How many hours do you run your metal halides?

[Islander84]

How many hours do you run your mh?......If you run mh......Trying to see if this short photoperiod hype is really helping sps with color and growth....

 

[leporinus]

I go 8 hours,blues on 1 hour post and prior.

 

[Islander84]

some guys are saying they run 4 hrs and get awesome growth and colors....

 

[ricardoz]

400W mh 6h, T5HOX4 13h, i changed my lighting system 2weeks ago, so still observing, but this is what an experiental hobbyist suggested for my tank

 

[my Reef]

I run my at 4 hrs a day with 8 hrs of 4 t5 actiniic

 

[bobbyboussy]

i run mine 6 hours, with 10 hours of blues but i have 2 x 175w and 1 250w over a 55g

 

[mos90]

im run mine 4 hours and 8 for suppliments. im planning on raising them to 5 and 10 in a few more weeks.

 

[ms123]

I run my halides for 6 hrs with t5's on for 9 hrs.

 

[Reef Bass]

I'm not a fan of the lower light = better color for light loving sps. I think the popularity of this idea is driven by lower utilty bills. I run MHs for 8.5 and actinics for 9.5.

Keep in mind corals originate from an equatorial environment with almost equal day and night. Then shave an hour or two off each end for dusk and dawn and they evolved expecting 9-10 hours of full sun, not just wee lighting fixture output.

There are theories that the bright pigments on the axial coralites (those at the top of the coral, closest to the light source) are performing a sunscreen function, preventing scorching of the tender growing areas. This suggests more light results in more and more intense color.

And in my personal experience, my sps had the brightest and most color when I was running my halides 9-10 hours a day.

 

[yeloowtang]

i run my 250 mh for 7.5 h form 12pm to 7:30 pm

2 t5 for 13h from 9am to 10 pm actinics
2 t5 for 11h from 10am to 9 pm actinics different spectrum
24" LED reefbrite all blue for 13h from 8:30 to 9:30pm

steff

 

[reefmanmatt]

i run mine for 8 and supplemental for 12. used to run the halides for ten , backed them off on suggestions ... im going back to ten hours of halide soon + 12 actinic . i like seeing the corals opened and they also grew better with the extra few hours of light ...i.m.o

 

[SPSEMPIRE]

8 hours on, 16 hours off for me.

 

[allsps40]

5 hours

 

[whis169]

175W MH from 11:00-8:00 Atcinic PCs from 8:00-10:00. I want to look at my tank in the morning before I leave for work around 9:00. This will all change a bit when I put in some moonlights.

 

[Western_reefer]

150 watt DE HQI on for 8 hours a day.

 

[nolanrob123]

I run mine at 8 hours. To think someone would cut their light time to lower an electric bill??? What would you save, a couple dollars?

 

[batt600]

I run my leds whites 5 hours a day and blues 10 and have great color

 

[Dog boy Dave]

6 x 400 watt 11 hours a day. Dropping it by 2 hours would be more than a ten percent difference in cost. That would be noticable but I like to see the corals in the morning and i like to se them at night. So 11 hours for me. The colors are changed by a lot of other factors before light comes into play.

 

[orcus]

I'm running 2 x 250 watt over a shallow 60 gallon for eight hours. I've been thinking about shortening it a bit because I think it may be too much.

 

[wizardx322]

when i ran 250w mh i ran them for 7 hours got great color
then i switch to 400w and lowered to 5 and found it was still a little too much so i run them for 4 hours now and it works great

but i my opinion hight mh watts you run less hours and lower more hours