Advice Required for lighting periods

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Atomikk

What I found works amazingly well for my system is to have a slow progression of light intesity and spectrum. I have T5 actinics and 400W Radium 20K. The T5s go on first to ease corals and fish into the day. Then only one of the MHs turns on. After 2 hrs, the second MH turns on, but the T5s turn off. Corals should only be subjected to about 4-5 hrs of intense light (whatever spectrum, 10K-20K). Otherwise they photosaturate, and can recess. After the last MH bulbs turns off, the actincs turn on to again ease the fish/corals into complete darkness.

HTH

i do the same if you think about it your trying to mimic where it comes from, i start with t5's in the morning then go halides for about 4-5 hours then i use actinics in the evening.its all done by a timer so i dont mess it up.

in my new set up i plan to phase in moon phases and seasonal time differences cheers

[globaldesigns]

Thanks, I appreciate your comments.

This is what I just changed it to:

T5's turn on at noon, MH's turn on at 5PM, then turn off at 10PM, T5's turn off at pm

I think this is better, maybe my slow recovery is due to too much blasting of light.

Your thoughts on my new configuration?

[Atomikk]

I would keep the T5s off until both MHs turn off,then turn them on. Personally, i think that it is unnecessary to keep them on during the 'day'.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Atomikk

I would keep the T5s off until both MHs turn off,then turn them on. Personally, i think that it is unnecessary to keep them on during the 'day'.

i agree with that also my halides are on by them selves when they are on

[globaldesigns]

I revised things a bit more, will see how that works... As I only have 2 T5's and they are actinics, I will leave them on with the Halides, as it does assist to make my lighting appear very white, not yellow as 10k's can do.

This is what I just changed it to:

T5's turn on at 9am, MH's turn on at 4PM, then turn off at 9PM, T5's turn off at 10pm

I will give this a shot and see how things reacte, hopefully damaged coral from over the summer will like it.

What do you all think, will this config work?

[StirCrazy]

I don't think saturation was a problem at all, and realy asided from a couple hypotheticle articles based of very old studys (unless there are new studdies I am not aware of) I have never heard of anyone who has had reciding corals due to saturation. my own exparaments showed that after 10 hours of intense lights I didn't benifit in growth from more light, but I didn't get corals reciding either, growth just peeked at 10 hours and I was only waisting power for 12 hours of light.

what I did was actinics turn on 2 hours then the MH come on for 8-10 hours, then the actinics stay on for 2 hours after that.

problem with trying to guess what is going on over the summer is you need to know what your temps did. 99% of the time summer problems are from temp changes.

I would start logging temps. I bought a themomitor that would record the daily high and low values and I would record them ever morning and see what was going on over a month or so.. this is what based my desision to buy a chiller.. my temp was swinging from 78 to 88 (hotter on real hot days.) after the chiller I had a swing from 79 to 81. which produced much better results in the corals.

Steve

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

I don't think saturation was a problem at all, and realy asided from a couple hypotheticle articles based of very old studys (unless there are new studdies I am not aware of) I have never heard of anyone who has had reciding corals due to saturation. my own exparaments showed that after 10 hours of intense lights I didn't benifit in growth from more light, but I didn't get corals reciding either, growth just peeked at 10 hours and I was only waisting power for 12 hours of light.

what I did was actinics turn on 2 hours then the MH come on for 8-10 hours, then the actinics stay on for 2 hours after that.

problem with trying to guess what is going on over the summer is you need to know what your temps did. 99% of the time summer problems are from temp changes.

I would start logging temps. I bought a themomitor that would record the daily high and low values and I would record them ever morning and see what was going on over a month or so.. this is what based my desision to buy a chiller.. my temp was swinging from 78 to 88 (hotter on real hot days.) after the chiller I had a swing from 79 to 81. which produced much better results in the corals.

Steve

Temps have never been a problem as my house is climate controlled. If anything my temp sat at 80 and never really moved day and night, and this also meant my heater never turned on as the pumps, etc did the heating. If anything, now the heater may be used more.

Good advice, I will watch the temps.

[reefwars]

i think its much better. alot of coral react differently and change when its dark so its stressfull to do so more than needed .
also distance from the coral is a big factor i had to tinker with my height to get good growth, now any thing i add out grows my tank in a few months.

glad to hear your tank is making a recovery, sometimes its slow at first and then your growth takes off again cheers