Light timing?

[mrs.som]

Hello,
I tried searching around for the answer but couldn't think of the right keywords for my search.
I have two timers and would like to hook them up to the two lights in my biocube (one daylight and one blue actinic) I just need advice on how long each should be on.
Thanks in advance for your help!

[XSiVE]

It's really up to you on how long you want to run them.

Personally my blues turn on at 12:30pm, whites turn on at 2:30 or 3pm, whites are off around 10pm, blues off at midnight.

If you have algae problems, or are concerned, a shorter photoperiod is not going to hurt any of the corals.. many people only run their lights for a total of 8 hours a day.

[Sir Patrick]

I would recomend 6-8 hours of both light being on at the same time, and have the actinic only on for an hour or 2 before and after the daylight bulb goes on and off, unless, as xsive noted, its too much light and you see adverse effects, like algea growth.

[mrs.som]

Thanks! Now I gotta just figure out how to use the silly timers...shouldn't be that difficult but...lol

[adalius]

I have pretty much the same setup as you, it's nice that the biocube is built with seperate ballasts so you can do this right out of the box. I run my actinics from 8AM to 8PM and my whites from 10AM to 7PM. Aside from diatom issues I'm waiting on an RO/DI unit to help with, I have no real algae problems to speak of.

[cg5071]

I do have algea problems but I still go with the longer cycle. Actintic come on at 8 when i am waking up and go off at 10 pm. Then the halide is on for 8 hours in between. 9 to 5 or so. It seemed wierd to have the blues on so long afterwards but it doesnt seem to bother the fish. They still know bedtime is 10,lol. The same schedual I had with pc lights on their first tank.

[jolson10450]

yeah mine are seperate. my actinics are n at 11am then all lights on at 12 noon then daylights off at 9pm and actinics off at 10pm then my moon lights come on.

its a lot easier with a reefkeeper to program it like that lol good luck!

[adalius]

I plan on getting a controller for my tank when I get a bigger one, but right now 2 manual dial timers and a 3-way plug allow me to handle everything. I put the three-way into one timer and run my actinics and the hood fans on the same time cycle, and then the other timer runs just the daylight bulbs.

It used to be setup internally from the factory that the fans shut off with the daylight fans, but when I did the 4.36 upgrade it allowed me to separate the fans out so I now run them with the actinics to cool the ballast and hood down fully before turning them off.

[cg5071]

My orbit light was set up like that too. The fan only with the daylight. I wonder if i can just switch a wire to be on the actintic circut? I have thought many times about it but havnt done anything yet.

[adalius]

The only reason I was able to do it is the 4.36 upgrade puts the fans on a separate wall wart so I can control that, otherwise the way it was wired in it actually had a circuit board that handled all the electrical distribution.

[mrs.som]

thanks for the info everyone! I figured out the timers and now the blues are on from 12pm-10pm and the whites 1:00-9:00pm. I don't have a third timer so I'll manually turn that one on and off.
The fish and corals look happier already with the proper lighting :)

[Sir Patrick]

Sounds like ya got it figured out!

My lights run from 4pm till 1 am- kinda odd schedule, but I get to see it longer after work.

[mrs.som]

Yeah, that makes sense, except I work from home so I get to see it all day :)