Lighting 72 gal Bow

[Charlie]

I've got a 72 gal reef tank which has been up and running for 1.5 years. I have just put a new set of bulbs (Actinic and 10K) into the fixture and am resetting the duel timers.

How many hours of 10k and how many hours of actinic do you recommend? Should the blue actinic come on before & after the 10k or just after?

 

[JoshsReef]

I would leave the actinics on for a half hour to and hour before and after the 10ks go on. leave both the actinics and the 10ks on for roughly 9 -12 hours your choice. I leave mine on for 10

 

[cmor1701d]

Reef tanks usually go 12 hours on actinics and 10 hours on 10k (overlapping), so actinics on 10am - 10pm and 10k on 11am - 9 pm, or whatever hours you prefer.

 

[beachbumin]

I keep my lighting closer to cmor's advice and never have any issues about lighting~ HTH

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree I have have mine set up as follows.

Actinics
ON 10:15am
Off 11:30pm

Left MH
ON 11:30am
Off 10:00pm

Right MH
ON 12:00pm
Off 10:30pm

We like the tank on later in the day so we can enjoy it at night. I don't get up until 11 or 12 during the week because I work nights 4 days a week. I'm usually up late when I'm off so I like to enjoy the tank while I'm up. But as you can see it is about the same as what Cmor was talking about.

 

[beachbumin]

Nice setup Ziggy. I like the idea of alternating the MH's on each side!

 

[Ziggy953]

Thanks. I did it for the sunrise / sunset effect. I has worked well for the last 18 months or so.