M/H Lighting Question

[Orlandomedic]

Hi everybody, I'm new to Reef tanks and its lighting. I recently got a second hand 55 gallon tank with an amazing cabinet stand . My friend and I recently yanked out all the lighting in the tank and installed A 2 bulb 250/250 watt metal halide lighting kit underneath the canopy along with 2 Arctic muffin fans for cooling. in my tank I have a good mix if soft to hard coral. I have taken the time to reaserch the proper coral placement levels for each coral in the tank. With that all being said. My question is HOW LONG DAILY DO I RUN THE LIGHTS FOR? in order to have

BTW the attached pic was about six months ago before the tank was established.

 

[iamwrasseman]

your last sentence ended prematurely but i would suggest 8 hrs a day but i have to tell you something that you probably already know ~that's alot of light for that tank .if you had actinics also then i would run two hrs of the actinic then four mh then two actinic for a total of 8 hrs . you can run more depending on you likes .

 

[mark54321]

I have 65 gal. two MH 250W and 2 X T5 I run my MH total 7 hrs. a day

 

[mfinn]

I'd use the mh lights 7 to 8 hours a day and the actinics 9 to 10 hours a day.

 

[mikid]

mh

mh

i run my mhs 9hrs a day and vhos 12 hrs a day.....sps,chalices,palys.....mike

 

[thegrun]

Actinics 10 hours, MH 7 hours.

 

[Orlandomedic]

Sorry about the way my thread ended (darn droid phone) but thank you so much for your help guys. I thought it would be around those times. so I will start off low and work my way up and see how the tank reacts. oh and yes I do know thats allot of light for the tank. but it was the only cheap used one I could get my hands on at the time at a great price. so im being careful not to burn anything...lol thx again guys.

 

[dcombs44]

I had a 55 gallon with dual 250s over it for 3 years with success. Tore it down because I moved, but the lighting never caused any issues outside of minor temp spikes in the summer.

Use your fans, and acclimate your corals to the lighting, and you'll be fine with any light loving coral.

 

[Orlandomedic]

Thank guys.