[axel]

I have a big noob question on the actinic and normal light. Should they be turned on together or individually and separate times.

Another one. How can u have live sand?

How much gph should i need to lift the water from my mini-sump to my nano reef aquarium? the height between the sump and the nano would be of 35 inches aprox.

[kh6sat]

Alot of people run them together. It adds some color to the normal lights. I'll turn my actinics on in the morning then add the metal halides (regular lights for you) around 10am to simulate mid day. Then around 4pm the halids come off and the actinics stay on until about 8pm. After that the moonlights are on all night until 8am in the morning when the cycle starts all over.

[kh6sat]

By the way, if you do a search on this site for "live sand" you may get the answers you are looking for about that subject. I got my sand directly from the ocean so I don't really know how its made. I would assume if you put sand in your aquarium. it would eventually come "live" after all the biological functions get going.

[e_baer]

since you dont have MH the actinics should be on at the same time as the normal lights, but they should be turned on 2 hours before the normal ones go on, and 2 hours afterwards. I dont think you should run your normal lights more than 10 hours or so. so that makes your actinics on for another 4 additional hours in total.


incase you didnt understand that:


actinics go on at 6am and stay on till 8pm. Normal lights go on from 8am till 6pm. moonlights will be on when there are no other lights on.


llive sand does not mean it has feet and can walk around. it simply means there is beneficial bacteria living in the sand. Protein Skimmers

if you choose to go wiht live sand, you may want to consider a deep sand bed.
Protein Skimmers

[msbdiving]

"Live sand" is sand that should be clean. It becomes "live" after the bacteria has been able to establish a foothold and gone throught he cycling process. I would caution you to get sand from the local beach. Many impurities are found in local beach sand (at least in SoCal). The impurities will stay in the sand long after they have been removed from the water. Remember, picture the beach like a big protein skimmer.

As far as gpm and elevation, do you happen to know what your head pressure is or are you still looking for a pump? You want to go with a pump that will turn over your tank at about 10 times per hour. You might want to bump it up a bit more since you have the elevation to consider. Also, if you have alot of 90 deg elbows, you are going to need to bump it up a bit more to account for friction loss.

The lights sound about right. 8-10hrs. Actinics longer.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I am going to make a guess that you are useing a siphon to get water from the tank to the sump.there are two dangers here.first if the pump quits for any reason the siphon will keep going and over fill the sump causeing a minor or major flood.Second if the siphon breaks the pump will keep running long after it runs dry.you need to know the flow rate of your siphon to determine the return pump size,generally the longer a siphon is vertically the more water it will move(it has to do with the weight of the water in the pipe,more means faster).I once siphoned an 80 gallon water heater on the third floor in about 10 minutes.So the rate can be quite high.

[e_baer]

i know that 3/4 inch pipe with a siphon will run about 300gph. then im guessing that for every 1/4 inch, you can add or subtract 100 gph

[reefnoob1991]

I'm going to go with e_baer on this one I run my actinics 1-2 hours before I turn my regular lights on (leaving the actinics on) and run them for 10-12 hours then leave the actinics on for 2 more.

[e_baer]

Under normal circumstances, a photoperiod of 8 to 10.5 hours should be sufficient. More, and you run the risk of an algae bloom and/or stressing your corals due to an extended photoperiod. With less, your corals may not do as well due to a lack of sufficient photoperiod. The easiest way to do this is to place your lights on a timer. This allows for an automatic day/night cycle without you needing to be there. Some hobbyists have arranged their lighting so that the actinic 03 bulbs come on first, then the metal halide(s), this being done so as not to "photoshock" the corals. It should be remembered that although blue light may not appear bright to us, it IS bright to the corals so there may be no benefit to doing this.
One problem that faces hobbyists is that they are not home a good portion of the day, a portion when the lights are on. To compensate for this, they leave the lights on well past the 8 to 10.5 hours actually needed. Here again, the timers come into play. It may be to your advantage to set the timers so that the lights come on at 11:00 a.m. or 12:00 noon and go off at 10:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m. This way, the corals get the light they need, and the lights are on when you are home to enjoy the tank.


This came form
AQUARIUM FISH MARINE TROPICAL SUPPLIES FRESH WATER PET SUPPLY

[reefnoob1991]

I have to for my anemone until I get my skimmer