Light Schedule

[dodgersfan25]

does it matter what time the lights come on? is 9 AM to 9 PM a good period of lighting with feeding at 4PM? will the fish mind if there is a long period of time of light until they get fed? i also plan to get some LPS and soft corals in the future, is that enough lighting for them?. thanks for any advice!

[tmcpeek]

12 hours is good IME. Do you stagger your lighting so it comes on/off slowly? I have 4 VHO and 3mh and I start 2 of the VHO 1/2hr before the next 2 VHO and then stagger the MH 15 minutes apart. Then when I shut them off I turn of Halides first and then two VHO at a time 15 minutes apart.

OH YEAH GO DODGERS!

[dodgersfan25]

currently, i don't stagger them. i have 2 sets of lights, 1 atinic and 1 fluorescent. should i stagger the two to simulate dawn/dusk? if so, how much? and does it really make a difference?

[SALTY72]

my tank has ran for about a year with minimal problem. All lighting turns on at 10am, with 10k florescent lighting turning off at 9pm, while atinic turns off at 10pm. Working great on automatic timers!

[electrikat]

I didn't stagger when I had only fluorescent. I just waited till about 10 or 11 so the natural daylight was coming in the windows so the light was not such a shock. Now that I have MH and flour I stagger first flour and fans then 1 hour later the MH. Then at night the MH go off and an hour later the flour and fans go off. This keeps the mh from causing heating up the tank. Good luck.