Another dumb question....on lighting

[Hara]

I have 660 watts of vho lighting. This barely exceeds the recommended 4 watts per gallon minimum. 4 of the bulbs are 50/50's and 2 are actinics.
My question is about the actinics. I have read that they should be on for no more than 5 hours per day. If I shut them off, am i not then, under the recommended lighting and would this not be a bad thing? Just about as soon as the actinics go off, the corals start closing. The condy is doing great except about once a day, for a couple hours, it shrinks down to nothingness. It is nicely seated, eats well, fully inflates for most of the day. The color on the foot is a brilliant salmon color. I thought this could be a lighting thing and can not find anything that is common to when it does its incredible shrinking act it does it randomly. So I am guessing it is not too much actinic light.

 

[michealprater]

hmm......i thought actnic was purely cosmetic. i have never heard of it having negative effects. in fact it is great at keeping red algae from growing in you tank.

 

[Bang Guy]

I would suggest leaving all of your lights on 10 - 12 hours.

 

[Hara]

the lighting goes on at 7 am and normally goes off at about 10 pm. Is this too much? I do most of my work in the tanks around 8-10 pm

 

[loganj]

lights

You might want to delay the turn on to get closer to the 12 hrs per day. One thing I have heard of people doing is setting the actinics to come on 15-30 min before the rest of the lights to simulate dusk/dawn. Might be an idea?
Logan J

 

[MaggiesGame]

Isn't it the actinics that help your coralline grow?

 

[michealprater]

i think coraline can grow in the dark, so, im not really sure.

 

[fishfreek]

coraline needs light

in fact depending on the amount of light and the spectrum of light you can get difference colors of coraline on your rocks and glass.

 

[michealprater]

cool. some times i over look the small things. i dont want ya to think im an idiot.

 

[Bob Ashcraft]

I have read that they should be on for no more than 5 hours per day.

I would stop reading from this source. They obviously have little experience with reef tanks.