dumb question: I should know this already...

tanyashankles · 08/12/2008, 04:45 PM

Hi everyone, Just a newb question. Here is my setup at this point:
55g 48" display w/30g sump, Kent TE, rock and sand, and a 48" 2x250 halide w/ 4x65 actinic. My mh are 14000k. One question is do I need to run the actinic with 14k bulbs, and how many hours of bright light do I need to run? I was running like 12 hours of light per day, on my other tank (6'long 125g), 3x250, and my electric bill was like 500.00 and I about peed my pants. So I downgraded the big tank to a smaller, more practical tank, and have lowered lighting hours due to algae growth, electric bill, etc. Sooo to sum it up, should I run the actinics, and how many hours of the halides to my corals need? Oh I have probably 5-6 sps frags, and some LPS (acans frogspawn etc), just fyi. Right now Im running actinics from 9am to 11am, halides from 11am to 6:30 pm, and actinics again from 630 pm to 9pm. Any suggestions? Is that enough light hours? Thanks all in advance!!
~Tanya~

tanyashankles · 08/12/2008, 04:49 PM

Oh I forgot a couple facts, One, I bought a UV filter to help with the algae, and it works great, and the other thing is when I said 'do I need to run the actinics with the mh' I mean should I run them period. I dont run them together, I heard that with 20k bulbs you dont need actinic supplements, and i was wondering if that was the same for 14-15k as well. Thanks!

sammyman · 08/12/2008, 04:51 PM

I have almost the same setup! Should be fine.

tanyashankles · 08/12/2008, 05:00 PM

what should be fine? the lights without actinics? Or with?

OliverM3 · 08/12/2008, 05:16 PM

I have a similar setup with only 2x250w 14k's and no actinics I run them for 8 hours a day which is plenty of light. But it does burn off most of my coralline which I don't mind because I don't like cleaning it off of my glass.
If you run the actinics for a couple hours before or after the MH's are off it will give the coralline enough chance to grow without the intense light of the MH's.

Right now coralline only grows on the sides of the rock or in shaded areas of my tank which is fine by me.
So it all depends on what your after.

tanyashankles · 08/13/2008, 09:10 PM

Well you learn something new everyday, especially in this hobby, I had no idea that the halides stop the coralline growth, perhaps thats why I have never had a real coralline explosion. I have it in my overflow and on the rock, but thats about it. So I could run without the actinics. Thats cool, I dont have light timers hooked up, well I have them, but they are just the little home depot socket timers that are kind of a pain in the butt. I have to have one timer for each plug, because there is only one outlet per plug, or I can use the sprinkler timer I have in which case they all go on and off at the same time. Or I can have all the timers hooked up to different plugs and make a huge confusing blob of wires and plugs everywhere behind my couch. So anyway the point is I am turning on and off manually, about 11 am for the halides, and between 6-7 pm they go off. But I suppose I can set up the timer just for those to come on about 9 am and go off about 6:00. I see you have a half-circle tank, nice. Those are my fave. I think they look the prettiest out of the standard style tanks. Someday I will have a seamless/topless tank that looks just like standing water. Ok that has nothing to do with anything, but got on a ramble... Thanks for the input!! T.

OliverM3 · 08/14/2008, 06:45 AM

I didn't put it together till I took the completely coralline covered rock from my 44g with power compact lighting to my 76g with only MH's within a week the tops of all the rocks lost most of their coralline but the shaded sides were fine.

I use one of those coral life surge protectors for the lights. I like that it can handle all of my lights MH's Moon's and Actinics if I had them all on one strip.
Some people don't like them but I've never had any problems with them.

Thanks I've always liked the unusual shaped tanks. My next will probably be the 144g half circle.

inachu · 08/14/2008, 07:51 AM

Oliver picture of your tank please?

I just want to see the MH lighting as it is.

OliverM3 · 08/14/2008, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by inachu
Oliver picture of your tank please?

I just want to see the MH lighting as it is.

I have a bunch of pictures in my gallery.

