Too much light? Not enough? Help!

ReefGeek11 · Jun 30, 2015

Hey Everyone! Reefgeek here, I am fairly new to this hobby, I'm coming up on a year, I have a 20 gallon long reef tank with two light fixtures, a Marineland Reef LED and Current USA Orbit Led specs below\/\/\/

Marineland 460nm blue/10,000K white LED and my USA Current Orbit LED 8,000K white along with 445nm actinic blue

Is this to much lighting for my tank? Corals seemed to be doing great with just one of the two lights on there but I was told that i need more light so I added the second fixture in there. What should I do? To much light? Just use one? Thanks! Picture is of tank with both fixtures. Thanks!

redfishbluefish · Jun 30, 2015

I don't like 1 watt LEDs for a reef tank....limnited penetration. That's fine for a FOWLR, but not a reef. If you're only interested in softies, you should be fine, but for hard corals, I think you need more.

Also, I'm usually very liberal on tangs in small tanks, but you need to find a new home for both your tangs. A 20 gallon tank is WAY TOO SMALL for tangs. Sorry.

AsphaltPays · Jun 30, 2015

Just keep an eye on corals I don't think you are overpowering the tank imo

ReefGeek11 · Jun 30, 2015

redfishbluefish said:
I don't like 1 watt LEDs for a reef tank....limnited penetration. That's fine for a FOWLR, but not a reef. If you're only interested in softies, you should be fine, but for hard corals, I think you need more.

Also, I'm usually very liberal on tangs in small tanks, but you need to find a new home for both your tangs. A 20 gallon tank is WAY TOO SMALL for tangs. Sorry.

Thanks for the lighting tip, the yellow tang is not mine, I've been housing it for about a month now, my father in law has broken his tank down during his move and he tried to bring it to his LFS to temporarily house it but they turned him down so I currently have it until his tank cycles, second the blue hippo tang is just bigger then a quarter, (same size as my clown) yes I agree if it was any bigger then yeah it should be in a bigger tank. And I look to expand within the year. I also have been told my numerous well repatable reefers that his size is just fine for the size of tank and current size which will take at least another year to see any growth. I understand that everyone has they're views and policies, I appreciate your concern but I promise I'm not a unresponsible reef keeper. Thanks for your response!