Fay Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 I have cut my MH back to 9 hours How many hours are you running MH? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 11.5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 8 on each two cycles. 2nd cycle starts 1 hour after the first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 12 hours, 1st comes on at 10, 2nd at 11, 3rd at 12, then off each hour starting at 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 9hrs for mh's, 11hr's for actinics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 I have read that the trend is to have MH for no longer than 8 to 10 hours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 8 hours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 930 am till 9 pm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scholesy Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 8 hrs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 any reason for short hours? I try to copy the tropical sun so really my halides should run for 14 + hours??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Thats pretty much the logic I was using, but taking my power bill into consideration. There must be some info about this online? Think I'll check out reefcentral Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 8 hours. might consider 9 now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 I try to copy the tropical sun so really my halides should run for 14 + hours??? but tropical sun isnt intense for that entire period. guesstimate 10 hours of it would be heavy, 2 hrs either side not so bad. hence the actinics on prior. 8 hrs a bit short, i'd opt for 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 any reason for short hours? I try to copy the tropical sun so really my halides should run for 14 + hours??? The tropics don’t get full power lighter 14+ hours a day, more like six hours of intense lighting. So it makes sense not to have halides on that long. The rest can be made up with other lighting like t5s. Since reducing my metal halides down from 9 to 7 hours I have experience far better growth and colours. My t5s run for 9 hours. Seems to be in line with other Hobbyist overseas who have also noticed this ,especially in bare bottom low nutrient tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay Posted February 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Thats pretty much the logic I was using, but taking my power bill into consideration. There must be some info about this online? Think I'll check out reefcentral _________________ Let me know what you find please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 SteveA very nice, pretty much sums it up well. We are lucky to have a few experts with logic. It seems many reefers have the Metal halide lighting on to long, however the effetcs will vary between tanks due to many reasons such as water quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 After building that and looking at the results, I have pretty much decided to reduce my MH periods from two lots of 8 hours with a 1 hour stagger to two lots of 7 hours with a 2 hour stagger, at least for a while, to see what happens. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 This is the monti that many of you have seen in my tank when it was brown, loves the light Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 bl---y montis, grumble grumble............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostface Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 i have2x 14k on 10hr, and 1x 10k on 7hr, + actinic on 12hr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Simple. The dirtier your tank, the longer you need the lights running to keep colours. The cleaner the tank, the shorter you can run the halides and maintain colour. Running lights too long in a clean tank results in sustained bleaching. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 7 hours, soon to be less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 joe blogg, do you also run floros? how long if any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 joe blogg, do you also run floros? how long if any. I have four T5 actinics that I run for 8 hours. I eventually want to get the three MH (250W DE XM) down to only a few hours (4 or so) and then run two 10K T5s and two actinic T5s for 7 or 8 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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