Is there such thing as too much light?
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No thats not true. Your fine.
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There might be a limit but I definatly not 7 or nine watts per gallon
If you get too much light, you end up with oxygen toxicity. I don't know what that number is and it probably depends on the coral and depth of your tank.
If they start bleaching, move them further down in your tank, shorten the amount of time you expose them to your full output and/or slowly turn on that much light. Otherwise, just sit and watch the growth pattern.
If they start bleaching, move them further down in your tank, shorten the amount of time you expose them to your full output and/or slowly turn on that much light. Otherwise, just sit and watch the growth pattern.
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Ok so what I ment to say is there isn't a limit as long as you have your light far enough away from the tank.
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In all reality, I dont think you can have too much light over a tank. The problems stated earlier are issues, but are more related to light acclimation of indivdual corals, rather than "too much light". For example, corals from a lower light environemnt that are put under a 400 watt can likely suffer from bleaching, O2 toxicity, or similar. However, for a lagoonal acro, this may not be enough light. Furthermore, more light usually translates to more heat, but we all know there are ways to counteract this.
The whole watts per gallon rule is something I wish could be expunged from reefkeeping lore. It is totally misinterpreted and misapplied. The concept that needs to be applied is light intensity, not watts per gallon. For example, put two 175 watt MH over a 100 gallon tank- this is 3.5 watts per gallon. Now put 3 150 watt incandescent bulbs over the same tank- think it'll work? No way-even though it is the same watts per gallon. If you dont believe me look at a MH bulbs, and if you can get your eyeballs back into your head, look at an incandescent after that.
To add to this, how is a 400 watt illuminating a coral 5" below the water surface 500 gallon tank any different from a 400 watt illuminating a coral 5" below the water surface in a 10 gallon?
There are people who keep corals in outdoor tank to get natural light from the sun, why do these corals thrive? Our lights are efforts to mimic the sun, so I dont we can make or use lights that can overdo it as a rule. Maybe for specific corals, but not as a rule.
The whole watts per gallon rule is something I wish could be expunged from reefkeeping lore. It is totally misinterpreted and misapplied. The concept that needs to be applied is light intensity, not watts per gallon. For example, put two 175 watt MH over a 100 gallon tank- this is 3.5 watts per gallon. Now put 3 150 watt incandescent bulbs over the same tank- think it'll work? No way-even though it is the same watts per gallon. If you dont believe me look at a MH bulbs, and if you can get your eyeballs back into your head, look at an incandescent after that.
To add to this, how is a 400 watt illuminating a coral 5" below the water surface 500 gallon tank any different from a 400 watt illuminating a coral 5" below the water surface in a 10 gallon?
There are people who keep corals in outdoor tank to get natural light from the sun, why do these corals thrive? Our lights are efforts to mimic the sun, so I dont we can make or use lights that can overdo it as a rule. Maybe for specific corals, but not as a rule.
I would also add that most corals reach a light saturation point where more light will not do any good. Again, I think this varies depending on the type of coral and best to read about husbandry of the corals you have.
While lux isn't a good measure for photosynthesis, we do know that most oceans where corals are collected have a surface lux of 75,000 to 120,000 depending on the time of day. Course I don't know if you are higher than that it will cause any problems. I think lighting is in a way voodoo and you have to experiment for best results.
As for the UV, hopefully people are using a good UV shield. You can certainly irradiate corals or people for that matter.
While lux isn't a good measure for photosynthesis, we do know that most oceans where corals are collected have a surface lux of 75,000 to 120,000 depending on the time of day. Course I don't know if you are higher than that it will cause any problems. I think lighting is in a way voodoo and you have to experiment for best results.
As for the UV, hopefully people are using a good UV shield. You can certainly irradiate corals or people for that matter.
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I'm surprised no one has asked yet, but what kind of corals are you keeping? 10 watts per gallon may be too much from mushrooms and ricordias but not for acros, etc.
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10 watts per gallon isnt too much for mushrooms because I have 9.6 and my mushrooms are thriving.
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Would zoanthids be fine under a 400 watt 10 k in Lumenarc reflector? I guess they would have to be down low, close to the bottom?
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Yeah but keep them low to medium in the tank.
Too much light!!!:wow2: Hell no...most people don't have enough.. Light it up! If you use your analogy for lighting I have near 15w per gallon on my reef.
But lighting really is based on the corals PAR needs.....very confusing to all but rocket scientists....More the better....Fish only tank, they could care less...corals need it....
