A few basic beginner lighting questions

[allsite]

I'm truly enjoying my first coral tank and my little frags doubled in size the first month under my AI prime sol. Tank is a 12 gallon long. Questions...

Can I run the lights 24x7, having them set to the lowest possible setting for 12 hours a day, solely for the purpose of being able to view my corals. Any harm in this?

What is a good value for the whites on an AI prime? I'm currently running it at only 10% whites.

I'm also curious on recommendations for 2x lights to go on each side of the AI prime. If I could grow some corals on the sides that enjoy less light intensity that would be great. Something cheap and functional would be perfect.

Any creative lighting hack/ideas to make the display tank / cabinet look fantastic?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Timfish]

Corals need a diurnal cycle just like most other animals. My concern with moonlights is they don't actually provide the spectrum and are way too intense than moonlight actually is and if they are bright enough to cause a coral to fluoresce they are bright enough for photosysthesis which is harmful 24/7.

There's lots of coral that will do well in lower light. Knowing your PAR levels would be ideal, considering what you may pay for frags it seems a cheap investment to me.

It looks to me like you set up your system with dry rock and sand. I would add some maricultured or wild live rock to help establish cryptic sponges and the some of the microbial stuff so helpfull to maitaining reef ecosystems. See Aquabiomic's article here. I would encourage you to get Forest hower's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" (kindle is ~$10), it's an excellent introduction to the conflicting roles of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in reef ecosystems. Aditionally, you may find these videos informative:

Forest Rohwer "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas"


Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes


Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont


Bacteria and Sponges


Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

 

[CMMorgan]

Corals need a diurnal cycle just like most other animals. My concern with moonlights is they don't actually provide the spectrum and are way too intense than moonlight actually is and if they are bright enough to cause a coral to fluoresce they are bright enough for photosysthesis which is harmful 24/7.

There's lots of coral that will do well in lower light. Knowing your PAR levels would be ideal, considering what you may pay for frags it seems a cheap investment to me.

It looks to me like you set up your system with dry rock and sand. I would add some maricultured or wild live rock to help establish cryptic sponges and the some of the microbial stuff so helpfull to maitaining reef ecosystems. See Aquabiomic's article here. I would encourage you to get Forest hower's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" (kindle is ~$10), it's an excellent introduction to the conflicting roles of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in reef ecosystems. Aditionally, you may find these videos informative:

Forest Rohwer "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas"


Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes


Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont


Bacteria and Sponges


Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

@Timfish ... crazy fabulous response. I can't add anything of value to that. Boom

 

[allsite]

Corals need a diurnal cycle just like most other animals. My concern with moonlights is they don't actually provide the spectrum and are way too intense than moonlight actually is and if they are bright enough to cause a coral to fluoresce they are bright enough for photosysthesis which is harmful 24/7.

There's lots of coral that will do well in lower light. Knowing your PAR levels would be ideal, considering what you may pay for frags it seems a cheap investment to me.

It looks to me like you set up your system with dry rock and sand. I would add some maricultured or wild live rock to help establish cryptic sponges and the some of the microbial stuff so helpfull to maitaining reef ecosystems. See Aquabiomic's article here. I would encourage you to get Forest hower's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" (kindle is ~$10), it's an excellent introduction to the conflicting roles of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in reef ecosystems. Aditionally, you may find these videos informative:

Forest Rohwer "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas"


Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes


Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont


Bacteria and Sponges


Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed response! 100% helpful...