Lighting Schedule ?

We have "inherited" a 110 gal reef aquarium from our daughter and son-in-law after a job change required relocation on their part.

Everything is going well except I've lost the timer settings on the controller (9 volt battery backup dead) for the lights and I will not be able to get in touch with them for approx. two more weeks. Aquarium is 48 X 18 X 30. There are 2-250 watt metal halide lights, 2-96 watt power compacts and 3 "moon lights" (?). Each can be individually turned on/off but I need a schedule. Tank has fish, coral (soft and stony), invert. 'critters, anemones etc.

Completely new and completely ignorant on this new hobby of ours. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

Paul & Roxanne Mitchell

It would be best to keep it at the schedule it was on
before, but a workable schedule would be to have the metal
halides lights run for 11 hours. Have the compacts turn on
30 minutes before the metal halides, and turn off 30
minutes after the metal halides.

The moon lights are probably led's, so they don't use much
electricity, so it's simple to just leave them on 24/7.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Paul and Roxanne Mitchell wrote on 10/29/2005 10:12 PM:
We have "inherited" a 110 gal reef aquarium from our daughter and
son-in-law after a job change required relocation on their part.

Everything is going well except I've lost the timer settings on the
controller (9 volt battery backup dead) for the lights and I will not be
able to get in touch with them for approx. two more weeks. Aquarium is
48 X 18 X 30. There are 2-250 watt metal halide lights, 2-96 watt power
compacts and 3 "moon lights" (?). Each can be individually turned on/off
but I need a schedule. Tank has fish, coral (soft and stony), invert.
'critters, anemones etc.

Completely new and completely ignorant on this new hobby of ours. Any
help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

Paul & Roxanne Mitchell

"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
It would be best to keep it at the schedule it was on
before,

Yeah, that's part of our problem. Without being able to get with my kids for
a week or two I don't know what schedule he had them on. He came and set
everything up and reset the controller clock and scheduled the lights. When
the power went off for ~10 minutes the other day that's when I realized 9V
was dead and lost my schedule.

but a workable schedule would be to have the metal
halides lights run for 11 hours. Have the compacts turn on
30 minutes before the metal halides, and turn off 30
minutes after the metal halides.

Will do. Thank you

The moon lights are probably led's, so they don't use much
electricity, so it's simple to just leave them on 24/7.

That's exactly what they are.What are those for anyway?


Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Paul and Roxanne Mitchell wrote on 10/29/2005 10:12 PM:
We have "inherited" a 110 gal reef aquarium from our daughter and
son-in-law after a job change required relocation on their part.

Everything is going well except I've lost the timer settings on the
controller (9 volt battery backup dead) for the lights and I will not be
able to get in touch with them for approx. two more weeks. Aquarium is
48 X 18 X 30. There are 2-250 watt metal halide lights, 2-96 watt power
compacts and 3 "moon lights" (?). Each can be individually turned on/off
but I need a schedule. Tank has fish, coral (soft and stony), invert.
'critters, anemones etc.

Completely new and completely ignorant on this new hobby of ours. Any
help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

Paul & Roxanne Mitchell

Paul and Roxanne Mitchell wrote:

That's exactly what they are.What are those for anyway?

They imitate the effect of the moon shining through the water at night.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

They are a night light, imitating the moon light giving
you just enoupgh light so that you can see what's going on
at night.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Paul and Roxanne Mitchell wrote on 10/30/2005 4:42 AM:


That's exactly what they are.What are those for anyway?

So, moon lights on 24/7 schedule is ok? Any ill effects on leaving them on
at all times?

Yea, you will get unusualy high tides in your reef tank :-)

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



TekCat wrote on 10/31/2005 2:48 PM:
So, moon lights on 24/7 schedule is ok? Any ill effects on leaving them on
at all times?

TekCat wrote:

So, moon lights on 24/7 schedule is ok?

Yep. I have mine on a cycler that cuts the intensity down during dark moon
periods, but I think it was probably a waste of money.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

Dana Riddle did some research on this, and talked about a display tank
he saw in some store or home that used LEDs 24/7. Each coral at
opposite ends of the tank where bleached in the exact spot where the LED
hit it, while the rest of the coral was healthy. It would be wiser
to put these on a timer as well, or flip them on when desired.

Marc


TekCat wrote:
So, moon lights on 24/7 schedule is ok? Any ill effects on leaving them on
at all times?



--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

That makes no sence. I'd like to see the article.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Marc Levenson wrote on 11/2/2005 5:03 AM:
Dana Riddle did some research on this, and talked about a display tank
he saw in some store or home that used LEDs 24/7. Each coral at
opposite ends of the tank where bleached in the exact spot where the LED
hit it, while the rest of the coral was healthy. It would be wiser to
put these on a timer as well, or flip them on when desired.

Marc


TekCat wrote:

So, moon lights on 24/7 schedule is ok? Any ill effects on leaving
them on at all times?