Running Metal Halides 12 hrs a day

[ThePurple12]

Very good example to illustrate how a lower kelvin bulbs (right side) will contribute to a higher reproduction of algae comparing to a higher kelvin bulb (left side).
Bring the fixture up, that's too close.
Try 6 hours a day so the system can recover.
Those fixtures are small and designed to concentrate the light right below them. The higher they are placed the better chances you will have using them over that system.
Double ended bulbs have more punch, specially with those fixtures so close.
This is also great to show people that proper halide gear needs to be chosen for the right application.
Look like the LED fixture on the far right is also toasting there!!

You're right, and it's even more noticable now. The hair algae grows much better on the right side. I'll try to get a pic later. Any idea how long it will take to recover?

 

[X-37B]

Thanks, I just took those pics too.
If you have the cash look at OR3 light bars.
1 bar is enough to view the tank in the pop zone, lol.
T5 blue plus work well too but I prefer the look of the blue plus OR3.
I ran both tanks with T5's only before going to MH.

 

[A. grandis]

You're right, and it's even more noticable now. The hair algae grows much better on the right side. I'll try to get a pic later. Any idea how long it will take to recover?

No idea of how long. Every system is different and also depends on how much the damage was.
It could start to show in a week or 2, or after couple of months.
Don't worry, give time to it and relax. Main thing is that you are helping it to recover.

 

[Claybird1985]

My tank's problems are all making sense now! Before I got the 250w halides I think in July, the SPS and anemones were all thriving and there wasn't nearly as much algae. After, things started going downhill. I even lost some acros, and the rest aren't growing at all.

Definitely what the others are saying. I had my three 250w radiums on for 12 hrs a day (selfish I know) along with my four 80w t5 actinic/blueplus/coralplus on 12 hrs (super selfish) and was spending months battling my cyano problems thinking it was just part of my new tank syndrome (11 months in). Coraline was taking forever to get past a few dots here and there on the glass/weir. Biopellets were being consumed at a slow rate. Now it has been about two months since I made changes and holy moly are things different:
Changed the three 250w radiums to 6 hrs starting at 33% dim (using apex/reefbrite ballasts and it works awesome), ramp up over 2 hr period to 100% for two hours then back down to 33% the last two hours. T5s are on for only 8 hrs now.

No more cyano, biopellets getting consumed fast, macro is rapidly growing... Corals looking good again. Newer acro's looking great. Coraline absolutely everywhere on glass and weir. Doing 44 gal water changes about every 2-2.5 weeks and vac'ing sand. Seems like I couldn't cyano back even if I tried! (Knock on glass..)

Long story short yeah reduce the dang time of your halides! Light height did not change and is about 10"ish from top of tank (2ft deep tank).. Them suckers are powerful. I'd like to get some LEDs for viewing and to extend photoperiod but my changes mentioned above has dramatically shifted my whole system.
Now:

Red on glass below sand in this pic is actually diatom bloom (looks red through cam filter) and came up due to me leaving lights on more than 12 hrs for a cpl days. Happens that quick !

And before.. just about two months ago:

Anyway good luck and turn them down!
Clayton

 

[ThePurple12]

Thanks for the story, your tank is looking good. I’ve raised the halides and have them running 8 hours now. I ordered some low power T5s for viewing in the morning and evening. Can’t say I’ve seen any improvement, but from your account this is something that will take a while.

 

[ThePurple12]

The magnifica looks a little better today, but nothing near its former glory.

I ordered 2 48w T5 fixtures from someone on here. The goal of the T5s is to provide enough light to see the tank, but not to power coral, right?

 

[X-37B]

Its been a month. Any updates?

 

[ThePurple12]

Its been a month. Any updates?

Yes, but it's different from what I expected. I actually didn't see any change in the weeks after raising the lights and shortening the photoperiod. I remembered that I had added fertilizer to the sand bed for the seagrass last summer, and found out that it was leaching metals. I replaced the sand bed, did a series of large water changes, and dropped some Cuprisorb in the sump.

My tank is doing great now, corals and anemones are coloring up and growing. It is still possible that shortening the photoperiod helped.