What is your MH/Actinic schedule?

G

GraviT

Premium Member
It was brought to my attention that my 15 hour, MH only light cycle was a bit too much for many of my corals. I'm using 14,000K MH bulbs, and like the look without actinic, so my light timings have been:

7 a.m. - Left halide on
10:30 am - Right halide on
7 p.m. - Left halide off
10:30 pm - Right halide off

To help reduce things, I've installed 110w of PC actinic (tore apart my old PC light fixture and used the ballast and endcaps for a retrofit into my canopy). Currently, I'm doing:

10:00 am - Actinic on
12:00 pm - Both halides on
9:00 pm - Both halides off
10:20 pm - Actinic off

I realize that the reduction in light cycle is less than 3 hours, but the actinics are obviously less intense than 500w of MH. I'm curious what cycles those who use MH and actinic run to compare with my own.
 
Not saying my schedule's perfect, but here it is... I've got 4 175 watt MH's (2 XM 10k's and 2 Sunburst 12k's. The Sun Bursts are VERY blue and I basically use them as my actinic) and 2 10k white 55 watt PC's...

12:05 - Left 13k Halide On
12:25 - Right 13k Halide On
2:30 - Left 10k Halide On
2:50 - Right 10k Halide On
3:05 - Left 10k PC on
3:15 - Right 10k PC on

10:01 - Left 10k PC off
10:05 - Right 10k PC off
10:50 - Left 10k Halide off
11:01 - Right 10k Halide off
11:35 - Left 13k Halide off
11:50 - Right 13k Halide off
 
2 x 250w 10,000K Reeflux with 2 x 75 watt URI VHO Actinic

11:30 Actinics On
12:30 Left Halide On
1:30 Right Halide On

5:30 Left Halide Off
6:30 Right Halide Off
10:20 Actinics Off
 
8 am Actinic On
1:30 pm MH Right On
2:15 pm MH Center On
3:00 pm MH Left On

8:30 pm MH Right Off
9:00 pm MH Center Off
9:30 pm MH Left Off
10:30 pm Actinic Off

I run my LED moonlights 24/7 since they are controlled by a lunar controller.
 
2x250w DE 10K MH
2x96w PC Actinics

11:00 Actinics On
12:00 MH (both) On
9:30 MH (Both) Off
10:10 Actinics Off


I am thinking about turning off the Actinics during the day when I am not here. It will save me a few dollars and reduce some of the heat being put into the tank.
 
I have my lights running this way:

Right MH 10:00am
Middle MH 10:15am
Left MH 10:30am
VHO Actinic 1pm

and they shut off:
Right MH 9:15pm
Middle MH 9:30pm
Left MH 9:45pm
VHO Actinic 10:00pm

The reason the VHO are running later in the day is because they wouldn't fire earlier (10am) like they used to. I think humidity in the room caused this, because after the MH had been on for a few hours to burn off that moisture, they'd light up. I still need to work this out.
 
Mine is simple too, but longer...

500w 10K Ushio MH
270w VHO/T5 Actinics

Actinics - 9:30am ON
Halides (Both) - 12pm ON

Halides (Both) - 8pm OFF
Actinics - 10:00pm Off

Total:
Actinics - 12.5hrs
MH - 8hrs
 
4 96W PC Actinics
3 150W 10K DE

Actinics - 12:00 ON
Halides - 1:00PM ON

Halides - 9:00PM OFF
Actinics - 10:pM OFF
 
Actinic VHOs on at 10
250W MH on at 12
250W MH off at 8
Actinic VHOs off at 10
2 sets of Blue Leds with two leds each on at night
 
T5HO 39w Blue+ on @ 11:00 am
250w XM 10k on @ 12:00 pm
250w XM 10k off @ 9:00 pm
T5HO 39w Blue+ off @ 10:00 pm

Blue LEDs on 24/7
 
Some great information, and varied settings. Marc, how is your acro coloration? I have several frags/colonies that are lighter than normal/desirable that I believe has been caused by excessive light. I'm curious to see if you have similar issues with an 11 hour MH cycle.
 
I think the corals are doing very nicely, color-wise. And best of all, they aren't all green!
 
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