Light cycle for halides and acclimation

[Bdial]

I just got in a bunch of frags and I'm wondering about acclimation to lighting. I run two 250 20k halides and 4t5s. Right now the halides are only on from 1-6. I've been thinking about adjusting the light period to accommodate my school and work schedule. I've been thinking about running them for a couple hours in the afternoon then off for a couple and then back on. So it would be like 12-3 then 5-7. Or something like that. Here are my questions.
Will the extra on/off cycles diminish the bulb?
Will the on/off cycles help with light acclimation so as to not shock the new corals? Everything will be starting in the sand. Tank is only 22" high and the light is only 4-5" off the water.
Is this a silly idea and I'm fine the way it is?

 

[Member No. 1]

I just got in a bunch of frags and I'm wondering about acclimation to lighting. I run two 250 20k halides and 4t5s. Right now the halides are only on from 1-6. I've been thinking about adjusting the light period to accommodate my school and work schedule. I've been thinking about running them for a couple hours in the afternoon then off for a couple and then back on. So it would be like 12-3 then 5-7. Or something like that. Here are my questions.
Will the extra on/off cycles diminish the bulb?
Will the on/off cycles help with light acclimation so as to not shock the new corals? Everything will be starting in the sand. Tank is only 22" high and the light is only 4-5" off the water.
Is this a silly idea and I'm fine the way it is?

What lighting did they come from? Was it intense or dim? If intense, just put them on the bottom, then after a week slowly start to raise them to their final location. If dim, again on the bottom, but cut back on all lighting cycles, then slowing ramp it back to normal over a few weeks. I would only run one time cycle for the MH. Corals don't know time of day, so if you need your "daytime" midnight to 8am, then that's fine. Whatever works for you.
One thing I would do, is raise the lights to 10"-12". Not to reduce the amount of light the corals get, (in this short distance there is no noticeable difference in light reaching the corals, since the light is passing thru air) but to help reduce heat to the water.

 

[Reef Bass]

IMHO, a longer photoperiod may be beneficial for your corals. I run my MHs eight hours a day. My lights go off about a half hour before my usual bed time and go on eight hours before that.

When I get new frags, I use a par meter to evaluate the light level where I plan to put them. Then I cut back my photoperiod to six hours and increase it thirty minutes every week until I'm back at eight hours. So that's about a month of acclimating.

I have experimented some with two photoperiods during the day. Last time I moved it took me a week to hang my lights again, and when I finally got them up, I ran two daily three hour photoperiods separated by three or four hours. Each week I added a half hour of time until I had two four hour photoperiods. The next increase after that I went to one six hour photoperiod, and then the usual half hour increase per week until I was back at one single eight hour photoperiod. My corals seemed good with it. Was it necessary? Tough to say. Was it hard on my bulbs? Maybe. Would I do it again? Probably. Would I run two daily photoperiods as my normal thing? No.

 

[Bdial]

Thanks guys. I'm gonna keep it the way it is now but adjust my overall photo period. I knew the idea sounded silly I was just curious.