[colleen78]

I have lots of questions today.

I have a stock 29g BC and am going out to get some timers for the lights today. Any that you recommend?

How long should I set the timers for? I will be adding lots of corals eventually (I don't even care about fish - I want corals!!)

I have 1 36watt Actinic
1 36 watt Daylight
3 .75 watt Lunar

Any suggestions? I want to make my tank happy.

[pogodzib]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that lighting will be way too weak for most corals. Mushroom, yellow & green star polyps, and some type of zoos or softies may do alright. LPS and SPS corals wouldn't get enough light to satisfy their needs. With those lights, I'd keep them on for 12-14 hours per day. If you get stronger lights, you would be able to reduce the time cycle.

[WILLIAM1]

I agree with Pog on the light intensity dont think theres a great amount of light for many corals. Are there three seperate plugs for the lights? I run my atinics for 12 hours and my daylights for 10 hours. The atinics pop on about 9:00am and at 10:00the daylights come on and vice versa for the nightatinics go off one hour after the daylights. Then the moon lights kick on for the rest of the night till morning. Heres a link to the timer I use it will run all tree plugs.
Aqualight Dual Timer Power Center: Aquarium Supplies - Aqua Buys
If theres anything else let us know.

[colleen78]

Yes, there are three seperate plugs. I'll check out the timer you suggested. Thanks so much!

[colleen78]

If the lights aren't enough for corals what should I do? I don't really want to do any modifications right now as the tank is only three weeks old and I've never had a reef tank before. (I'm still trying to figure out the basics.) I don't want the top of the tank to be open as I'm afraid the cat and my four small children will try to go snokeling.

Hmmm... maybe I won't have corals.

[pogodzib]

If you don't want to spend anymore money or make adjustments with the lighting right now, I think you should try to find a local reef keeper that will either sell or give you frags of the corals I listed above. Many reef keepers will help give or sell corals cheaply to beginners to help get them going. You should be able to pick up frags of any of them for $5 or less if you find the right person. I've been able to keep about half of the corals listed above in a 29 gallon tank under a standard (20w) NO light fixture. Granted, experience does help when trying to keep corals under less than ideal lighting, but I think you'll be able to have success with those corals and it would give you some experience for when you decide to upgrade your lighting to try to keep other types of corals. Just don't expect the growth rate to be super fast.

[colleen78]

Okay thanks! We live in a super small town and the LFS just opened last year, so I don't think there are too many reef keepers around, but I will look. I'll also take your list to the store when I decide to try some. I'm not planning on adding any corals until I get the parameters under control (meaning I figure out what the heck I'm doing). I'm bummed about the lights.

[pogodzib]

Read the PM I sent you, it might get your hopes up a little. I agree though, make sure that you wait until your tank has been setup for awhile and is stable before adding corals or fish.