How long to leave the lights on?

I currently have a regular flourescent light on my tank that I have setup on a timer to go on at 5ish and turner off around 10:30ish around 10 I have 12" blue cold cathode that turns on until around 12 or so.. anyway, this lighting setup sux because I want some anenome and corals so I am getting my light new light.
I ordered a 30" coralife aqualight lunar.
It includes 3 seperate cords to control everything independently. What time should I have these coming on at? I read somewhere that one of the bulbs should be turned on to simulate dawn, then kick the other one on, then turn one off to simulate dusk, and then when that one turns off the lunar lights will already be on.. does that make any sense? Like I said, I am recieving the fixture today so any help from anyone soon will be great.

 

Here is my light set up. 10:00 AM the actinic come on (the blue bulb) then 11:00 AM the 10K (white bulb) kick in. At 9:00 PM the 10K goes off then at 10:00 PM the actinic goes off. You will have another one to plan since you will have a moon light. You can start it as soon as you want but i have heard not to let it run all night, close it at like 3 in the morning or something. JMO

Marc.

 

Yes, The turning of your one light then the other starting with the actinics and ultimately ending with the actinics at the end of the day is to represent the dusk and dawn cycles.
This also enable a good transition for our livestock so as not to be shocked by the bright lights coming on all at once.
With just fish and inverts however, you don't need to have them on as long, unless that is what you desire.

 

Cool. Thanks for the info. I am going to set it up right once because I plan on getting some anenome and a few coral. The reason I have them coming on at 5 to 10:30 is because I had a brown algae outbreak a few weeks ago due to leaving the flourescent on all weekend when I went out of town, so I put in a phoszorb pillow and cut back on lights

 

Do you have a timer Mario? That's the easiest way to set it and forget it.

 

I have 2 timers right now.. one on my main light and one on my cold cathode.. I will need to go buy a 3rd since the new fixture has 3 plugs and 3 switches.. Just wondering what times I need to set the timers for, I am with you on the set it and forget it thing though!

 

Yeah, you would be surprised with how many people don't use (or know about) timers. Those alone make me want to automate my system =)

 

Thats up to you... My wife is a stay at home mom so she wants to see the tank lit up during the day so the light go on early. But when i was single my light cycle started at 3 in the after noon cause i wanted plenty of time to look at my tank when i came back from work.

Marc