. I have the moonlights come on about 15 mins before the Actinics go off and run all night till the Actinics come back on in the morning. I have a pinktail trigger and a small puffer, thats it. So basically, the tank is never completely dark, is that ok? Any input or advice will be much appreciated. Thanks
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I'd personally kick your actinics up to 12 hours and leave everything else the same.
For zoas though your current schedule should be fine if thats all your going to keep
 
teaggs

teaggs

Member
Thanks. What are some other easy to take care of corals with the lighting that I have? I am not going to halides so just trying to keep it fairly simple. Thank for the input
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
mushrooms, green star polyps, kenya tree, leathers, xenia, pretty much anything soft
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///forum/thread/384468/need-some-lighting-help-with-zoas#post_3368413
mushrooms, green star polyps, kenya tree, leathers, xenia, pretty much anything soft
+1
If you want fancier stuff, all it would really take is better quality bulbs in the fixture. Take a look at your fixture and see if each T5 bulb is housed in its own reflector. If so, then its a quality fixture. Depending on the colors you have, maybe higher color tempature lights (12K to 18K) would be better. If you are happy with your color now, no need to change it.
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
having its own reflector doesnt make it quality. With your fixture and your future bulb upgrade, you should be able to keep montiporas and LPS
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
individual reflectors make it better than the cheap ones. I wasnt saying it was the best, but individual reflectors does make it better than the basic units.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
yeah the nova extremes are flat reflectors
the nova extreme pro's are contoured
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
the old nova extremes from 3+ years ago were flat. they were switched to contoured. i had a 4x24w non-pro model and it was contoured. I'm pretty sure no one makes straight reflectors anymore
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I didn't know that. when I bought mine in Oct of 09' they were still flat on the non-pro models
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
must have been the retailer you purchased from because i ordered mine in september 09 and they were already contoured
 
chrisb430

chrisb430

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by teaggs http:///forum/thread/384468/need-some-lighting-help-with-zoas#post_3367958
I just got 2 rocks with some Zoas. This is my first time with any coral. I have a 135 Oceanic with Aquaticlife 72" T5. 10,000K daylights, actinic and moonlights. So far they are slowly opening up and look healthy, but I do not have a lot of experience with light cycles, so thats why I am asking. How long should I be running each light daily? Right now, I am running Actinic for 10 hours with 10,000K during 8 hours of that time. I have the moonlights come on about 15 mins before the Actinics go off and run all night till the Actinics come back on in the morning. I have a pinktail trigger and a small puffer, thats it. So basically, the tank is never completely dark, is that ok? Any input or advice will be much appreciated. Thanks
Mine are on for about 12 hrs as well. I do mine 3 hrs before 10,000 go on and 3 hrs after. Moonlight goes on 30 min before lights go on and 30 min before lights go off. I do turn mine off for a few hours about 4 hrs to give everything total darkness. Some corals and organisms need a period of total darkness.
 
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