lighting schedules

[augustwest]

I am wondering what the group does for a lighting schedule on a reef tank. I seem to be getting good at growing green hair algea lately and my water parameters are pretty good. Calcium 450, DKh 7.6 (trying to get it to 8), PH 8.0, Nitrates 0. I only use RO water. I run a EuroReef RS135 skimmer. So I am thinking maybe I have the lights on too long.
I have a 110 gallon tank 72x18x20 and have a 14K 175 MH in the center two 96w dual actinic PCs in the back and two 96w 50/50 (10K/actinic) PCs in the front. I also have 2 blue lunar leds.
Here's my approximate times:
MH - 6am to 9pm
Blues - 6:30am to 8:30pm
50/50s - 11am to 6pm
Lunars - 10pm to 4am
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mkzimms]

thats almost 14 hours of MH time. no where in the world will there be that many hours of high intensity light. i would bring that down to like 10 hours or maybe less... i'd go with approximately (but it may still be too much):
MH - 10am to 7pm
Blues - 8am to 9pm
50/50s - 9am to 8pm
Lunars - 9pm to 7am
that will give you a step up in the lighting over the course of the day and then a step down at night, the lunars can stay on all night because there wont be complete dark anywhere either. even corals need a break from constant active photosynthetic processes, they can burn themselves out. that may even still be too much time, but you really dont want those MH on the whole time and you want to gradually bring up the intensity not hit everything with a full dose first thing in the morning.
also, is that just RO or RO/DI? i usually pick up RO/DI from my dads house but ran out and bought a jug of plain RO to hold me over from my LFS and the next day started to get algae growth after a year and a half of no algae. if you can switch to true RO/DI.
do you test your phosphates?

 

[augustwest]

Phosphates are also not present on a salifert test kit. I have always run Kent's phosphate sponge in a casister filter prior to the ER skimmer - I need to pull it out of there. Yes, my RO is RO only. Maybe I can put a DI canister on the split that feeds to the tank - the main feed is for drinking water. It seems that after I think about it the green hair came after I bought a new MH bulb (14K)...

 

[augustwest]

One of my biggest issues is feeding the fish in the tank twice a day. I like to feed them around 6 am before I leave for work and around 6 pm. I guess that is why I start the lights so early. I'll try cutting down the MH to 10 hours...

 

[augustwest]

What would you reccommend for a refugium light schedule?

 

[devil dog]

Originally Posted by AugustWest
http:///forum/post/2574608
What would you reccommend for a refugium light schedule?
I run mine for 10 hours a day...
and i run my MH on my tank for 7 hours a day... and moon lights for the rest of the time... good luck

 

[05xrunner]

wow 6am till 9pm. Thats alot of wasted elec. and I would bet is the main reason for the extra algae.
I have no real schedule all depends on what time I get home..but i guess MH from 3:30pm-11pm
I dont run any other lights.
id say for teh fuge run it when the MH are off on the main tank.

 

[matt2364]

MH should be on for around 8 hours, atleast that is what most people on here do. Probably the best balance between algae growth/electricity costs or something.

 

[augustwest]

Thanks forr all of the feedback. I've made the following modifications and we'll see how it goes over the next few weeks...
MH - 10am to 7pm
Blues - 6am to 9pm <-- so I can do the early am feeding
50/50s - 9:30am to 8pm
Lunars - 10pm to 4am

 

[tizzo]

Yeah your actinics or "blues" as you call them are supposed to be on before and later than the halides. They are supposed to ease your corals into the daylight so to speak.
I leave my liunars on all the time cause they are low wattage and it makes no difference, but my schedule is
Actinics...8:30-10
Halides 10-8
I think