How to Setup Your Lighting System in a Saltwater Aquarium
Posted: Tuesday, February 09, 2010
by Peter Dranitsin
Petes Original Art Inc.
The first step in installing your lighting should always be to know your aquatic animals and plants. Do not go shopping for fancy light bulbs and ballasts unless you are certain you are buying the right ones.
Fishes generally need only light to be able to see what they are eating or where they are going. They also need regular light hours. That is, you should turn on the tank light for at least 10 hours a day. The preferred lighting for experienced aquarists is somewhere between 10 to 12 hours every day. This will ensure your fish does not get stressed as well as minimize algae overgrowth that comes with prolonged lighting in the tank.
Plants, anemones and corals on the other hand need a lot of light. This is because they utilize it to synthesize food. Photosynthetic animals especially need very bright light. Corals for example will tend to stop growing or even die when given less than 5 watts of lighting per gallon of tank.
A lot of aquarium plants will do with about 4 watts of lighting per gallon; however, if you are not sure of the lighting needs of your plants, adding more light will not hurt. Corals and anemones need at least 5 and preferably 6 watts of lighting per gallon in the tank. It will also be best if you keep your tank depth below 24 inches. This is to make sure your plants and photosynthetic creatures get enough light to thrive.
Light is measured in lumens which is equivalent the light emitted by a candle in a square foot of area 1 feet away. That would be a lot to remember. To avoid that complication, aquarists on average measure light in watts per gallon. To get this value, simply divide the total amount of wattage you are using for lighting alone to the number of gallons in your tank. For a tank with 55 gallons for example, to get 5 watts per gallon, you will need a total of 275 watts of lighting. Now, preferably, you can divide that into three fluorescent tubes that consume 100 watts each.
Aside from the amount of light, you should also consider the kind of light you will put in your tank. Most fluorescent tubes provide the spectrum all plants and animals need. That includes algae. If you wish to avoid algae problems later, it might do you good to pick the spectrum these photosynthetic organisms may not process. Most known green algae for example, need light in the yellow to red shifts of the spectrum; whereas, anemones and corals will do best with bluish white hues. You can always opt for actinic (bluish light) if you have anemones in your tank. This hue of light feeds your anemones and corals while starving most algae.
Actinic light will look bland however in your tank. You can add colored light to highlight the colors of your plants against the plants - like a green and red light combination together with 150 watts of actinic and 150 watts of white light.
In some cases, you will need very intense lighting to imitate sunlight. This is where metal halide (MH) and very high output (VHO) lighting come in. These lights produce a lot of light as well as heat which prompts the need of a cooling system. If you have a VHO or MH as a lighting system, be sure it does not get as close as 8 inches off the tank water.
Now for the easy part which is installing your tank lighting. First, make sure the lighting system is off and unplugged. You wouldn't want electricity and water together. Next, install the light bulbs or tubes into the canopy or light support of your tank. Plug this arrangement to a timer set at 10-12 hours turned on everyday. Plug your night light in a separate timer.
Make sure everything is dry then plug the timer. Then turn it on. Observe your marine creatures watching out for signs of stress in fishes, stunted growth in plants or bleaching in corals. If your fish is a little photophobic, simply add big rocks for it to hide in. Do that and your lighting system is set.
Cedric James is a lifelong saltwater aquarium enthusiast. For more great tips about saltwater aquarium lighting information, http://www.saltwateraquariumeasy.com.
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