What time do you turn your lights on and off?

sillynecco

sillynecco

Member
Im wondering what time I should be turning my lights on and off.
Right now I just have florecents on my 75g tank, but im upgrading to a 465w MH unit.
I plan on running my atinics for an hour before and after the MH, but just curious to what time of day.
Currently lights go on at 930, and off at 9
What times do you turn them on/ off?
 
dexter

dexter

Member
timer goes on at 9:30am and off around 9:15pm.

Once I get MH lighting, I will get a new timer and stagger the Mh with my VHO.

dxtr
 
mag395

mag395

Member
PC's come on at 12:00 and the VHO's come on at 2:00
PC's go off at 11:30 and the VHO's go off at 10:00
I'll have to reduce the cycle w/ MH's
 
sillynecco

sillynecco

Member
Are you supposed to have your lights mimic the time of daylight in nature? My fish are usually swimming before the lights are even on.
Plus im in college so there is usually never anything going on before noon, but we are usually up late, so should i push my times later to compensate for all the commotion that occours later on at night?
 
dexter

dexter

Member
I have my tank set up so the morning ligt that comes in the room illuminates the tank for about an hour or so before th lights come on. Sort of a gradual "good morning" for them

dxtr
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Since I work at 10am and don't get off til 10-11pm, I also can't sleep with lights on all night I have my light schedule set as follows:
For my 55 reef, 2-175w SE MH 14k, 2-110w VHO Super Actinics, and Moon Lights:
12:30pm VHO Actinics On
2:30pm Right Halide on
3:30pm Left Halide on
6:30pm Right Halide off
7:30pm Left Halide off
12:30am VHO Actinics off
12:30am Moon lights on
3:30am Moon Lights off
Also 12:30am Fuge lights on and 12:30pm off
For my 90 bowfront reef, 2-250w SE MH 20k XM bulbs:
12:30pm Right Halide on
2:30pm Left Halide on
10:30pm Right Halide off
12:30am Left Halide off
12:30am Fuge Light on, 12:30pm off
12:30am Moon Lights on
3:00am Moon Lights off
These time may change later on.... :happyfish
 
dexter

dexter

Member
Mike - can you post a pic of your timer(s)?? or do you do all of that on/off manually?? :notsure:
dxtr
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by Dexter
Mike - can you post a pic of your timer(s)?? or do you do all of that on/off manually?? :notsure:
dxtr
Go to Homedepot and buy one of those reliable timers!!! Intermedic Heavy Duty timers. Walmart's heavy duty timers works as well, but Intermedic is more reliable IMO. I have walmart's cheap timers on my regular table light, it works sometime and sometime it would turn on and off, on and off....It's kinda crazy, I'm fixing to throw them in the trash. Intermedic timers aren't expensive at all, it's like $10/ea. I used to do some of the stuffs manually, it's NOT worth it!!! Takes too much time and sometimes I forget since I'm always in the rush in the morning to get ready for work. I have all my stuffs set on separate timers. For certain stuffs running at the sametime can be run on the same timer with a power bar attachment. :happyfish
 
tim_12

tim_12

Member
My lights go on and off at different times every day. Actinics come on at sunrise and off at sunset, MH comes on 1 hour after sunrise and off 1 hour before sunset. My "sunrise and sunset" is bumped ahead 2 hours from the actual sunrise and sunset so the lights are on longer when I'm actually home so see the tank. Does anyone else use this feature on the AquaController?
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by Tim_12
My lights go on and off at different times every day. Actinics come on at sunrise and off at sunset, MH comes on 1 hour after sunrise and off 1 hour before sunset. My "sunrise and sunset" is bumped ahead 2 hours from the actual sunrise and sunset so the lights are on longer when I'm actually home so see the tank. Does anyone else use this feature on the AquaController?
A friend of mine was discussing with me about AquaController one day. We both end up agree not to use the product, not saying that it's not a good product, it is a FINE product. Both of us agree what if it fails? Then everything wouldn't work properly. IF one of your timer fails, it's easier to replace one ASAP from wally world or Homedepot. If the whole thing fails, then you have to replace the whole thing, what would you do in the mean time? But of course you can always run and buy one timer for each item your using on. But not worth my time.... :happyfish
 
tim_12

tim_12

Member
If for whatever reason it does fail, I still have a timer with 2 daytime, 2 night time and 4 constant power plugs as well as a few more power bars that I can quickly switch everything over to. The hardest part would really only be figuring out which plugs are for what. The heater is only physicly set to go to a certain temparature, and the lights can be put on their timers and set in a matter fo minutes. Everything else just needs to be plugged in. So its not like I'm screwed if it stops working.
Not much hassle to go through considering how time saving it is and how stable you can make your system with it. Personally I think human error is more likely to do damage to your tank than one of these failing. I havent heard any stories of these failing though. Have you?
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by Tim_12
If for whatever reason it does fail, I still have a timer with 2 daytime, 2 night time and 4 constant power plugs as well as a few more power bars that I can quickly switch everything over to. The hardest part would really only be figuring out which plugs are for what. The heater is only physicly set to go to a certain temparature, and the lights can be put on their timers and set in a matter fo minutes. Everything else just needs to be plugged in. So its not like I'm screwed if it stops working.
Not much hassle to go through considering how time saving it is and how stable you can make your system with it. Personally I think human error is more likely to do damage to your tank than one of these failing. I havent heard any stories of these failing though. Have you?
No I haven't heard one bad thing about'em yet. The way you can find out which plug is for what is by doing something that we do ourselves. We tape each individual plug with a masking tape and write on there what it is for. That way when it comes to replace or remove certain item, we know exactly which one to pull. :happyfish
 
tim_12

tim_12

Member
Yeah, I did that on my FW tank but never really got around to doing it on this one for some reason. I should add that to my to do list.
 
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