Photoperiod Poll

[lukinrats]

Help me decide what a good photoperiod would be... I get anywhere from 400 Par up top to 250 Par on sand, so it does not matter to me if you have T5 or Metal Halide... Just want to know how long you leave Full lighting on, and how long you run half lights, or just actinics

Pictures of your results would be a +

Thanks
Nathan


Edit: If you do not run any sort of dawn to dusk cycle, then just reply with the overall hours your lighting is on

Thanks,
NathanS

[stagefright13]

How about MH for 10-12 with no actinics available lol.

[lukinrats]

Whoops!! Can't edit the poll... This does not make sense... Why would they not let you edit a poll that you started in the first place?

[crvz]

I do about 8 hours a day, T5 bulbs, 4 on for the full 8 hours and 4 others on about 4 hours a day. It's plenty for my stony tank.

[JustinReef]

I just have a softy reef and keep my MH's on for 8 hours a day. Im debating 10 hours just for a longer viewing time but I don't know yet.

[supervdl]

I have 8 h MH plus 3 works fine

[lukinrats]

Ok, well so far it looks as though I need to tone mine down some... I have been running 6 x 54 watt for about 11-11.5 hours, this consists of 3 blue +, 1 super actinic, 1 aquablue, and 1 pro color... The other 2 run for 5 hours, and that is 1 x GE 3000k, and 1 x Aquascience Duo

I think this is turning out to be too much!

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13168687#post13168687 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lukinrats
Ok, well so far it looks as though I need to tone mine down some... I have been running 6 x 54 watt for about 11-11.5 hours, this consists of 3 blue +, 1 super actinic, 1 aquablue, and 1 pro color... The other 2 run for 5 hours, and that is 1 x GE 3000k, and 1 x Aquascience Duo

I think this is turning out to be too much!

Not if its working for you. Everyones tank will be different and if about 12 hours is working, why change it?

[lukinrats]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13168687#post13168687 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lukinrats

I think this is turning out to be too much!

Well it really is not working, this is why I ended my post with the sentence above

Thanks,
NathanS

[sherm71tank]

I run my photoperiod for 4 hours total. Just a few minutes between halides and actinics. I have 4X65 watt pc actinic and 2X250watt HQI 14K phoenix.

[lukinrats]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13168976#post13168976 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sherm71tank
I run my photoperiod for 4 hours total. Just a few minutes between halides and actinics. I have 4X65 watt pc actinic and 2X250watt HQI 14K phoenix.

Wow... That sure does not seem like very much... You must just have them running from the time you get home from work, until you go to bed... Otherwise I would not be able to do that... Would not leave much time for you to enjoy the reef

[sherm71tank]

Well, that's pretty close to reality! The lights come on at 4:00pm, I get home at 4:20 the lights are out at 8:00pm. I have to get back up for work at 4:00 in the morning! Seriously though, since I went to the shorter photoperiod the only things that have suffered are, hmmm... there aren't any! My electric bill is lower, the tank runs cooler, less chances of problem algae, etc...!

[lukinrats]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13170434#post13170434 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sherm71tank
Well, that's pretty close to reality! The lights come on at 4:00pm, I get home at 4:20 the lights are out at 8:00pm. I have to get back up for work at 4:00 in the morning! Seriously though, since I went to the shorter photoperiod the only things that have suffered are, hmmm... there aren't any! My electric bill is lower, the tank runs cooler, less chances of problem algae, etc...!

Ya, well that pretty much make a lot of sense... What lighting do you have?

NathanS

[sherm71tank]

It's an Odyssea fixture. I replaced the MH ballast with a PFO HQI ballast. 4X65watt pc actinic bulbs and 2X250watt 14K phoenix hqi.

[sps1-2-b]

MH for 8 hrs

[lukinrats]

I think, with the amount Par my fixture is putting out, that 6 hours of full lighting is my max... 8 hours with 4 or 6 bulbs going

NathanS

[IndyReefMan]

I run four T-5's (three fiji purple and one blue plus) for 11 hours, but the fixture does not have individual reflectors. I also have two 250W MH Iwasaki 14,000K and one 150W MH Ushio 10,000K on for 5.5 hours. This is perfect for my system. Any longer with the MH's and my LPS start to stress.