Photo period

[ken6217]

My 90g reef tank has been set up for about 10 weeks. The tank is running great and water parameters are very good. I was curious about how long I should leave my MH's on per day?

I have two 250 watt HQI 10,000k and two 54 watt T-5's. I have been running it with the T-5's on for 12 hours and the MH's on for 8 hours. I have a few soft an LPS corals. I don't plan on keeping SPS. Is the photoperiod OK, or should I leave the MH's on longer?

Thanks,
Ken

 

[ken6217]

Bump.

 

[pjf]

Re: Photo period

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8970061#post8970061 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ken6217
Is the photoperiod OK, or should I leave the MH's on longer?

Thanks,
Ken

I would not extend the MH photoperiod. The purpose of the two-tier lighting protocol is to provide light to different depths at different parts of the day.

The full T5+MH lighting provides PAR to the lower depths of your tank.

The T5-only lighting provides PAR to the upper portions of your tank. Upper SPS corals that are dynamically photoinhibited by full mid-day lighting can resume photosynthesis under the lesser T5-only light.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2004/feature.htm

 

[ken6217]

Thanks.
Ken