Timing my lights

[roadracn]

I am getting some opinions on how long I should leave my lights on. I have 150gal tank 48X24X30 amd I am very pleased with it, bought new lights also, running the maristar kit from Sunlight with 2-250 MH 10k's and 2 t5 blue plus atintics. Usually I have them on a dawn-day-dusk setup, blues on @ 9, 10ks and blues @ 10, till 10p then 10k's shut off. till 11 where everything shuts off for the night. I mainly have soft corals now, but will be getting into some of the hard ones as soon as my water permits. Give me your opinon on timing if your not too busy

Thanks

[gkmartinez]

It seems fine. A lot of ppl use actinics for their own reasons. I suggest adding more light when going with sps. I have 2-250 halides and my tank is half of yours. and I feel I could use a little more. IMO

[jdallred]

I run the lights on all of my tanks the same
Actinics on at 10:30
10Ks on at 12:30
10Ks off at 20:30
Actinics off at 22:30

Since your tank is 30" in height (unless you are running a deep sand bed which will lower that height around 4" to 6" which would put you at 24" to 26") and the 250s are rated to 24", I would place your softies in the lower 1/3, any LPS in the middle, and stoneys in the top 1/3.

If I read your post correctly, you run your actinic 14hrs and your MHs 12 hrs?

[joanadam]

I think you are fine with two metal halides for a 48X24X30 tank. That is one MH per 2 foot of length. Just arrange it as jdallred suggested for the depth factor.

[gkmartinez]

Originally posted by joanadam
I think you are fine with two metal halides for a 48X24X30 tank. That is one MH per 2 foot of length. Just arrange it as jdallred suggested for the depth factor.

? Am I going old school. Is this the new way to measure. I am still using the old watts/gal. 500/75=6.6 watts per gallon. which means this guy has only 3 watts. I understand the depth however, writing this all out I guess I answered my own question as to where you are coming from. I mean I could be wrong I have been wrong before. Of course the original post was on timing so I am sorry for my ranting.

[joanadam]

I was assuming that the bottom 6" of the tank would not be used for light demanding corals. That would give us the dimensions of 48x24x24 which is about 120g we are trying to illuminate. Assuming the T5s are 35w apiece and 2 x 250w MH we have 570 total watts. 570/120= 4.75 watts per/gal. It could be better, but it all depends on what you have in there. I would say more watts on the T5 end would be more helpful. The MH's are designed for spot lighting over a 2' area.

[firefighter1_emt_cop]

WPG doesnt mean Jack when you are dealing with MH. MH all goes on the depth of the tank......up to about 26 inches deep and you will be fine with 250W halides.....over that then it is recommend to bump up to 400W halides because of the depth.

[gkmartinez]

Interesting. I love to learn something new every day. The only bad thing, with this hobby it generally means I need to buy a new piece of equipment.

[roadracn]

I am learning a lot from all of this, keep going on with the debate, I have heard so much about all of it, that I don't really know whats true. To be a bit more exact, I have about a 4" sand bed, and the water height including the sand is 29" or so. I have the lights about 12" off of the water. Any of this can be changed, as I am new to the hobby I keep getting different reports of what I need to keep hard corals. Please continue. I am sure I am not alone when it comes to these questions

Thanks again!!

[gkmartinez]

Originally posted by firefighter1_emt_cop
WPG doesnt mean Jack when you are dealing with MH. MH all goes on the depth of the tank......up to about 26 inches deep and you will be fine with 250W halides.....over that then it is recommend to bump up to 400W halides because of the depth.

it goes on the depth of the tank? Do you have to take into consideration the height from the surface of the water. my tank is 24", I have 5" dsb and I have the 250 hanging 12" above the surface. Is that insuffiecient or should I get the 400w?

As long as we can agree to disagree. That is what makes the hobby enjoyable. BB vs DSB, mh vs t5's, vho and pc's. timing, flow, sump/refugium. There is something for everyone. I have a dsb but with my next tank I am leaning towards starboard. I think it also has a lot to do with prefrences. I feel comfortable with watts per gal. some don't. I like my lights on 14hrs. some 10.

[murfman]

i run my 72" NO super actinics from 8am to 8pm. my two 250 MH come on at 10 am and go off at 6pm