Lighting schedule

[MrDoctor]

Hello,

I have a 45g tank with 3 PC tubes, one is (I think) a regular actinics, that has a soft purple tone, one is a regular white, and the other one is bright blue (they came with the setup).

Does anyone use something like this? Can someone advise me for a lighting schedule?

At first I was doing something like:

Purple from 08:00 AM to 11:00 PM
White from 09:30 AM to 09:30 PM
Blue from 12:00 AM to 03:30 PM

The shopkeeper thinks I should switch the white and blue schedules.

The thing is the blue one doesn't look so cool as the white one (combined with the actinics), and it looks like it makes algae grow faster.

Any ideas?

 

[loganj]

You need about 10-12 hours a day of light. Whether you want the actinic to come on first and cut off last is entirely up to you. I think it's a nice touch, but AFAIK, the fish don't care either way. I would ditch the blue bulb and replace it with either a 50/50 or a 10,000k. Then I would probably start the actinic bulb and have the white lights come on about 30 minutes later. Run it for about 10-12 hours and let the actinic burn for 30 minutes longer than the white lights. JMHO.

 

[cj10488]

I run mine about 14hrs a day.. My schedule is as below

10am actinics on
11am MH on
11pm MH off
12am Actinics Off

11:30ish pm Moonlight coms on
9:30ish am moonlight goes off

HTH<
James

 

[MrDoctor]

... I think I'll just leave it as it is (everyone seems happy with it anyway).

Thanks!