what should be my photo period?

i have a 55g 76lbs lr 60+lbs ls i have no corals or fish yet but i wanted to see what a normal photo period was. i have 4x54 watt t5 HO bulbs 2x 6700k and 2x 460nm actinics. any input on how i should set up my times would be great.

 

Well, some do 8 on 16 off....all the way to 12 on 12 off. Up to you. Whatever you decide, you will want to be consistant with.

Now, you may want to reconsider the 6700K daylight bulbs. My first thought when I saw it was ALGAE!!!!! If it were me, I would consider getting 10000K or 12000K. Just remember, the higher you go in Kelvin rating, the bluer it will look. Not by much in increments of 2000. But you would notice the difference between 10000 and 20000. Just a thought.

Have a great day dude.....

 

thx man ya the 6700k bulbs are very yellow and prob premote algea all the time, but i can do that easly i was thinking more like should i keep my actinics on all day or have them off at high noon. or should the actinics not be on that much.

 

Well, if you have the capabilities (multiple plugs), most do actinics in the morning an hour before turning the daylights on and leave them on an hour after the daylights are off (simulates sunrise and sunset). More actinics than daylight is a lot better than the reverse.

 

My lights are on a timer and actinics come on at 6am and daylights at 8am daylights off at 6pm and actinics off at 8pm moonlights always on. Maybe bad but my actinic stay on all day

 

Actinics should stay on all day. Moonlights on all day is OK too. I do that. Coldshot has a good thing going with his schedule.

 

ok good, i have timers so an hour at the start and at the end will just be actinic. and the rest of the day will be a actinic/daylight mix, with 1 hour in the middle thats just daylight for high noon effect. or is thhis not needed?

 

Atinics first Hour , then All other lights Including ATINICS for the whole day, Then Atinics Only for the last hour .

To save on PG&E you can run a (10hour Total period) with Atinics and (8hours with all other Bulbs) . Again with Atinics on first and off last.;D


I cut back my Light time from 12hours to 10 hours 3 months ago . I noticed the corals liked it better . It was 12hours of Atinic/12k and 10hours halide. Cutting back A few Hours can make a big difference and if you set a good cycle and stick to it , you benifit in the long run. Even the Bulbs will last longer.

Currently,,
I use 10hours of 3x atinics and 1x 12k 39watt T5 ,,along with 8hours of 175watt 20k XM Halide on a 55gallon tank.

I start my Lights later in the Morning 10AM so i can run them till 8PM. This way when im home,, i can watch the Tank a few hours with Nice lighting.

Note:
Do not put tank near a window with direct sunlight .. Youll fubar its stability real fast no matter your light cycle.

Change the 6700ks to One 12k and one SuperAtinic UVL.. to go with other bulbs. It will do much better than 6700k which DO grow lots of Algee.

 

can you please send me a link to where i can buy these bulbs.

 

i really do want to change my 6700ks, 1x12k and one superactinic would be a good bulbs to run? i was also thinkin maybe 1 10k and 1 12k. i dunno