How should 3 250w MH's be Scheduled

[datsunfiveten]

ok so i have 180gal standard long tank. depth of water is about 24" that measurement is just water not entire tank. lighting is about 3 and 1/2 inches from top of water thats is the glass of the hood not that bulb. i have two t12 VHO and 3 250W MH i was wondering what schedule i should use. the guy that had the tank before me had it like this VHO on at 7 MH-L on at 8-12 MH-M on 11-3 and MH-R on 2-6 so the lights would only over lap by one hour. oh and vho off at 7. currently i have mostly soft coral and one LPS hammer coral. any advice would be helpful thanks. Also wondering if having them all on would creat too much heat and if the lighting might be 2 close to water

 

[Nanook]

What kind of hood, or reflectors do you have? Typically, 8-12" above the water is necessary for a metal halide bulb/reflector to have the proper spread. Additionally, just 3 1/2" off the water will cook your tank. I would explore options for getting them up quite a bit higher and then using fans to ventilate the hood. You might also need a chiller depending on the ambient temperature of the room and lighting schedule.

 

[Nanook]

Also, what kind of bulbs/ballasts are you running? How old are the bulbs, what brand are they?

I typically run 10 hours of VHO and 8 hours of MH.

 

[datsunfiveten]

It looks vary close to this. Dont know what brand and it has 3 250w electronic balast and a ballest for the t12vhos
http://www.poseidonsrealm.com/halidevho.htm.
The tabk was allready up and running when i got it and cutting back lighting from 14 hours o about 10 has made a big diffence. Coral seem allot healther. I dont know spec on bulbs ill see if i can read the numbers on them.

 

[datsunfiveten]

It has the fan built in and has a glass filter between lights and water.

 

[datsunfiveten]

Ballasts are galaxy brand

 

[datsunfiveten]

here is another picture of what it looks like but with t12 vho not t5. i have it hanging from ceiling so i have plenty of adjustment
http://www.aquacave.com/CEBU-SUN-72...-System-by-Hamilton-Technology-P2950C260.aspx

 

[Nanook]

It looks vary close to this. Dont know what brand and it has 3 250w electronic balast and a ballest for the t12vhos
http://www.poseidonsrealm.com/halidevho.htm.
The tabk was allready up and running when i got it and cutting back lighting from 14 hours o about 10 has made a big diffence. Coral seem allot healther. I dont know spec on bulbs ill see if i can read the numbers on them.

That type of fixture has pretty poor reflectors which is cheating your tank out of a lot of usable light. You might want to check out a different type of reflector eventually, like Lumenmax, Lumenarcs, or something similar.

The other thing you want to know is how old are those bulbs, the exact brand, what kelvin. If the bulbs are over a year old, you should replace them.

 

[datsunfiveten]

the bulbs are easily a year old i will replace as soon as i can. the MH are 6KV cant see a brand. what is the recommended KV. the vhos are T12 V-HO SUPER ACTINIC made by uv lighting company and are 160w.

 

[lionfish300]

I would slowly try to change out bulbs. MH Hamilton 14,000 are what I like I use Ushio 10,000 before. Make sure that you acclimate your new bulbs with a few layer of window screens and remove 1 layer per week. This way your corals doesn't get burn from new bulbs. At far at schedule go I have my actinic go on only in the morning for an hour before MH go on ( all 3) for 6 hours. Actinic will go back on when MH are off to create dawn to dusk

 

[datsunfiveten]

thanks for the reply, i will start to replace bulbs as soon as possible. id like to read more about intensity. i have changed the lighting schedule. to 10 hours of VHO and 6 hours of all 3 at the same time oh MH. im going to give it a week or so and see how everything dose. if not so well ill try to run VHOs less