How Many Hours a Day Should you use T5 HO Bulbs for? Is there a Sweet Spot for best Growth and Color

[that Reef Guy]

How Many Hours a Day Should you use T5 HO Bulbs for?

Is there a Sweet Spot for best Growth and Color?

I ask because it seems most people do like 8-12 Hours a Day.

But I have heard of some people going 6 or even 3.

They claim that any more than that is too much light and it impacts Corals Negatively.

What do you guys think?

 

[DLdraconias]

Running whites a few hours and blues a long time 12-14 hrs will get better color but growth wasn't what i go for

 

[jeremy]

I run 2 blue plus bulbs 10 hours and daylights for 5 hours. Daylights are 3 more blue plus 2 Fiji purple and 1 ge6500k. Run in an ATI Sunpower. I run daylights for only 5 hours cause any longer my colors seem to be more pale.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Anybody Else have an Opinion on this Topic?

 

[kschweer]

2 blue+ and reefbrite for 8.5 hours.
Coral+, purple+ and an additional 2 blue+ for 5 hrs here.

 

[that Reef Guy]

2 blue+ and reefbrite for 8.5 hours.
Coral+, purple+ and an additional 2 blue+ for 5 hrs here.

Have you Experimented with Other Amounts of Hours and found 8.5 Hours to have the Best impact on Corals/

 

[kschweer]

Have you Experimented with Other Amounts of Hours and found 8.5 Hours to have the Best impact on Corals/

Honestly it's just what worked out best with my tank. I have had tanks where I have run the lights longer and others shorter. With this tank it seems like the 8.5 hrs is the sweet spot for it. I ran the lights longer in the beginning and it just seemed to be "too much" for my tank in particular. So many variables come into play with this so I think it's hard to give a set time for every tank. Variables include tank depth, height of fixture above water, what corals you're keeping, water clarity and the list goes on. I try to figure out what works best for my tank through trial and hopefully little error rather than go by what people say "has to be done". Hope that makes sense.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Honestly it's just what worked out best with my tank. I have had tanks where I have run the lights longer and others shorter. With this tank it seems like the 8.5 hrs is the sweet spot for it. I ran the lights longer in the beginning and it just seemed to be "too much" for my tank in particular. So many variables come into play with this so I think it's hard to give a set time for every tank. Variables include tank depth, height of fixture above water, what corals you're keeping, water clarity and the list goes on. I try to figure out what works best for my tank through trial and hopefully little error rather than go by what people say "has to be done". Hope that makes sense.

Thanks,

How did you get

Zoas!!! Under your Avatar

I can't find a way to change "Well Known Member" anywhere.

 

[kschweer]

Thanks,

How did you get

Zoas!!! Under your Avatar

I can't find a way to change "Well Known Member" anywhere.

No problem. I changed it in my profile settings where it says custom title. I had to do it from my laptop as I could seem to figure it out on my phone.

 

[hart24601]

Well it depends on how many bulbs, the depth of the coral (for PAR/PUR), the spectrum of bulbs (for PUR/PAR), and the particular coral in question for how many hours of light is optimal and not overwhelm with too much light. And then flow also matters with how much light the coral can take. There is no clear cut answer for many of these questions but only general guidelines.

 

[that Reef Guy]

No problem. I changed it in my profile settings where it says custom title. I had to do it from my laptop as I could seem to figure it out on my phone.

Where is "Custom Title"

Others have said that and I cannot find it anywhere.

 

[Shelley-Ma]

for our Malibu lightings with 4 working channels (L1 L2 L3 L4); below is the sunrise mode time, such lights simulate the weather sunrise, sunset, cloud, flash and DIY modes, realize dimming, 8 time points 24 hours time-setting. By APP control is more cool and more convenient!
1 00：00-04：00 0% 0% 50% 0%
2 04：00-06：00 20% 20% 50% 20%
3 06：00-09：00 50% 50% 50% 50%
4 09：00-13：00 100% 100% 100% 100%
5 13：00-17：00 80% 50% 30% 80%
6 17：00-19：00 40% 40% 50% 50%
7 19：00-22：00 0% 0% 50% 0%
8 22：00-24：00 0% 0% 50% 0%

Lights for coral reef is with full spectrum is better, right? Pls come back to me if any interest in.

Shelley
[email protected]
Skype: raveopto.shelley