08/12/2008, 04:45 PM	#1
tanyashankles Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Southern California Posts: 165	dumb question: I should know this already... Hi everyone, Just a newb question. Here is my setup at this point: 55g 48" display w/30g sump, Kent TE, rock and sand, and a 48" 2x250 halide w/ 4x65 actinic. My mh are 14000k. One question is do I need to run the actinic with 14k bulbs, and how many hours of bright light do I need to run? I was running like 12 hours of light per day, on my other tank (6'long 125g), 3x250, and my electric bill was like 500.00 and I about peed my pants. So I downgraded the big tank to a smaller, more practical tank, and have lowered lighting hours due to algae growth, electric bill, etc. Sooo to sum it up, should I run the actinics, and how many hours of the halides to my corals need? Oh I have probably 5-6 sps frags, and some LPS (acans frogspawn etc), just fyi. Right now Im running actinics from 9am to 11am, halides from 11am to 6:30 pm, and actinics again from 630 pm to 9pm. Any suggestions? Is that enough light hours? Thanks all in advance!! ~Tanya~ __________________ ReefCentral.. The gathering place for broke people... Current Tank Info: 55g reef 2x250 DE 15k 30g sump TOSSED THE seaclone 150 2 maxijets 100lb LR Kent TE skimmer

08/12/2008, 04:49 PM	#2
tanyashankles Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Southern California Posts: 165	Oh I forgot a couple facts, One, I bought a UV filter to help with the algae, and it works great, and the other thing is when I said 'do I need to run the actinics with the mh' I mean should I run them period. I dont run them together, I heard that with 20k bulbs you dont need actinic supplements, and i was wondering if that was the same for 14-15k as well. Thanks! __________________ ReefCentral.. The gathering place for broke people... Current Tank Info: 55g reef 2x250 DE 15k 30g sump TOSSED THE seaclone 150 2 maxijets 100lb LR Kent TE skimmer

08/12/2008, 05:00 PM	#4
tanyashankles Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Southern California Posts: 165	what should be fine? the lights without actinics? Or with? __________________ ReefCentral.. The gathering place for broke people... Current Tank Info: 55g reef 2x250 DE 15k 30g sump TOSSED THE seaclone 150 2 maxijets 100lb LR Kent TE skimmer

08/13/2008, 09:10 PM	#6
tanyashankles Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Southern California Posts: 165	Well you learn something new everyday, especially in this hobby, I had no idea that the halides stop the coralline growth, perhaps thats why I have never had a real coralline explosion. I have it in my overflow and on the rock, but thats about it. So I could run without the actinics. Thats cool, I dont have light timers hooked up, well I have them, but they are just the little home depot socket timers that are kind of a pain in the butt. I have to have one timer for each plug, because there is only one outlet per plug, or I can use the sprinkler timer I have in which case they all go on and off at the same time. Or I can have all the timers hooked up to different plugs and make a huge confusing blob of wires and plugs everywhere behind my couch. So anyway the point is I am turning on and off manually, about 11 am for the halides, and between 6-7 pm they go off. But I suppose I can set up the timer just for those to come on about 9 am and go off about 6:00. I see you have a half-circle tank, nice. Those are my fave. I think they look the prettiest out of the standard style tanks. Someday I will have a seamless/topless tank that looks just like standing water. Ok that has nothing to do with anything, but got on a ramble... Thanks for the input!! T. __________________ ReefCentral.. The gathering place for broke people... Current Tank Info: 55g reef 2x250 DE 15k 30g sump TOSSED THE seaclone 150 2 maxijets 100lb LR Kent TE skimmer

08/12/2008, 04:51 PM	#3
sammyman Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 25	I have almost the same setup! Should be fine.

08/12/2008, 05:16 PM	#5
OliverM3 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: PA Posts: 616	I have a similar setup with only 2x250w 14k's and no actinics I run them for 8 hours a day which is plenty of light. But it does burn off most of my coralline which I don't mind because I don't like cleaning it off of my glass. If you run the actinics for a couple hours before or after the MH's are off it will give the coralline enough chance to grow without the intense light of the MH's. Right now coralline only grows on the sides of the rock or in shaded areas of my tank which is fine by me. So it all depends on what your after.

08/14/2008, 06:45 AM	#7
OliverM3 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: PA Posts: 616	I didn't put it together till I took the completely coralline covered rock from my 44g with power compact lighting to my 76g with only MH's within a week the tops of all the rocks lost most of their coralline but the shaded sides were fine. I use one of those coral life surge protectors for the lights. I like that it can handle all of my lights MH's Moon's and Actinics if I had them all on one strip. Some people don't like them but I've never had any problems with them. Thanks I've always liked the unusual shaped tanks. My next will probably be the 144g half circle.

08/14/2008, 07:51 AM	#8
inachu Moved On Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Maryland, metro area Posts: 1,219	Oliver picture of your tank please? I just want to see the MH lighting as it is.