Mh lighting period
- Thread starter fishking
- Start date
razoreqx
Active Member
Originally posted by fishking
is eight hours of MH light good enough, i plan to have the lights on from 3pm to 11pm. that is once im done acclimating my lights
Most of what i have read says about that.. Just make sure you take your time acclimating to the new light.. Start slow as 2 hours the first day or less.. then increase 30 mins per day after....
zanemoseley
Active Member
when I added 2x250 MH to my 75 I started out at 4hrs a day, I increase 30min every 3-4 days, I'm now up to 6 1/2hrs and my coraline is doing well. When starting the lighting I only had fish and LR so if you have softies or some LPS than you will need to take a bit more precaution when acclimating.
robchuck
Active Member
Eight hours is a good amount of time for a MH photoperiod. I only run mine for 6 1/2 hours a day, because I've found that's the best balance for my tank for benefitting photosynthetic animals and not promoting nuisance algae blooms. As has been mentioned, proper acclimation of the lighting is very important for protecting corals and also to protect your tank from receiving too much light too quickly which fuels algae blooms.
reefer44
Member
hmmm that seems sort of short.....I keep my mh lights on for about 12 hours and actinic lights for 14...........this reflects how much light a coral reef recieves in the summer (the season of highest growth rate for corals) in nature...just my oppinion....the best reef is gowing to be the one that reflects the natural environment of our specimens
