lighting duration

[wchill]

I have added a new Coralife hood to my tank which has both the10,000 k's and actenic CFL's. I am running my actenic (blue) lights for an hour startup time before my 10,000k's come on then continuing to run the actinics an hour after my 10,000k's go out out (on for 7 hours and actinics on for 9. (moon lights on for an hour after actenics go out).
Question is do I need my actinics on all day along with my 10,000k's or can I have them off through most of the day.

 

[Xtremedave67]

riding this one along, have same question for my new lighting

 

[jrgilles]

Curious to hear the answer. I have a similar setup. I'm running my actinics about 1 hour before and 2 hours after the MH. (about 7:30 AM to 9 pm on actinics)

I have been leaving the actinics on with the halides.

Moon lights are set to cycle with the moon rise/set.

 

[Scooterman]

It all depends on several factors, what are you keeping in the tank, what are the coral daily requirements, have you looked that up? How deep is your tank & where as in depth are the corals located? The additional light most probably is a good benefit because your CFL's aren't the highest PAR lighting there is & drop-off occurs faster than say a VHO or T5 fluorescent.
I think reading up on lighting & coral demands would help you greatly to providing proper lighting.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2654