Photoperiod for your reef tank

[Dragonvale]

Rather than side tracking a topic I'd just start a new thread. People who didn't see the posts we were comparing the amount of time individuals have their lights on. Here's a great thread on RC.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2122150

Here is one good study on photosynthetic saturation or when receiving too much light leading to harmful Photoinhibition.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1

 

[Ssteve]

57g tank. Two 39w t5 bulbs from 12:00 to 6:30. Two kessil a350w's blues at about 60% and whites about 30% from 12:00 to 9:30. So kessils and t5's for 6.5hrs and just kessils for an additional 3hrs. I set it this way mostly so the kessils are on while I'm viewing the tank in the evening as I don't care for the way t5's look.

 

[ReeferItIs2]

Good info in those links...Thank Dragonvale

 

[ReeferItIs2]

Leds...50% blue 35% white and the red know I think it's uv 75% from 1130 am to 930pm

 

[1kwksvt]

I run 2 24 watt t5hos which one actinic and one true actinic from 1230 pm to 10pm and 2 ecoxotic marine leds from 130pm to 915 pm

 

[Blown 346]

2 250 watt halides, 2 Actinic 55 watt VHO's. VHOs kick on for an hour before the halides do. halides and VHOs stay on for 10 hours, then go off. VHOs on for another hour, then go out and my Blue LEDs stay on the remainder of the night.

 

[Ssteve]

What size tank?

 

[WalrusKisses]

12 gallon BioCube, 14 3 watt LEDs, running at about 30% power.

I have mine set to 3 pm to 11pm. They come on before I get home and go off when I go to bed. More viewing time= happy Forrest.

 

[Dragonvale]

2 250 watt halides, 2 Actinic 55 watt VHO's. VHOs kick on for an hour before the halides do. halides and VHOs stay on for 10 hours, then go off. VHOs on for another hour, then go out and my Blue LEDs stay on the remainder of the night.

That was close to the same setup I had on my 120 starphire tank. 250 watt radium 20k and super actinic VHO's. That even transferred over to my 250 gallon tank but I want to say the VHO bulbs went to 110 watt each. That was the best coloration we could get back then. I doubt Tom is on here but he can vouch for this also. I'm pretty sure he went to 175 radium 20K's to save on electricity.

 

[Blown 346]

What size tank?

I bet that would help huh.

Its a 90 Gallon.

 

[Blown 346]

That was close to the same setup I had on my 120 starphire tank. 250 watt radium 20k and super actinic VHO's. That even transferred over to my 250 gallon tank but I want to say the VHO bulbs went to 110 watt each. That was the best coloration we could get back then. I doubt Tom is on here but he can vouch for this also. I'm pretty sure he went to 175 radium 20K's to save on electricity.

Your right the bulbs are 110 watt each. I have been talking about FW lighting lately 55 is what stuck. lol

 

[coralfarmer]

8 hour photoperiod is plenty of light for the corals. I find that any more just benefits the Algae. Especially in a new tank. I loosely define a new tank as any tank under a year. I have found that a lot of extra actinic light tends to grow more unwanted algae . So if you have your blues on for an hour before the white light and an hour after they go off. That's two hours of blue light a day and 14 hours of strict actinic light a week. If you are having any algae or brown diatom issues cut back the amount of time your blues are on and see if it makes a difference.
So I recommend just straight 8 hours of blue and white. See if that helps.
This is a broad generalization from my observations. But try it if your tank is new and you are having algae issues.

 

[coralfarmer]

Thanks Dragonvale for the links.

 

[lokii_37]

My t5 comes on at 11, LEDs come on at 11:45, LEDs off at 8:30 t5 off at 9:15.

90g tank
2x55w t5 actinic
52 LED combo 100% blue 75% white 100% UV

 

[Dragonvale]

I bumped up my MH usage to 6 hrs. So t5 4pm-5pm MH 5pm-11pm t5 11pm-12pm

 

[crispyreef]

165g tank, 3-250 watts on for 7 hrs. I have t5s but need to build a new canopy. Then I'd like to cut back on the halides to 6 hrs.