But lighting really is based on the corals PAR needs.....very confusing to all but rocket scientists....More the better....Fish only tank, they could care less...corals need it....
I guess I am on the opposite end of this debate. After hearing some good presentatoins from Dana Riddle and Sonjay Joshi, I feel that we can have TOO MUCH LIGHT.
These corals will thrive with a lot of light, and the colors that we see in our tanks is the coral's natural defense against a lot of light.
Just my 2 cents
These corals will thrive with a lot of light, and the colors that we see in our tanks is the coral's natural defense against a lot of light.
Just my 2 cents
After polishing off three coral husbandry books and countless threads at reefcentral ont his subject, I believe yoda is correct. If you want color, let the sun shine on however if you want more growth the correct lighting isn't always more lighting. Also, more lighting can cause other problems in a tank with some nuissance photosynthetic creatures thriving under the brilliance.
Nah, I am just going to disagree with that and leave it alone...a coral is only going to use as much PAR as it needs to reach saturation..after that its all gravy...It's not going to hurt it to have more. it just will not use it or need it.. it will just color up to protect itself....I guarantee nobody here knows how much PAR their corals need, unless you are a micro biologist or Tom Wyatt.. and most here most likely do not have enough light...
Of course you you are into softies you don't need as much...Some Acros not as much...goes back to what are you trying to grow and make it flourish..
ME it's, Acro's all types...if I could figure out how to make 1000w MH look good in my living room, I would be blasting them with that. Best I could do was blast the 90 with 2 - 400w's
Anyway, have fun with your tanks all..Remember it's all good, unless you neglect it..
Of course you you are into softies you don't need as much...Some Acros not as much...goes back to what are you trying to grow and make it flourish..
ME it's, Acro's all types...if I could figure out how to make 1000w MH look good in my living room, I would be blasting them with that. Best I could do was blast the 90 with 2 - 400w's
Anyway, have fun with your tanks all..Remember it's all good, unless you neglect it..
Thanks ya'll!! This was a great response. I am keeping mostly soft corals, but I do have a few acros, hammers, etc. I was mostly worried about my bubble tip anenomes that I just got. I do have some mushrooms and they don't split as much as some peoples, but that could be because they get too much light. Thanks again.
I think generally speaking this is true, but there are some low light corals that can be killed by too much light by expelling the zooxanthellae so I don't want to say always. Also, you can kill a coral by throwing it into a high light situation when it came from a significantly lower light situation. You should certainly warm new corals in your tank up to high powered lighting situations otherwise you could cause them to trigger a zooxanthellae expulsion as well. Course one could easily argue the reverse is also true and is to my knowledge.
It's also about the way you have your lights configured. We all know that watts per gallon is not a good way of measuring. However, we rarely consider the difference between sources of light.
I was talking to Steven Pro at SWU last year about my 1000w halides (two 1000w 14k halides over 240g tank). He made the comment that "light sources aren't additive", meaning that you can't say that 2x250w halides = one 500w halide. There's a big difference in depth penetration between the two halides vs. one in this example, and I see the same thing in my tank.
After running the 1000w-er's for almost a year now, I definitely see this in action. I can't grow some things that I could in the past with the same amount of light - corraline algae, mushrooms, some corals- it's just too much light. And I can see the same thing on my PAR meter - I get almost 300 PAR at the bottom of a 26" tank and almost 1000 PAR at the surface (under water- I get ~1500-1700 out of water).
My point is - there's definitely more than just number of watts. I would venture to guess that my same tank with 2000w of PC (21 96watt bulbs!) would not have near</em> the PAR that I currently have. I've come to believe that layout of lighting is just as important as overall wattage.
I was talking to Steven Pro at SWU last year about my 1000w halides (two 1000w 14k halides over 240g tank). He made the comment that "light sources aren't additive", meaning that you can't say that 2x250w halides = one 500w halide. There's a big difference in depth penetration between the two halides vs. one in this example, and I see the same thing in my tank.
After running the 1000w-er's for almost a year now, I definitely see this in action. I can't grow some things that I could in the past with the same amount of light - corraline algae, mushrooms, some corals- it's just too much light. And I can see the same thing on my PAR meter - I get almost 300 PAR at the bottom of a 26" tank and almost 1000 PAR at the surface (under water- I get ~1500-1700 out of water).
My point is - there's definitely more than just number of watts. I would venture to guess that my same tank with 2000w of PC (21 96watt bulbs!) would not have near</em> the PAR that I currently have. I've come to believe that layout of lighting is just as important as overall wattage.
