Hello.
Background: Am 3 weeks into a 14gal oceanic biocube (very first marine aquarium). Have 14lbs of live sand. 14lbs LR. 10 gal of salt water. 6 "regular" snails. 1 Nassarious snail, 5 hermit crabs (4 blue legged, 1 red leg). 1 emerad crab. 1 zooanthid frag and 1 frag (2 heads) of torch coral. 2 small bristle worms courtesy of zoo frag. Alot of plankton type critters courtesy of the LR and live sand.
Have just finished fighting a cyano bloom(?) in the aquarium. Was vacuuming about every other day with a 1.5 gal water change. Got tired of that and chemmed the water two days ago. As of today no more cyano.
The cube came with the following lighting:
48 Watt Compact Fluorescent Lighting
1 - 24w 10,000K Lamp
1 - 24w Actinic 03 Lamp
Moon Glow Blue LED's
The LED's stay on 24hr. I've been trying to turn the Actinic on an hour before the 10K. Then turn on the 10k and turn off the actinic. Keep the 10k on for 10 hours. Turn on Actinic 1 hour before 10k gets turned off and turn off actinic 1 hour after 10k is off.
1st: Is this a good cycle?
2nd: Got tired of trying to keep this cycle myself. Bought a timer that handles sun and moon lights. Their scenario had the 10k and Actinic tied to the sun side of things and both were on all day and then the moon LEDs would be turned on when the others went off. Is this a good cycle?
So basically the quesion is...when do I turn on/off my lights
???
Oh: plan to add more coral and possibly a bennie later. For now letting the water cycle finish (darn near done too). All current residents appear to be doing well. Crabs have been playing musical shells and always moving to the bigger size.
Thoughts?