Reef Central Online Community

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community > General Interest Forums > New to the Hobby
Blogs FAQ Calendar

Notices

User Tag List

Reply
Thread Tools
Unread 12/17/2009, 12:43 AM   #1
arrowheadpuffer
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: CA
Posts: 396
Lighting time, 6x54watt T5

I have my lights setup for dusk/dawn, in three steps. What should the timing be on the timers? I have been battling algae and want a reduced period to help, also I only keep softies.

So how long should I have each light on for?


arrowheadpuffer is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/17/2009, 12:51 AM   #2
Handofdume
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 19
I also have a 6 bulb setup. I have 4 Atinic PLus and 2 Aquablue plus. My tank is still fairly new with a few LPS and a few softies. I run 2hours of 2 of the Atinics then 5 hours all lights then 2 hours atinics followed by 2 hours moonlight. Worked pretty good for me so far and everything is healthy.


Handofdume is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/17/2009, 01:20 AM   #3
nikon187
Registered Member
 
nikon187's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Edmonton Alberta
Posts: 4,717
I would stagger them 2hrs apart. 12pm 2 bulbs on, 2 pm 4 bulbs on, 4pm all 6 bulbs on and then in reverse.. I only have 2 switches so 2 4 bulbs on for 2 hours then all 8 for 6 and then just the 4 again for 1.5hrs


__________________
-----------------

Current Tanks:


New 210 custom 84 x 24 x 24, 60g sump, SWC 250 extreme with bubble blaster 5000, 2 vortech mp40, 2 vortech mp10, 12 T5, Water blaster 5000, warner marine bio pellets,

60g clownfish cube, red carpet anemone with a 25g sump,SRO octopus 1000sss, 250w radium, lumenarc large.
nikon187 is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/17/2009, 02:02 AM   #4
arrowheadpuffer
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: CA
Posts: 396
How long in total?

something like:

6 hrs full
8 hrs dimmer
10 hrs dusk/dawn

???????


arrowheadpuffer is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/17/2009, 12:57 PM   #5
arrowheadpuffer
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: CA
Posts: 396
bump


arrowheadpuffer is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/17/2009, 01:05 PM   #6
1DeR9_3Hy
Registered Member
 
1DeR9_3Hy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 2,575
Many maintenance people only allow 4 hours of daylight on customer tanks because of the algae issue. Then they use 4-8 of actnics to allow viewing, but cut down on the algal growth. Something to think about....


1DeR9_3Hy is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 12/17/2009, 01:09 PM   #7
der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC Member
 
der_wille_zur_macht's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: NY
Posts: 17,749
IMHO, Algae issues should be solved by combatting nutrient issues, especially in tanks like the OP's containing photosynthetic life (soft corals in this case.)

Arrowhead, the schedule you posted should be just fine.


__________________
Inconveniencing marine life since 1992

"It is my personal belief that reef aquaria should be thriving communities of biodiversity, representative of their wild counterparts, and not merely collections of pretty specimens growing on tidy clean rock shelves covered in purple coralline algae." (Eric Borneman)
der_wille_zur_macht is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:16 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2025 Axivo Inc.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef CentralTM Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2022
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2025 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.