lighting schedules
 

Wondering what kind of lighting schedules everyone uses for their reef tank. How much light in a day is enough? And how much is too much?

Depends on many factors...... What kind of corals SPS? GPS? Types of fish? Then maybe we can give you a better idea :)


Corey

On my combo fixture I run my T5s (22000K) from 10am to 10pm and my Halides (250watt 14K) from 12pm to 7:30pm. I have no clue how much is enough or too much as opinions on this matter varies widely. :biggrin:

Oh I almost forgot I run my MH w/PC's on my larger reef tank from 7am-6pm in the summer and from 8am-5pm in winter.

My inwall smaller tank I run the same but not MH's at this time

Corey

Well I have a mix of sps lps and softies. I have a purple tang, mandarin, and a mystery wrasse. My fixture is a 6x54W T5 Tek light with kz coral bulbs.

Right now the lights are on probably 16ish hours a day, and its starting to seem a bit much. I'm trying to get some red slime under control, and I figure the lights are a contributer to the problem...

Maybe go for 12 hours on 12 hours off cycle.

I run my actinics for 12 hours and my MH for 6 1/2 hours. Moon lights on when actinics are off.

Roughly 10 hours a day (MH). Rarely have the actinics on, only when I want to see or show the corals fluorescing. Usually leave the moonlights on.

Usually i run my MH for 6 hours, from 5pm -11pm, Actinics for 8 hours, 4pm-12pm.

However ive been playing around with the idea of varied photoperiods and now im running the lighting as follows:

Monday: 5pm-11pm (6hrs)
Tuesday:5pm-11pm (6hrs)
Wednesday: 4pm-11pm (7hrs)
Thursday: 4pm-11pm (7hrs)
Friday: 5pm-11pm (6hrs)
Sat/Sun: 2pm-11pm (9hrs)

Supplement schedule didn't change, been doing this for about a week now and i cant say i see a difference in anything.

Once I get a new lighting fixture I plan on a 14 hour cycle, 14 hrs actinc and 10 hrs halide.