Anyone run this T5 combo before? BP and CP

[Miami Reef]

I wouldn't run them that long.........that's a lot of light for an 8 bulb fixture.

I run my 6 bulb sunpower 7 hours all on/off.

I would do 7 all on and 1.5 or on hour on each end with two max. That would 9.5 to 10 hours. If you aren't there to view the tank for all 7 of those hours I would even try to cut down even more to 6-6.5 hours all eight.

This makes sense. The ocean doesn’t really get that much light.

I will have to make the tank on from 3pm to 11pm

I just wish I could have light at 11am just for one hour.

Because I get guests on Saturdays at 11am for one one hour.

Maybe I can have 2 bulbs on for one hour at 11am and then I’ll have the tank from 3pm to 11pm?

 

[Big E]

This makes sense. The ocean doesn’t really get that much light.

I will have to make the tank on from 3pm to 11pm

I just wish I could have light at 11am just for one hour.

Because I get guests on Saturdays at 11am for one one hour.

Maybe I can have 2 bulbs on for one hour at 11am and then I’ll have the tank from 3pm to 11pm?

The big difference is our lights are static and in reality the earth is moving around the sun so even though the duration and intensity are higher in nature a coral doesn't get baked for hours from the exact same spot.

The corals in our tanks don't need anywhere near the same duration or par.

I've never tried to run light stages broken up but I don't see why you couldn't experiment with this and watch how corals react.

 

[spsick]

@Miami Reef fwiw on my 6 bulb I currently run 2 bulbs for 12 hours and all 6 bulbs for 5 hours and have good results. That’s with an even balance of B+ and C+ bulbs- including the 2 for the long period.
I think the goal is to provide a certain amount of energy to the corals and it can be done in a shorter full blast period or an extended period of less PAR. My photoperiod allows longer viewing. I think maybe my acro growth was a tiny bit better when I ran closer to 6 hours and 10 hours but my LPS are growing faster now than ever.

 

[homer1475]

I've always run 3 blue+, 1 coral+, and 2 true actinics in my 6 bulb setup, with the addition of 2 reefbrite XHO blue bars.

I start with my 2 reefbrite bars around 7am, then turn on my actinics bulbs at 8:00, then full light at 9am. I reverse the on schedule starting at 7pm, and all off by 9pm.

I guess I run 14 hours, but only 10 hours of full light.

 

[Miami Reef]

Update: I am using 4 blue plus and 4 coral plus in my 8 bulb fixture. I actually have 2 of the 8 bulb fixtures for my 260 gallon tank.

The color is a nice crisp blue with white undertones. I actually think it’s almost a little too blue which is great since corals are going to pop with fluorescence!

 

[Miami Reef]

Only 8 hours a day. No ramp. If I have guests invited for the weekends I can manually have the lights on for that hour. Most of the time we see the tank after work which is during its schedule.

I will experiment with actinics in a later date to see the effects myself. I definitely wanted to start with the tried and true first!

 

[Miami Reef]

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