how long do you keep lights on

[peasly1]

just wondering mine are on about 12 hrs and i think it could be why my sand is turning brown/red..water condition is great so its not that and its not overfeeding...thnx 4 any input

 

[ryebread]

12 hours is a pretty long time.
I run my VHO lights from 3pm to 11pm and my Metal Halides from 5pm-10pm.

 

[steelchromis]

I run mine for 7-8 hours.

 

[nm reef]

For the most part the light period is a personal preference...most try to duplicate a day/night cycle. Depending on your lighting and the type of system you keep 10-12 hrs should be fine.
I run 4x65 10k PC's and 2x110 VHO's...the actinic VHO's come on at 9:00am and go off at 9:00pm...the 10k PC's come on at 10:00am and go off at 8:00pm. More or less a 12 hr day/night pattern for me.
It may be a good idea to change your bulbs on a regular basis also...lights out of spectrum can contribute to algae problems the same as excessive lighting periods can.

 

[aaronw78]

my 10,000ks and 50/50s are on 11 hours, actintics for 14 hours, and i have 2 white LEDs for moonlight that stay on for 24hrs a day during 1 week a month.

 

[snowflakejason]

I used to do 12 hours with my moonlight light with actnics and 10,000k but then I got REALLY bad algae so now I am down to 5 hours a day to try to kill that algae.. then I will go to 8 hours a day.

 

[jmesmcm]

I run 4*96 watt PCs 15 hours a day.
Actinics on 6:50 am
Whites on 7:30 am
Actinics off 10:30 am
Actinics on 2:30 pm
Whites off 9:30 pm
Actinics off 10:15 pm
I get some algae on the sand but not that much and when I do I just siphon it out as I do water changes

 

[jonthefb]

i run my halides for 10 hours and my actinics for 11...sps seem to be doing fine!
good luck
jon