how long should lights be on

[bigmoe21]

hello,
have a 29g with a 250w halide and 2 24" t5 actinic..how long do i leave my lights on?
thanks

[hobogato]

i have my actinics on for 14 hours and my halides for 8 hours in the middle of that. many people run their lights less than that.

[bigmoe21]

is it good to have them on that long..i mean is there a reason like to make corals grow quicker?? how do you keep algae away? thanks

[hobogato]

algae problems are usually more of an issue with excess nutrients than lights. some say older bulbs will cause it to grow more, but im not convinced on that one. i am considering a decrease in my halide time - i also run extra halides for 3 hours in the middle of the day to boost the growth a bit. probably will go to 6 hours on the main halides, but i wont change the actinic time. i also have moonlights on 24/7

[bigmoe21]

haha ok man im just thinking about your electricity bill :-) so would it be good to leave my actinic on 12 hours and halide 8? i like leaving them on long too

[coraline79]

I am relatively new to Saltwater, but I have found 9 hours to be good for my t5ho setup. I have pretty bright "blue LEDs though for moonlight, and the ZOAs don't close up very well. until these kick off after 2 hours.

[dapettit]

I have my MH are on for 9 hours.

[Righteous Reefin']

Once you get into stony corals, this will become a more prevalent issue. Too much light can cause brown outs in SPS due to the zooxanthellae (sp?) in the SPS overgrowing to protect the coral so the brown that you would see in the coral is actually the algae. Sometimes the corals will expell this algae out. For now, you should be fine. On the weekends, I sometimes have my lights on for 12 hours. Usually during the week it's 8 hours on. It really depends on the corals. The two major things in this hobby are water quality and lighting. Sounds like you have definitely covered the bases on your lighting.

[bigmoe21]

ok cool thanks..water quality is my next point of attack ive got too many fish..thwey look so cool though!

[DrMark]

I have two 400 watt 14Ks and actinics.
MH are on for 10 hours, actinics 1 hour before and 1 hour after for 12 hours. Blue moonlights on when everything else off.
mark

[klondike4001]

10 Hours w/ my halides on.

[MadMike]

I Do About 10 Hours With My Mh Too.