quick light question

[jaydm93teg]

ok im not sure on all the technical names of these lights and bulbs so try and understand if i mess some stuff up.

Ok now from what i have an 8 bulb t5 set up on one tank and then on my nano it has the stock PC's........each light set up has the (white) day bulbs, the (purple/blue) actinic bulbs?, and then (blue) LED moonlights?

during the day should both the white and puple actinics be on together all day and then at night the blue LEDS should be on by themselves..........do you ever have just the White bulbs or just the puple actinic on by themselves??

again sorry for if i messed up any of the names of these bulbs

 

[gwhiz]

It's common to have the actinics and daylight bulbs on separate cycles. My Actinics come on an hour before and go off an hour after the daylights--sort of simulating sunrise and sunset.

 

[jaydm93teg]

ok so if im pretending so simulate a typical day in the ocean it would go like this.........




8 AM.....actinics come on
9 AM....white/daylights come on
3 PM...white/daylights go off
4 pm...actinics go off
5 pm...blue leds come on??


that doesnt seem right as far as the sun up sund down 24 hour lighting would go but i have heard that your day/ actinics should only be on 6 hours a day?

 

[gwhiz]

The amount of 'daylight' varies quite a bit--especially since you've got T5's. Those with MH's tend to run 'em for less hours due to electrical expense and heat gain. My daylights are on about 8-10 hours--if you start having algae or cyano problems then you should cut it back a bit.

Also, you get to choose when 'day' is. My light cycle runs more like 11am -11pm so that they're on when I'm around to enjoy them.

 

[jaydm93teg]

ahhh....I see Thanks for your help

 

[sureone]

<span style="font-size: 12px;">I am running my light cycle on my 14 gal. Biocube with PC's as follows :</span>
<span style="font-size: 12px;">Actinic 1:30 to 10:30</span>
<span style="font-size: 12px;">Daylights 2:00 to 10:00 </span>
<span style="font-size: 12px;">Moon lights 10:30 to daylight.</span>
<span style="font-size: 12px;">This is working out well for me. I recommend setting up your light system with individual timers rather than the power center. Reasons are the individual ones are cheaper and easier to set up. Also the power centers I have seen only let you have day on , night off so you can’t run the actinic and daylights at the same time. I had to add an additional timer to mine making it even more expensive.</span>

 

[momma&amp;papafishels]

In all 3 of our tanks, we run the following cycle:

Actinics - 10 am - 10 pm
Daylights - 11 am - 9 pm
Moonlights - Always on

Granted, everything in our tanks is fluorescent (T5, VHO, or PC) so heat and electricity is not as much of a concern. I also used to have the moonlights on a timer cycle opposite that of the actinics, but since LED's have such an incredibly long life-span and consume only the slightest bit of power, I just started leaving them on 24/7.

 

[jaydm93teg]

i am liking that cycle..........So as long as i can leave my daylights on 8 or 10 hours then do it but if i start having algae problems cut the cycle back to about 6 or so until i get it under control?

 

[momma&amp;papafishels]

That's what I do. I had a bad algae outbreak in one tank and cut the cycle back until I got it under control.