Weekly Discussion - Photoperiod

[Anonymous]

Weekly Discussion - Photoperiod

How long do you run you lights and why? Do you run different types for different time? Do MH really need to be on for 10 hours?

About the RDO Weekly Discussion:
This discussion is meant to get at your experience and to share information that is in your head, so don't necessarily treat it as information gathering. State your opinion and, if available, use material, anecdotal or otherwise, that will back up your opinion.
Past weekly discussions will be archived in the archives.
If you have topics that you think would be helpful for the RDO community to discuss, please send me a pm or start your own thread! :mrgreen:

 

[Bobzarry]

I keep my MH's 2x175 on for 13 hours and run my atinics 2x110 for 14 hours on a 55. Never found it to be a problem and all is doing well with plenty of growth.

Bob

 

[jandree22]

4 NO Flourescents switch on at 10AM and switch off at 10PM.

Blue rope light stays on 24 hours. Man is it ever confusing and complexed to light a FOWLR tank :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I run my lights basically 12on/12off, except I have the time shifted to later in the day so I can enjoy my tanks lighting until about 2am (nite owl). Below is a pic of my modified hood. One 50/50PC bulb turns on first, then a half hour later the other 50/50PC bulb turns on. During the day the micro fan is on as well. At night the moon lights come on too.

I don't know why I did it this way, really. This all just seemed like a neat idea to try.

 

[Anonymous]

I run my actinics from 10 to 10, the 20 K 250 DE's from 11 to 9, and the 10 K 250 DE's from 2 to 8. I used to run the 10K's longer, but I am ramping them down to save electricty. I will stop ramping them down when I see a growth problem, but I am aiming for 3 hours a day. I am also going to program in a day without them each week.
My moon lights come on for 2 hours at night and a 2 hours in the morning.

 

[Anonymous]

Right now I have my tanks on a 5 hour photo period. circuit one comes on at 1pm, it's 32w bluein the 15 gal and 32w 50/50 in the 10gal. circuit two is 32w 10k in teh 15, and 32w 50/50 fuge light on the back of the 10. it comes on half an hour later. They go off in the reverse order.

I'm battleing an algea outbreak in my 15 so I cut them down to 5 hours from 12. They're on the same timers, so they go on/off together. I don't have room to wire another pair of timers in, or the 10 would be on longer.

B

 

[Anonymous]

I have mine on for 12 hours, just plain flourescent bulbs

I am building a canopy to house 2 175 metal halides, they will also eventually be on for 12 hours

Bryan

 

[fishfanatic2]

2 65 watt PC's, 29 gallon tank, i stagger them so it doesnt come on all at once. the first bulb comes on at 9:30, the second at around 9:45 am. The first one goes off at 9:45 pm, the seccond at 10pm. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

My tank measures 78" long x 32" wide x 37" tall, and I am running 4x 400watt Iwasakis and 3x 6' VHO actinics. Becuase the tank is only 78" long, the Iwasakis are spaced fairly close together such that the tank is fairly well iluminated by either the outside or the inside pair of bulbs. As a consequence, all 4 Iwasakis are only on at the same time for a realtively shart period of time (eg, 2-3 hours) each day. Here is how I currently stagger my lights:

*9:30am - all VHO's turn on

*10:00am - the 2 inside (middle) Iwasakis turn on

*12:30pm - the 2 outside Iwasakis turn on

all the lights are on for the next 3 hours

*3:30pm - the 2 inside Iwasakis turn off

*10:00pm - the 2 outside Iwasakis turn off

*10:30pm - all VHO's turn off

Until recently, the overlap when all the lights were on was only 2 hours. I decided to up the overlap by an hour to see what impact it would have on sps and clam growth. It is too early to tell if it has made a difference.

Last year, I had a much bigger overlap - something like 6-7 hours - but it just seemed to be too much light (and heat). I will probably up the overlap to 4 hours fairly soon, but then back it down again to 2 hours for the summer.

 

[utahsaltreefer]

For my 55 gallon FOWLR The NO lights are on from 8AM to 8PM and the moon lights run from 8PM to 8AM. Its a new tank so these time may be adjusted if needed.

 

[cmidkiff]

I run my 2x400w, 12,000k coralife bulbs 11 hours/day, and 10 490nm blue led's 4 hours, overlapping the last hour of daylight. Great growth rates.

 

[Anonymous]

when i started my first reef tank after moving back here in '95, i had actinics running abit over 12 hrs, w/the mh's also running over 12

i had nuisance algae problems for months

after getting rid of most of the PO4, eliminating the actinics, and keeping to 8 hrs of mh's, all of my nuisance algae diappeared, and none of my corals looked any worse, or slowed down in growth

the few aptasia i had disappeared on their own, as well

i've been sticking to an app 8 hr mh photoperiod ever since

the longest photoperiod i'd ever recommend in a home reeftank is not more than 8-10 hrs of halide, or 10 hrs TOTAL of halide w/actinic warm-up/cool down

anything more than that just isn't necessary, imo, and helps to do nothing more than up the stock of the utility co. :wink:

 

[Mikef1]

I run mine 12 on 12 off. My 2 110w actinics come on at 11:00 then 2 400w come on at 12. mhs off at 10 and actinics off at 11

 

[Juck]

I run my 2x55w actinics from 10am to 2am

My 175w Halides for 5.5 hours starting at 11am.

I used to run the halides for 9 or more hours but have been cutting down just to see what happens,, no really negative effects so far,, although I assume the speed of SPS growth has been reduced somewhat,, no change in coloration though.

 

[J.Howard]

My 20 is 2 NO for 13 hours.

This is the cycle for my 200.

I have 2 NO flourescents on 9am off 10:30 pm - 80 watts for dawn/dusk effect 1-10k, 1 actinic = 13.5 hrs

Then VHO - 320 watts on 10:30 am off 9:30pm for morning /afternoon effect 1-10k, 1 actinic = 11 hrs

Finally 2x 400watt MH from 12:30 pm to 6:30 pm for midday sun effect. = 6 hrs.

New tank (9-10 weeks) with some recovered zoo's, a shroom rock, and plate coral rock w/x-mas tree worms. Just trying to replicate a day cycle more or less.
I will modify if needed but only minor algae problems (still pretty immature system) great coralline growth, and happy corals are the effects to date.

 

[Johnsteph10]

260 watts actinic 13 hours, staggered 30 min apart for dawn/dusk

3x 400w MH, staggered 30 min. apart on/off