It seemed that after a year of having a successful marine tank (patting on my own back) with an orbit compact flourescent fixture, that things would just be normal and stay as they are for long. BUT, as a couple who never seems to be happy with what we have, we splurged into a $900 36" metal halide fixture with (2) 250w 10K MH and (2) 95W VHO Super Actinics and we are most certainly happier than we were before.
Now my Question (nice Intro Right?)I have read in many articles that the tank requires a minimum of at least 4 hours of MH exposure... Let us say I want to save money and not want to run my electricity bill off the roof as if I have central AC in my apartment running 24/7, and want to just have my MH running for a good 5 hours peaking around noon till the late afternoon. Would anyone suggest this will suffice?
I have the 2 VHO Super Actinic Blues on at 9am, followed by the MH coming on at 11am, then at 4pm the MH comes off, and arouns 9pm the Super Actinics go off... All seems to be ok, Dusk and dawn periods seem to be replicated with the said schedule, but my concern is the length of my dusk and dawn periods... Would this be a problem? Dawn is for 2 hours and Dusk is for 5 hours. I dont want to have my MH on for longer than the 5 hours, and If anyone convinced me, I might put it on for another hour longer... Does anyone think that this is sufficient enough? Any Suggestions? Does anyone agree with me that I should replace one of my VHO Super Actinic Blues to a VHO White Flourescent? so that I can give my tank shorter dusk and dawn periods and having my MH as a supplemental strong light peaking only for 5 hours each day?
TYIA for any response!
Now my Question (nice Intro Right?)I have read in many articles that the tank requires a minimum of at least 4 hours of MH exposure... Let us say I want to save money and not want to run my electricity bill off the roof as if I have central AC in my apartment running 24/7, and want to just have my MH running for a good 5 hours peaking around noon till the late afternoon. Would anyone suggest this will suffice?
I have the 2 VHO Super Actinic Blues on at 9am, followed by the MH coming on at 11am, then at 4pm the MH comes off, and arouns 9pm the Super Actinics go off... All seems to be ok, Dusk and dawn periods seem to be replicated with the said schedule, but my concern is the length of my dusk and dawn periods... Would this be a problem? Dawn is for 2 hours and Dusk is for 5 hours. I dont want to have my MH on for longer than the 5 hours, and If anyone convinced me, I might put it on for another hour longer... Does anyone think that this is sufficient enough? Any Suggestions? Does anyone agree with me that I should replace one of my VHO Super Actinic Blues to a VHO White Flourescent? so that I can give my tank shorter dusk and dawn periods and having my MH as a supplemental strong light peaking only for 5 hours each day?
TYIA for any response!
