Lighting schedule for ~50G Tank

Howdy,

I will be adding my water/liverock this week and I am looking to get my lighting setup too.

I have a 8x39W T5 Light hood with the following globes:

2 x Blue Lux Coral
2 x 10K
2 x 14K
2 x 20K

There is also 4 circuits as follows:

2 x Blue Lux Coral
2 x 10K
1 x 14K + 20K
1 x 14K + 20K

I have a 3 outlet timer that I will be using to control the lights.

I have been reading a fair few posts and they all seem to lean towards the "tropics" schedule, but I dont really know what that is exactly and how it converts into the setup that I have.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Dean

 

Hi Dean
in the tropics, winter and summer the day lenghts vary very little you get about 12 hours daylight and 12 hours of darkness - it varies by about 1 hour between summer and winter
many people prefer to start the day and end it with just actinics in order there is a gradual increase and decrease bewteen dark and light and vica versa

I personally have 6 tubes on 3 switches and turn on 2 actinics 1st, 2 x 10K second and 2 x 14k third

thus my actinic are on for 12 hours, my 10K on for 11 hours and my 14 K on for 10 hours


Steve

 

Hi Steve,

Thanks for clarifying that for me. Do I need to keep the actinics on all day?

I was thinking the following:

6am: Actinics on
7am: 10K on
8am: Actinics off + 14K on
11am: 20K on + 10K off
2pm: 20K off + 10K on
5pm: Actinics on + 14K off
6pm: 14K off
8pm: Actinics off


I know that is 14 hours want some lights on during the early night when everyone is active in the house.

Would I have any problems with too much light in a 50G tank?

Cheers,
Dean

 

Hi Dean

I keep my actinics on all day - its not just a decorative effect light, some of the corals/ symbiotic algaes utilise this light from the blue colour end of the spectrum

I dont see any great issues with having lights on for a total of 14 hours to be honest, as the last couple of hours and the 1st one are actinics only so your only going to have 11 hours of full light

Steve

 

I have a 4 bult setup. 2 x actinics and 2 x 10k. My lighting is
actinics on at 8 AM.
10K on at 10AM.
10K off a 7:30 and Actinics off a 8:30

Its a bit over 12 hours but works well for our tank and lifestyle.