Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Do I need to run all 8 bulbs of my fixture for 12 hours. I have 2 sets of 4 bulbs that I can run. They are 36 " 39 Watt ATI, Giessmann and KZ bulbs with individual reflectors. The first bank has Blue Plus, Aqua Blue, Fiji Purple and Blue Plus. The second bank has Midday, Aquablue, Blue Plus and Aquablue. I am concerned that my tank is heating too much, 80-84, I could just run 4 bulbs per day and alternate them. My corals and crocea clam have been doing great with all the lighting but I am also getting green and red slime algae. I hooked a fan up to blow on the sump but am not getting the cooling I need. Thanks for your ideas. I may have to get the 1/10th hp cooler. I have acroporas, montipora, mushrooms, LPS, leathers Torch, Whisker and hammers. Tank is 65 deep.

84 deg shouldn't be any problem dude. I would vent the top of the canopy and add fans before I'd cut down the photo period. You'll get more cooling putting the fan next to the part of the tank that is the hottest (i.e. lights).

I cut holes out of my canopy and my tank went down two degrees, added fans and it went down another two.

In my experience, nuisance algae has very little to do with lights, and a lot to do with feeding practices.

Thanks Neuticle. I did try to add a fan to blow on my ligts and my Foxface goes crazy. It is a 10 dollar Walmart clip on fan and the fish does not like the vibration or even seeing it. He splashed water all over the lights and was dashing around the tank. I will try something else.

At Radioshack you can get computer fans for about $5, you need to find an 8v to 12v power supply, I use a power supply from an old cordless phone to run my fans and LEDs.

Those computer fans are really quiet, or you could just keep using the loud fan, I bet the fish would get used to it after a while.

84 degrees isn't a problem. The majority of reefs in the wild run around 82 F. Interestingly enough, of those reefs surveyed, the ones with the highest coral and animal diversity were ones that hovered around 84 degrees.

I will look around, but i think i may have a handful of the smaller computer fans. Ventilation is pretty important to keeping the tank cool. My newest tank has an open top with a fixture so direct heat from the lights is minimal. My old 29 gallon had an enclosed top though. I had to install the fans for circulation or the fish/coral would have cooked. The small fans made all the difference. Evaporative cooling of the sump also works well. It dropped the tank temp 2 degrees for me last summer. I used a cheap Wally World fan. I think you can see it in one of my threads.

I have four of those Wal Mart fans running over my sump, I didn't have enough room to put them under my canopy.

I don't think you need all of the lights on for 12 hrs a day. I know some people keep them on but people have been getting just as good results cutting their photo period back. I currently run 3 T5 on my tank for 6 hrs with a VHO actinic on for about an hour or two before and after the T5 turn on/off and things are doing well.

I think i run my t-5's 12 hours but my MH only 8. The t-5's are my sunrise sunset