question on setting up

lowincwrx · 02/21/2008, 07:02 PM

my tank has been up and running for 2 months and i just bought the current dual satellite fixture. my question is do i run all the lights during the day (8 hours) and only the moon glows at night (the other 16 hours)?

Aquarist007 · 02/21/2008, 07:09 PM

You can run the lights from anywhere between 8-12 hours a day

tricks are for kids, moon rays are for adult reefers--just help with a cool view--no function for fish or inverts, corals etc
So you can run them whenever you want.

the ideal system is one which has a mix of metal halides and attinic lighting
This way the attinics stay on 12 hours and the metal halides 10 hours. the attinics are programmed to come on one hour before the halides and stay on one hour after. This simmulates dawn, day and dusk.

Agu · 02/21/2008, 07:30 PM

Corals only need 8-10 hours of lighting. Any more is to enhance your viewing pleasure or stimulate growth. Most aquarists run 10-12 hours of daylight.

I had moonlights but removed them because they were one more thing to maintain. They're for your viewing pleasure, unless you're running a program that tries to simulate actual daylight and moon cycles. Even those programs are of questionable effectiveness.

lowincwrx · 02/21/2008, 07:38 PM

thanks capn and agu i just want to make sure i'm doing things right

02/21/2008, 07:02 PM	#1
lowincwrx Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 287	question on setting up my tank has been up and running for 2 months and i just bought the current dual satellite fixture. my question is do i run all the lights during the day (8 hours) and only the moon glows at night (the other 16 hours)?

02/21/2008, 07:09 PM	#2
Aquarist007 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hamilton, Canada Posts: 28,240 Blog Entries: 1	You can run the lights from anywhere between 8-12 hours a day tricks are for kids, moon rays are for adult reefers--just help with a cool view--no function for fish or inverts, corals etc So you can run them whenever you want. the ideal system is one which has a mix of metal halides and attinic lighting This way the attinics stay on 12 hours and the metal halides 10 hours. the attinics are programmed to come on one hour before the halides and stay on one hour after. This simmulates dawn, day and dusk. __________________ I prefer my substrates stirred but not shaken Current Tank Info: 150gal long mixed reef, 90gal sump, 60 gal refugium with 200 lbs live rock

02/21/2008, 07:30 PM	#3
Agu Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Sarasota, Florida Posts: 30,279	Corals only need 8-10 hours of lighting. Any more is to enhance your viewing pleasure or stimulate growth. Most aquarists run 10-12 hours of daylight. I had moonlights but removed them because they were one more thing to maintain. They're for your viewing pleasure, unless you're running a program that tries to simulate actual daylight and moon cycles. Even those programs are of questionable effectiveness. __________________ Less technology , more biology . Current Tank Info: 30 gallon half cube and 5.5, both reef tanks

02/21/2008, 07:38 PM	#4
lowincwrx Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 287	thanks capn and agu i just want to make sure i'm doing things right