lucid Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I have a 48" lighting fixture which has 4 T5 actinic bulbs in it, and 2x250w MH. I have been running the Actinics for 12 hours and having the halides come on for 5.5 hours. Does this seem like a legitimate schedule for my 55g? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 If you end up with Cyano you might want to back off the attinics a little. I am running my halides for 6.5hrs and T5's for 10hrs now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilmca Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 depending on what kind of corals you are keeping you might want to increase the halides up an hour or two over the next few weeks and reduce the T5s to 10 hours a day. if you have SPS than i would definitely recommend this but if you have softies than you probably are ok with the schedule you have going. let us know what kind of corals you have or want to keep and we can give you better advice. just note if you increase your halides you might get an algae bloom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucid Posted November 17, 2010 Author Share Posted November 17, 2010 Algae is blooming like crazy as is. Just have soft corals, except for the torch coral, which 2 of the heads seem to retract quicker than the other's can't tell if its unhappy or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 algae blooms can also occur due to poor lighting as well like underpowered, bad ballast or old bulbs. running t5's at 12 hours a day will reduce the life of the bulb by about 30% you'll probably end up replacing them at 6-8mths on that schedule. the halides are good at that timeframe for near 10-12 months but you really have to test par values to get accurate timeframes and effectiveness of the bulb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucid Posted November 17, 2010 Author Share Posted November 17, 2010 I'm going to change the T5's from a 8-6. is it ok to do this suddenly? Also the bulbs and ballasts are brand new, bought the whole fixture brand new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 You can cut 2 hours without hurting anything. FWIW, I run my T5's for about 10 hours and my MH for 5 hours. Pay attention to what your corals do at the end of the lighting cycle. When they have enough light some of them will begin to close back up. Anemone's for instance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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