Lights

[Ben Jarrett]

Hi, I have a 600l reef tabk with a set of Aqua One MG1200 light, 2 x 150W 10,000 Kelvin Metal Halide lamps and 4 x 24W blue PL lamps and I was wondering how long should the white and blue lights stay on for and how far from the top of the water they should be?

 

[ryshark]

The "white" lights/halides should be on for 6-9 hours a day. You can use the "blue lights to turn on an hour before the halides and turn them off an hour after the halides to create a dusk/dawn feature. Plus it is pretty cool to have two different colors for the tank at different times. I keep my halides on for only 6-hours a day and my actinics for 8-hours and this seems to work fine for me.
The halides should generally be 8"-12" off the surface of the water. A lot of this depends on your reflector. Just don't put them too close because they get very hot.

 

[Ben Jarrett]

Thanks very much, I just have a little algae problem. I will see how I go.

 

[ryshark]

If you have an algae problem then definitely use the lowest photo period time. Also check your RODI water and think about running a phospate reactor.

 

[Ben Jarrett]

Hey Thanks I am running a phospate reactor in the sump and all levels are good. I checked my light times they are 13 hours for the halides and 10 hours for the blue lights and the light is about 13 inchs from the water.

I will change the light times and see how I go
Thanks again

 

[ryshark]

Hey Thanks I am running a phospate reactor in the sump and all levels are good. I checked my light times they are 13 hours for the halides and 10 hours for the blue lights and the light is about 13 inchs from the water.

I will change the light times and see how I go
Thanks again

Yeah, cut the halide time in half. The coral doesn't need 13-hours and the algae love it.

 

[Ben Jarrett]

Sorry the blue are on for 13 hours and the whites for 10 hours.

I have set them to 8 hours for the white and 10 hours for the blue

Sorry

 

[ryshark]

one other thing I forgot to mention is how old are the halides? Old bulbs can cause algae issues too.

 

[Ben Jarrett]

About 12 months, the whole tank is only 12 months

 

[thincat]

At 10hrs a day, your Halides may be due for a change. They start to lose intensity after 10 months or so. That may be the reason for your algae bloom.
TC

 

[Ben Jarrett]

Do they only last about 3000 hours? and what about the blue lights?

 

[melosu58]

Moved to General Hardware and equipment discussion.

 

[thincat]

"24W blue PL lamps"? Are these compact fl lamps? I don't know about these. I know that the t-5 HO"s can last 12-16 months.
TC

 

[Ben Jarrett]

Thanks for that I will replace them and see how they go.