MH time

Discussion on aquatic lighting.

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bluwtr
Amoeba
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Location: MS Gulf Coast

MH time

Post by bluwtr »

For those of you running MH's how long do you run them per day? I've slowly worked my way up to almost 4 hours now. Just don't know how long I should keep them on.

Suggestions?

Thanks.
Wes

Beatings will continue until morale improves!!!

"I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them."--Judge Smails
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andy4499
Chromis
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Re: MH time

Post by andy4499 »

I run my MH's a total of 6 hours a day and my VHO's for a total of 8 hours a day. My VHO's come on and go off an hour before and after my MH's.
225 Gallon Aquarium, Two 40 gallon frag tanks, 75 gallon refugium, 30 gallon sump
neptune aquacontroller III
Lighting = 3 x 400 watt MH, 4 x 6' VHO's,
Pumps = Panworld 100 (return), 2 x Vortech MP40, Seio 1500
ASM G-4 Skimmer, GEO calcium reactor.
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Amphiprion
Astrea snail
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Re: MH time

Post by Amphiprion »

Mine runs for approx. 8 hours (about 7 hrs 35 mins more exactly, since that's what the timer landed on). Not sure how applicable that is for most, but when I had more corals in my current system, they seemed to be just fine with that.
Andrew

25g planted nature aquarium
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bluwtr
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Location: MS Gulf Coast

Re: MH time

Post by bluwtr »

Thanks guys. I run my lights a little funny. My actinics come on at 6:30 in the morn and go off at 8. We all want to see the tank while we get ready in the mornings. My actinics then come on a second time at 13:30 and then go off at 21:00. That obviously gives me about 9 hours of actinic per day. Right now the MH come on around 15:45 and go off at 18:00. I was thinking of eventually running my MH for 6-8. Maybe it's my imagination, but I swear my Acros are starting to show some color.
Wes

Beatings will continue until morale improves!!!

"I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them."--Judge Smails
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