how long do you keep lights on for???
 

so what is the recommended time for keeping your lights on.. I m keeping my actinics on for 12-14 hours a day and 10-12 hours for the 10 000k lights...since i do not have a timer the time kind of varys between those hours..it all depends on when i wake up...

I recomend what ever you like...
corals and fish have never seen the long periods of full intensity light we give them, turn you light on when you get up, timers are a good thing, have just your attinics on when your relaxing in the late evening...

I've read that corals that need the intensity of MH get their needs fufilled in about 4-6 hours, after that it's purely for our own bennifit, I'd say, if you can do it, a single VHO 10,000k bulb and a couple of NO Actinics 14 hours a day, the MH 6 hours a day.
That's what I think I'll try as I set up my reef again.

Doug

I run my actinic for 14 hours/ day and my MH 12 hours per day.

I did the 4 to 6 hours with MH per day when I was batteling heat issues in the summer and while the corals stayed alive they did lose a little color. so the info Doug and myself had read about the saturation point in corals being reached after 4 to 6 hours might have been mearly for them to live.
I now believe for real nice color you need more than this basic requirment.

Steve

You can actually overerlight your corals, heat issues aside.
Regularly timed light cycles benefit the corals, as they don't have to then deal with processing excess food from the zooxanthallae (resulting from uneven light cycles), making them deal with "sugar and oxygen highs" (simply put... :smile: )
I keep my MH on for 10 hours/day, and the actinics on for 12.

Mitch

actinic on for 14 hours and 20k halides(800w total) on for 12 hours and then all the halides 20k and 10k(1300w total) on for 10 hours.

cheers

I use 8 bulbs of 65w pc's on my 75g. 2 10k 4 50/50 2 actinic. The actinic are on 12 hours, 50/50 11 1/2hr and the 10k same witnin 15 mins. I have mostly softies and some sps.

Steve, what I read didn't give any indication of bulb intensity or colour either, in retrospect that could have been with a 1000watt bulb.

I've got a spare Advanced fluorescent ballast thats rated for 1.3 amps so I can run a VHO on that so I think I'll try the VHO with a 10,000k bulb and especially for the summer keep my MH on a couple hours less than I used to. Loosing all my corals last year in the summer heat is really making me nervous about setting up again but I just miss the reef so much.

Doug

I run a single actinic for 14hrs, while the secondary actinic and the 10,000k are on for 8hrs. Both of which are on timmers which saves me a lot of switching on/off, and also provides everything in the reef with a consistent day/night simulation.

Good point Rich, timers are the only way to go, someone has made some posts about the x-10 it looks like a great way to go but I stick with the old grounded timers you can get at Rona Revy/Home Depot.

Doug