How long do you run metal halides?

[Jdurm55]

I just got a aquatic life g12 hid light fixture about two days ago. Has one spot light like metal halide and two t5ho bulbs. How long should I run the metal halide? I've got a couple hammer and frogspawn corals and 1 zoa and 1 leather coral.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

With those corals, you shouldn't need to run the halides very long. I would guess you only need to run the halides 2-4 hours in the middle of the photoperiod. Once you get SPS or other corals requiring higher lighting intensities, you can always increase the halide run time.

 

[Jdurm55]

I've been running the halides right around 4 hours on one side. It's kind of a spot like halide. Run it from 1 to 5 then I light up the other side for a little bit.

 

[Jdurm55]

What kind of t5 do you reccomend? I'm looking at getting 1 coral plus bulb and one true actinic.

 

[BoneXriffic]

I run mine 7hrs a day, sps lps and zoas. Took the zoas a while to acclimate but they are happy now

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

What kind of t5 do you reccomend? I'm looking at getting 1 coral plus bulb and one true actinic.

I would say one true actinic and one coral+ or blue+, depending on how much blue you like.