Help with lighting

[saltcrazy3]

Needing to know about lighting cylce ? just order 220 w PC w/ XL 25 blue moon lunar led stripe, can someone please tell me how many hours a day the lights are soppose to run, it has 2- 10,000 and 2- artics ,i have a 55 gallon with clowns and a few rock anemones, feather dusters and 40 pounds of live rock, i want to do this right so i can use all the help i can get thanks

 

[lion_crazz]

You want your lights on for about 12 hours every day. Run your blue actinics in the morning for 1-2 hours before your main lights come on, have your main white lights come on and stay on for 8-10 hours, and after 8-10 hours, have your actinics come back on for 1-2 hours before your moonlights come on for the rest of your night.

 

[scoobydoo]

:yes: I agree :yes:
You probably should work up to those hours though so your water gets used to it so you don't have an algae bloom. Start with six hours total and then add an hour every couple of days until you get to the full two hours. Also I found I was ok using tap water until I got mhs and vhos and had to switch to distilled water.

 

[saltcrazy3]

So instead of starting right off with the 12 hour cycle, start with the 6 hours and add a hour every few days then i should be fine? i know when i change lighting befor i got the brown algie on the glass and rocks i hated that, thanks for your help i really appreciate it :joy:

 

[scoobydoo]

:yes: Start with 2 hours actinics 2 hours pc 2 hours actinics. Gradually increase the pc's until you have a 12 hour cycle. Get timers to run them to keep it consistent. Good luck.

 

[saltcrazy3]

can i still run the blue moon lunar stripe at night or should i wait ?

 

[blemmy_guy]

You can run the moon lights with out any problems.
todd