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Aquaristnewbie 
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 Topic: How long do you run your lights(Average)
Posted: June 25 2009 at 5:28pm |
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How long do you run your lights on your tank? Maybe give some info on your lighting and your daily cycles. I have 192 W of PC on a 65 gal for now. I want to upgrade soon. One 12K bulb and one 50/50. I run both for 10 hours a day at the same time and moon lights at night.
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150 gallon Reef
Millcreek Utah
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Dion Richins
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Posted: June 25 2009 at 8:17pm |
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Bout 16 hours from dawn to dusk.
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Connie
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Posted: June 25 2009 at 9:17pm |
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12 on 12 off for me. I run 2 250 watt MH & 1 400 watt MH on a 120.
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I have flying monkeys and I'm not afraid to use them.
180 gallon money pit that I love.....
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BobC63
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Posted: June 25 2009 at 10:58pm |
I run=
LEFT CENTER RIGHT
400 MH 10K 250 MH 14K 400 MH 10K
and moonlights...
My lighting schedule -
7 AM - 10 AM = indirect sunlight through front window
10 AM - 12 noon = 250 on
11:55 AM - 7 PM = both 400s on
6:55 - 9:30 PM = 250 back on
9:25 PM - 1 AM = moonlights
1 AM - 7 AM = darkness
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- My Current Tank: 50g Starfire Cube Reef
* Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 *
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Nick801
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Posted: June 25 2009 at 11:52pm |
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Bob any reason for the darkness? I just thought it was better to leave the moonlights on all night ?
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Mike Savage
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Posted: June 26 2009 at 2:22am |
I run one tank for 8 hours and the other one (LED lighting) 14+ hours.
Mike
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snoyce
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Posted: June 26 2009 at 7:43am |
I run a 4 bulb T5 retrofit
First 2 bulbs actinic and blue+ on at noon
other 2 bulbs aquasun and UVL 75/25 on at 1pm
aquasun and UVL 75/25 off at 9pm
actinic and blue+ off at 10pm
moonlight the rest of the time
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Scott Noyce
90G reef ready AGA display
basment 20G sump, 29G fuge
4x54 watt T5 retro SLR
Octopus NW150
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BobC63
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Posted: June 26 2009 at 9:06am |
 Nick801 wrote:
Bob any reason for the darkness? I just thought it was better to leave the moonlights on all night ? |
I don't know if there is any "scientific" evidence or reasoning behind it, but I have noticed my fish don't seem quite as deeply 'asleep' when the moonlights are on... this way they get a little of both (moonlighting and total darkness) every night
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- My Current Tank: 50g Starfire Cube Reef
* Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 *
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: June 26 2009 at 9:09am |
Consider that near the equator, where the tropical reefs are located, the sun shines about 12 hours per day.
192 Watts...hmmmm
So you have how many PC bulbs of what wattage?
If you are keeping the PC lighting, which is excellent btw, IMO the best way to give the tank both color and growth is to use a combination of 1-3 UVL Super Actinic tubes which come on first and go off last with 1-2 UVL 50/50 (Super Actinic/Actinic White) tubes. UVL tubes, available from reefgeek.com, are the best in the hobby, IMO.
UVL stands for UV Lighting Company. The name changed recently (formerly URI, Ultraviolet Resources Inc) but the company has been the premier manufacturer of the best VHO aquarium lights for more than 20 years and they recently took those same phospors and made PC light tubes. About time, f you ask me. Another reason they are such good lights is that they have internal reflectors that are so efficient, no external reflector is required.
Edited by Mark Peterson - June 26 2009 at 9:16am
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Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Jeremyw
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Posted: June 26 2009 at 12:15pm |
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I do 12 hour on 12 hours off. I used to do about 10 on, but recently changed to 12 and everything seems to be happier in my tank.
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Aquaristnewbie
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Posted: June 26 2009 at 2:31pm |
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I have 2 bulbs at 96 W each. It seems to do ok for my tank but soon I would like to upgrade. It is almost time for new bulbs so I will check those out.
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150 gallon Reef
Millcreek Utah
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tazman1982
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Posted: June 28 2009 at 1:15am |
I recently was running 12 on 12 off, but... to cut power costs, I started dialing it down to 10 hours a day. running 2 tanks with 2 MH's each gets pricy plus the Central air..
and my corals seem to be doing better with shorter cycles... WHY???? but most of my corals would start to close about 2 hrs before my lights went out anyway. so a 10 hr seems good for my tank. and moon lights....... a hit and miss, I will leave them on all night from time to time and sometimes I don't turn them on at all. no timer on them.
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75 Reef
55 Reef
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chk4tix
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Posted: June 28 2009 at 7:13am |
tazman1982 wrote:
I recently was running 12 on 12 off, but... to cut power costs, I started dialing it down to 10 hours a day. running 2 tanks with 2 MH's each gets pricy plus the Central air..
and my corals seem to be doing better with shorter cycles... WHY???? but most of my corals would start to close about 2 hrs before my lights went out anyway. so a 10 hr seems good for my tank. and moon lights....... a hit and miss, I will leave them on all night from time to time and sometimes I don't turn them on at all. no timer on them. |
\ There was a big post/experiment on another sit about time photo periods and most people on there did see more growth with a shorter amount of time. Some even dropped theirs down to only 6 hours per day and were seeing great growth. I dropped mine from 12 to 7 hours and I see more growth now then I did before.
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Original Crappy Reef Club Member #2
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Dion Richins
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Posted: June 28 2009 at 7:50pm |
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Where is that posted Keith? I would love to cut energy costs and increase growth!!!
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chk4tix
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Posted: June 28 2009 at 9:57pm |
Dion Richins wrote:
Where is that posted Keith? I would love to cut energy costs and increase growth!!! |
I will find the post. I believe it was on Reef2Reef.com ( if you havent signed up, you can say I sent you..  ) It always could be on RC but I havent been back there since I got kicked off last time.
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Original Crappy Reef Club Member #2
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chk4tix
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Posted: June 28 2009 at 10:29pm |
here is one of the links on RC...
*I also wanted to note that when I was having my red slime problem, I cut my lights back to only 4hrs a day and I still saw growth. If I can find the before/after pictures I will post them. My slime problem lasted a few month, so it was a good amount of time I had my tank lights reduced. I only recently moved the time upto 7 hrs to see if that makes a dramatic difference or not.
Edited by chk4tix - June 29 2009 at 12:22pm
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Original Crappy Reef Club Member #2
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shakin06
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Posted: July 02 2009 at 10:09am |
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What is a schedule? I run my lights sometimes 8 hours and other days 16 hours. 2 x 150 10k halides and 4 t-5 HO and moonlights when I go to bed. (tank is AGA 90)
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Jessekin
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Posted: July 29 2009 at 11:19am |
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I Don't have a light fixture :D
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: July 29 2009 at 1:18pm |
Dion,
The study was on Reef Central. Keith you are right. People cut lighting down to 6 hours a day and saw much better growth. I personally think more than 8 hours of full light is too much. When I turned my lights on early, my corals look like crap a couple hours before lights off. I think they reach a point where they can no longer use the light to grow and need rest. Just like all animals. I wonder if you fed more food and left the lights on longer if the corals would have the required energy to continue to grow?
Is there a corellation(sp?) between how much food they receive and how much light they can take? It would be a good thing to study IMO. Maybe someone like Adam will know.
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Yodaman
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Posted: August 17 2009 at 3:21pm |
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12 Hours Here from 10am to 10pm.
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