lighting hours!

nemo1991 · 03-25-2008, 08:03 PM

ok so i got a 4x65 wat pc satellite lights, and i was thinking of doing the 2 antics for 12 hours a day and the daylights for 10 hours and the moon lights for 12 hours, the antics would come on an hour before and an hour after he moon lights do, would this be ok or should i change the hours of how long i keep the lights on for?

lunatik_69 · 03-25-2008, 08:09 PM

All my lights are on timers. My MH are on from 12-10pm, My actinics are on one hour before and after the MH and the lunars come on after the actinics turn off. The lunars dont really do nothing for the tank except visual effects at night.

Matt Rogers · 03-25-2008, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemo1991

i was thinking of doing the 2 antics for 12 hours a day and the daylights for 10 hours

That's the schedule I ran. It seems work well.
Moonlights were a now and then thing, I didn't want to annoy the fish too much with that.

omard · 03-25-2008, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemo1991

ok so i got a 4x65 wat pc satellite lights, and i was thinking of doing the 2 antics for 12 hours a day and the daylights for 10 hours and the moon lights for 12 hours, the antics would come on an hour before and an hour after he moon lights do, would this be ok or should i change the hours of how long i keep the lights on for?

Sounds like a plan to me...would just leave the "moon lights" running 25/7.

Not really worth the bother of automatically managing.

My thoughts anyway.

sean_p_f · 03-25-2008, 09:46 PM

i run roughly the same schedual and it seems to do well for me also

matt s · 03-26-2008, 03:51 AM

Sounds like folks say your setup would be OK, if you don't mind I'm going to throw a second question out here.

I like the idea of keeping the lights on a little later (9 or ten pm turnoff) and would be willing to start them later to accomodate a 12 hour cycle, but my tank will be located in a room with windows on two sides. The tank is in the only windowless corner of the room and generally the shades on the other walls are pulled so there is no direct beam of light onto the tank but by an hour or so after sunrise there's never a need to turna light on in this room for normal people use.

Since it wouldn't be in a dark room from say 8 am until ten or whenever the lights kick on would that effectively be giving me a 14 or 16 hour lighting schedule and thus not work? What I was considering doing was a ten am to ten pm actinic schedule with daylights an hour shorter on either end.

lunatik_69 · 03-26-2008, 07:15 AM

I dont see a problem with that schedule. Having said this, there are some ppl that say that sunlight doesnt affect the tank, I was always under the impression that a tank shouldnt be in contact with any kind of sunlight, direct or indirect.

reef_guru · 03-26-2008, 07:19 AM

i run my metal halides for 12 hours and the pc's for 14 hours.

matt s · 03-26-2008, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunatik_69

I dont see a problem with that schedule. Having said this, there are some ppl that say that sunlight doesnt affect the tank, I was always under the impression that a tank shouldnt be in contact with any kind of sunlight, direct or indirect.

If that's the case I need to stop now because there's no room in my house, even in the basement, other than closets that doesn't have a window. Everything has some sort of curtain or blind, but none heavy enough to provide a dark room in the middle of the day. The corner I chose is the furthest point from any window in the whole house though.

Tangster · 03-26-2008, 10:26 AM

I run M/H 3. 400 w over a 180 for 6 hrs a day then I run the VHO actinic from 7:30 AM to 10:00 Pm out tank sets at a direct right angle in front of a 6 x 3 foot bay window just about the same size as the tank its self. It would get High sun from 12:00 noon until sunset in the summertime I do shade the tank from the light or disfues it to keep heat down. Thats the main problem I find is that the direct summer sun heating up the tank water and my living space..