How long should my lights be on for?

[ashleigh234]

I will be picking up an 80 gallon tank tomorrow and was wondering how long the lights should be kept on for each day?
There are 7 fish and a few corals in this tank
He currently has the blue lights on for about 10-15 mins in the morning, then the white lights on for 8 hours, is this right.
What I was querying it for was if i was to put the blue lights on before work (7.30am), then when i leave (8.00am) switch the white ones on, then I get home around 5-30, but thats already 2 hours past the 8 he says.
how long is too much light? as i also want to be able to look at them for a while when it gets dark as the tanks always look awesome at night

 

[reefkprz]

first i would reccomend getting a timer for your lights. so you dont have to manually switch them on and off.
many people do various light schedules. generally from 8-12 hours a day. you can change the cycle to fit your schedule if you have the timers.
I personally run my lights 14 hours a day. I used to run 8 hours then slowly increased the length of the daylight over the years to 14 hours. just because I was going for maximum growth time each day. 10 hours dark 14 light. right now since my tank is recovering from a disaster (flea powder) I am only running 12 hours a day.

 

[truperc]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/3162223
first i would reccomend getting a timer for your lights. so you dont have to manually switch them on and off.
many people do various light schedules. generally from 8-12 hours a day. you can change the cycle to fit your schedule if you have the timers.
I personally run my lights 14 hours a day. I used to run 8 hours then slowly increased the length of the daylight over the years to 14 hours. just because I was going for maximum growth time each day. 10 hours dark 14 light. right now since my tank is recovering from a disaster (flea powder) I am only running 12 hours a day.
What he said

 

[ashleigh234]

Thanks guys, I assume I can just get a timer from the LFS? Is there anything involved in hooking them up or do you just plug them in or something? Have throught about timers so will probably go and do it.

 

[flower]

Timers....

I leave my MH and actinic lights on for 4 hours, then run only actinic for 4 hours...then both actinic and MH lights for another 4 hours...moonlights for 12 hours. So basically...12 on and 12 off
I only toggle the MH lights because of heat. Everyone is different. But I was always told Corals need 12 hours of light, it is what they mainly feed on.

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by Ashleigh234
http:///forum/post/3162448
Thanks guys, I assume I can just get a timer from the LFS? Is there anything involved in hooking them up or do you just plug them in or something? Have throught about timers so will probably go and do it.
you can buy plug in electronic timers at home depot or lowes for about 10 bucks. you just plug your lights into them and program them. I prefer the electronic ones over the manual ones they dont mess up as often.

 

[ashleigh234]

MH? Actinic? Sorry guys at this stage I only know them as blue and white

Will go and buy a timer before the end of the week.
Would it be good to do the blue lights from say 6am - 7 or 8am, then the white lights from 7 or 8am till 8-9pm, then blue lights again? What would be the best way, will it put any stress on them increasing it straight away as they have only been having 8-9 hrs a day at the moment i think, although the tank is moving anyway so would it be ok?

 

[ashleigh234]

Oh and what would I need to do to get moonlights? Im not sure how many bulbs are in the tank already, but would i have to get more lights altogether to be able to run moonlights? or is it a case of just having 1 bulb running or something?

 

[xcali1985]

Originally Posted by Ashleigh234
http:///forum/post/3162481
Oh and what would I need to do to get moonlights? Im not sure how many bulbs are in the tank already, but would i have to get more lights altogether to be able to run moonlights? or is it a case of just having 1 bulb running or something?
You want Blue LED lighting for moonlight. Or something similar. The standard is 2 LEDs per foot length wise. I currently have 8 on my 48" 80 gal.

 

[ashleigh234]

The tank has blue lights already, he uses these for morning and night briefly to mimmick sunrise/sunset ... is this right or should we be leaving them on quite late at night and jsut have the white lights on throughout the day?

 

[geoj]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3162457

Timers....

I leave my MH and actinic lights on for 4 hours, then run only actinic for 4 hours...then both actinic and MH lights for another 4 hours...moonlights for 12 hours. So basically...12 on and 12 off
I only toggle the MH lights because of heat. Everyone is different. But I was always told Corals need 12 hours of light, it is what they mainly feed on.
This is about what I do now

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by Ashleigh234
http:///forum/post/3162478
MH? Actinic? Sorry guys at this stage I only know them as blue and white

Will go and buy a timer before the end of the week.
Would it be good to do the blue lights from say 6am - 7 or 8am, then the white lights from 7 or 8am till 8-9pm, then blue lights again? What would be the best way, will it put any stress on them increasing it straight away as they have only been having 8-9 hrs a day at the moment i think, although the tank is moving anyway so would it be ok?
actinic is blue, MH stands for metal halides, which is what type of white light bulb she is running.
no you dont want to increase your daylight by several hours all at once, you can light shock corals and kill them doing that. you can add a half hour a week to let your corals acclimate to the light increase to reach your desired photoperiod. this will let your corals adjust slowly. especially if your moving the tank its going to be stressed enough with out changing its day so drasticly.

 

[madriffs]

Yes don't drastrically change the daylight cycle. The blue lights u are using to mimick sunrise and sunset are te blue actnic lights. Unless the moon lights are on ur lighting fixture u probably don't have them but should be able to pick them up at ur LFS or order them online. I would get a timer for the lights so u don't have to worry about getting off schedule and u can change it to gradually increase the length of ur day after ur corals are settled.

 

[calbert0]

12 on 12 off.
the zooxanthelae algae need time to rest and the corals actually need time for photosynthesis to stop so that they can retrieve nutrients from other sources such as the feedings you give them. That is why they stick their feeder tentacles out at night (so they can retrieve food from the water column) and retract them durring the day when they get their nutrients from the zooxanthelae.
In my opinion leaving your display tank lights on for any longer than 12 hours is a no-no.

 

[ashleigh234]

Hi all,
Thanks for the input to help me get this right
We picked up the tank and its great.
The light set up has 2 long white bulbs, 2 long blue bulbs and a few little blue LEDs for moonlighting, so thats great.
The downside to this is that they are all on the one set up and only have the one power plug to go into the wall ... is it possible to set up a timer on this or is it going to have to be a manual thing?
Also, I found out he was turning on the blue lights about 5-6am for a bit, then leaving the white ones on all day and turning off around 9pm and putting blue ones on for a little bit then off altogether, I thought he had said he was only leaving them on for 8hrs, but this timeframe will be a bit hard for me ... instead i will be turning blue on around 6.30 - 7am, will this matter at all having slightly less time in their day than what they are used to?

 

[geoj]

What are the watts and length of the 2 long white bulbs and the 2 long blue bulbs

 

[ashleigh234]

I think they are 1.2 metres long, the tank is 1.3 metres and they are a bit shorter than that
The light set up is Octopus.
Not sure if T5 means anything but thats what the guy said the bulbs were for both blue and white
Looking at the photo of the label the guy put online the bulbs are 54W each.
Currently there is only 1 blue bulb, we have to replace it in the next few days

 

[eric b 125]

just so you know: the blue bulb is called an actinic bulb and the white bulbs are your daylight bulbs. there's a lot to learn when starting off and to compound things it's like you have to learn a new language- especially with all of the abbreviations on the forums!

 

[ashleigh234]

Yes definately a lot to learn ... although when i have had 3 hours sleep after putting the tank together ... i think blue and white will be fine for now

 

[geoj]

Ok you have four 54W T5s, two are actinic and two daylight bulbs
I would run them 10 hours say 11am – 9pm
The moons 9pm – 11am
If you get some fluorescing corals I change it a little...