How many hours per day?

[Jcr's Reef]

Are most of you running LEDs just as long or longer than Mh or T5's? Or are you running your lights fewer hours per day compared to what you were in the past?

I figure with LEDs being more intense they wouldn't have to run as long throughout the day. If not, are you supplementing them with T5's, VHO, or anything else to increase viewing time?

How long are you running blues compared to all blue/whites on? Your full light cycle?

Sorry for all the question. I'm thinking of upgrading or downgrading, depending on how you look at it, to LEDs. I'm also thinking about supplementing them with T5's or VHO's for more than a couple of reasons; but would like to hear your experience with them. I searched and really couldnt find this information, and some of the links I clicked on kicked me out back to the forum section, so I was still left with questions.

 

[Jcr's Reef]

No input at all? Not even sarcasm :tongue:

 

[KLR]

I run my evolution 8 hours a day,idk if that is to much but all of my corals seem to like it.

 

[wld1783]

I replaced my MH with LEDs and wont go back

I'm a big fan of a high noon blast of the Cree XP-G for 4-6 hours a day.

I have mine come on slowly with an APEX and then for four hours vary the intensity to simulate cloud movement.

As far as the Blues and Whites its a bit of an art what one likes might not work for another just ensure the corals have enough PAR

Bill

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Thanks for the responses. So I should probably supplement the LEDs since these aren't dimmable huh? Right now I'm checking out the evolution 120w 1G (20k). I will be running 2 of them over my tank (48" x 24" x 20" high) and the top half is all SPS. I like long light cycles but I'm wondering how much is too much with LEDs. I have no idea what they are capable of and have never run them before. Locally, no one really has all LEDs. As of now, throughout the week my MH's are on for 9+hrs a day, and on weekends when I enjoy looking at my tank the most I'll run them up to 12+hrs and not fear bleaching out my corals. My light system now is only a total of 300watts, and the LEDs would be 240watts total (and probably more powerful), so I'm not really worried about the electric bill there.

 

[swannyson7]

I'm running three of the Reef Filtration fixtures for 8.5 hours, and a my T5s run for 10.5 hours. I think you would be fine running a long light cycle with the LEDs, you'll just have to take it slow during acclimating your tank. Even though they may not look brighter than your halides, they have crazy PAR that will bleach out your SPS and cook your LPS. I started them off with a 2 hour light cycle and increased it by an hour every 4 or 5 days until I got to the desired length.

 

[johnanddawn]

i have a diy system and it allows me great flexibility in my lighting; although many would not like all the timers, i think it gives me a very natural cycle
1) 12 blue crees and 4 all blue power brights 14 hours
2) 12 more blue crees and 12 white crees 10 hours
3) 6 PAR 38s 6 hours
4) the last 12 white crees 4 hours
this gives me a very long veiwing period - i get to watch my tank both before and after work and the noon day (11am - 3pm) PAR numbers are very high. i have played quite a bit and so far this seems to work best for me but as i said because it is diy my options are endless.
with a fixture if it is two corded i would probably run half 12 hours and both 6 = 8 and if it were one corded i have no idea maybe 8 - 10

 

[butts182]

when i had leds, i ran them for the same length of time as my PCs that they replaced

 

[Murfman]

I run my Evolutions for 11 hours a day. I was running my MH for just 8. I increased the time due to lower PAR out put.

 

[JackoChang]

I was running 2x400W MH for 6 hours a day, the lights came with the tank and its only 24" deep. Bought the 20K evo's, now I ramp up/down with blues and run full blast 9 hours. Was told the evo's replace a 250W MH, so I thought the coral would be fine. Besides my moronic coral placement, everything is doing great. I keep SPS on the top third of my tank.