Lighting Time

[sean_p_f]

How long should lights be run?

I currently run my lights as so:
my white light is 12 hrs
my atinic is 14 hrs
my night led is 12 hrs

is this right or should i adjust the times some?

[coral reefer]

What do you have as far as corals go?
What type of lighting do you have?
Seems to be alittle extensive...
I employ my halides for 8 hours a day is all!

[sean_p_f]

no corals as of yet just rock sand and a few fish.

i have not graduated to halides yet as i am still very new to the fish world. i am running this light Compact Fluorescent Aquarium Lighting: Dual Satellite Compact Fluorescent Fixtures

if my times are excessive what would be better
8 white
?? atinic
?? night

[coral reefer]

I would go with your actinics an hour before you turn on the white lights, then run both the actinics and the white for a few hours is all since you don't have corals yet!!! Your fish don't really require the lighting as intense as if you had many of the corals available for sale.
Then shut your day whites off when you so choose to leaving your actinics on for an hour or so after you turn your whites off! Then you can turn your moons on!

Basically, this establishes a routine and offers a simulated dusk and dawn event, with the moons, it may initiate spawning as well!

[DiamondBitsUSA]

That sounds a little to long to me, too. I run my actinics for 12 hours and my halides for 10. On my 140 with 2 halides they run for 8 hours each set up as a sunrise/sunset.

[reef_guru]

i run my actinics for 14 hours and metal halides for 12 hours on my sps tank, all are on timers. from dark to light then from light to dark to simulate real time.

how many gallons and what are the dimensions of your tank? which one of those lights do you have? those lights are pc's and not halides, so there shouldnt be an issue with the burn time depending on your tank size. when you get metal halides adjust the on time to shorter periods, then overtime lengthen the time on to acclimate the corals. 12 hours on with metal halides is about the max.

[baugherb]

I run my lights for 10 hours.