Lighting Timer Question

Discussion on aquatic lighting.

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GermanShepherdGirl
Copepod
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Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:47 am
Location: West Mobile

Lighting Timer Question

Post by GermanShepherdGirl »

As you may have read on another post, I got new lights for Christmas. Its got 2 150-watt 10,000K double-ended HQI metal halides, 2 96-watt True Actinic 03 Blue square-pin compact fluorescents, and 3 moonlights. I want to do a dawn/dusk effect. There are 4 plugs. One controls the moon lights, one for both flourescents, and one for each MH.

I have them each on a timer. How many hours a day should I keep each light on? And how much time between should I set for each light to come on and off? Should I keep the moonlights on all night? Right now I have it set like the following:

11am CF ON
12pm MH#1 & fan ON
12:30pm MH#2 ON

9:30pm MH#2 OFF
10pm MH#1 & fan OFF
11pm CF OFF
Moonlights on all night

Anyone have any other suggestions as to how I should set my timers for my lights? Am I keeping my lights on too long?

Also, how often should I change the bulbs?

I'm new to this reef stuff so I need lots of advise. Until now I had FOWLR.
-Kristyn
Redfish
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Post by Redfish »

You are going to get a bunch of opinions. Heres mine:

You really do not need to run the 10k MH for more than about 5-6 hours. Any longer and you are wasting electricity. If you run them more than about 8 hours you will probably begin to see the light affecting the corals in a bad way. The soft corals will really show a negative affect if they do not have shade. I like 10k lamps because of the growth factor and because I beleive they create a better colored coral with just the actinics on.

The actinics can be run as long as you want. Since you have two 03 actinics, you may not like the tank color without the MH on. In that case, run the actinics for several hours in the morning before the MH come on so that they are both on after your work hours for your viewing pleasure.

If you like the tank color better with only the actinics and no MH, run the MH while you are at work and have just the actinic on when you are home.

My personal opinion is that the moon lights really are for your convenience. Some will say that the moonlight will stimulate mating or other behaviors. I have never had any fish, shrimp, etc.. respond better or worse with or without the moonlights. My shrimp spawn no matter what and when I had the pygmy angel pairs, the moonlights didn't affect them. They spawned immediately after the main lights go out. My anthias are the same way. They begin to do their mating thing about 30 minutes before the main lights go out and continue for about 30 minutes after the lights go out. I use moonlights for a couple of hours after the main lights go out.
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Amphiprion
Astrea snail
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Post by Amphiprion »

I agree with Redfish. All photosynthetic animals and plants have a "saturation point" in which they are physically unable to continue to perform photosynthesis. If it is forced beyond a certain point, it can cause oxidative damage to tissues. So I dont believe that it is necessary nor beneficial to drive HID-style lamps for much longer than that-- plus it saves some electricity and cuts down on some overall heat entering the tank.
Andrew

25g planted nature aquarium
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GermanShepherdGirl
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Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:47 am
Location: West Mobile

Post by GermanShepherdGirl »

Thanks for the input! I adjusted my timers a little last night. I'll probably adjust them a little more tonight after reading your posts. I only have a few very small frags right now. I'm only just getting started! We need to have a meeting soon so I can get more pointers from everyone. I don't have anything to trade at the meeting since I don't really have much but I'd be willing to either buy or trade some of my live stock for some frags.
-Kristyn
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