Lighting/ Timers/length

[robbous]

Ok here are my questions on lighting. to get the dawn to dusk affect and moonlighting, what is a good time to have the ACTINIC fluorescent lights come on and how long do they stay on for? what about the metal halide lamps a good time to turn these on and how long do they run for. then back to the ACTINIC fluorescent lights, and then the moon lights, do the moon light have to come on or is this just for the viewers pleasure, do the ACTINIC fluorescent lights and metal all stay on at the same time? ( exp: the metal halide lights are on while these are on do the ACTINIC fluorescent lights stay on also) what about timers what types of timers to use, can you use a power strip with these? i will be running coralife 48" Aqualight Pro on my 90 gal 21" deep tank that have.Two 150 watt 10,000K double-ended HQI metal halide lamps,Two 96 watt True Actinic 03 Blue square-pin compact fluorescent lamps,four 1 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow 470nm LED lamps.can anyone recomend some timers?? and a pwer strip?

 

[JohnK]

Lots O questions...

I'd say about 10-12 hrs / day is typical to run actinics, and about 6-10 for MH, but some go longer. I set my light cycles so they'll be on when I'm home so sunset is about midnight.

Moonlights are largely for viewing purposes, but they may have other benifits, IIRC it's sort of debatable???

For timers, Any of the heavy duty ones from home Depot will do. All of the inexpensive ones WILL wear out after a yr or three. I find the digital ones to be well worth the extra few $'s, but they too wear out. Don't use the light duty, non-grounded timers especially for MH, I've melted a few (which means a fire probably wasn't far off). NOW, If you really want a good timer that will last, get one of the big very heavy duty ones at HD, same isle, but $40-50. They look like grey electrical boxes and are about 4 times the size of the little ones. You have to wire them yourself (easy), but they are many times more reliable than any of the $10-20 ones. I'd suggest shelling out the cash for one of these for the MH, maybe a bit overkill, but much better than a fire

Most power strips work fine. Just don't overload them.

Always remember a drip loop in all your power cords.

HTH

 

[smcnally]

Here's a link to where we discussed lighting schedules before. Different people posted their schedules in it. http://bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=28989&highlight=schedule

 

[robbous]

This what i bought for my coralife 48" aqualight pro
http://cgi.ebay.com/CORALIFE-DIGITA...ZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem is this a good timer for my lights?

 

[JohnK]

Ehh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those corallife strip/timers have rep for, well, ummmm, yea, fire

Search around a bit, you'll probably find some horror stories. Try just googling "corallife timer" or something similar.

 

[JohnK]

Huh, I did some searching myself for those horror stories but couldn't find anything. I could be wrong, it might only be the non-digital corallife timer/power strips that are notorious for problems.

Just take it with a grain of salt and use caution with that. Maybe someone else will chime in and clarify.

jk

 

[Behrmon]

Good timer:

http://www.intermatic.com/Default.asp?action=prod&pid=9235&did=5&cid=44&sid=116

 

[smcnally]

Ehh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those corallife strip/timers have rep for, well, ummmm, yea, fire

Search around a bit, you'll probably find some horror stories. Try just googling "corallife timer" or something similar.

Digital or not, THIS has always scared me away from their products.

 

[robbous]

Wow i did not realize these were no good, why does the company make these timers if they cause fires?? i really need to use some kind of timers for my lights mentioned above, what is the best brand to use?? that wont cause a fire?

 

[Behrmon]

Good timer:

http://www.intermatic.com/Default.asp?action=prod&pid=9235&did=5&cid=44&sid=116

I still think this is a good choice.