How long do you run your lights?

armouredcat · Post by **armouredcat** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:00 am

I thought I had gotten rid of that awful red cyanobacteria, but it just keeps coming back.

After getting tired of looking at it, and knowing that the stuff grows quickly with the lights on I just cut the lights to the tank....for 2 days. I breifly turned them back on to see that there was no trace of the cyanobacteria. I have decided to cut my tank lights back to just a few hours a day.

So...how long do you run your lights?

I was running mine for about 15 hours per day...not that it started out that long but with power outages and what not the day just go longer.

Post by **snoopdog** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:44 am

Maybe 10 hours.

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:44 am

I had they cyano also and cutting the lights didn't work for me. I was down to running the MH for 2 hrs a day and the T5s for about 8. I just got new bulbs and thats why I had the MH on for such a short period. A few weeks back I noticed that the cyano was at its worst in the morning before the lights even came on. At that point I knew there was something other than the lights that were the problem.

In about 3-4 months I'll let everyone know if i fixed things. I'm cooking my for the next 2 months and then putting the tank back up. It is a pain but I'm able to change some plumbing issues I have and hopefully get it right this time. What I have now is functioning but isn't as streamlined as it could be.

Post by **snoopdog** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:45 am

10 Hours a day at home. 8 Hours a day at work.

I have only had this stuff when.

1) starting a new tank.
2) disrupting the sand bed.

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:03 am

Mine is gone now too.. But in the last week I took out all the LR out of the tank and took down the fuge. The only thing in the tank right now is a rock of purple shrooms and a leopard wrasse and sand. Since I took down all the other stuff the cyano seemed to just melt away.

Post by **snoopdog** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:54 am

It always seems to be related to some type of dying organic matter. In the past if I had a coral die off I would notice some around the dying coral.

GermanShepherdGirl · Post by **GermanShepherdGirl** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:30 pm

I run my actinic florescents for 12 hours (10am-10pm). I have 3 250watt MH's that I run for 5 hours each and they come on and go off each at different hours: MH1 (1pm-6pm), MH2 (2pm-7pm), MH3 (3pm-8pm). So I only have full lighting power for 3 hours a day with a total of 12 hours of light before all the lights go out. I have moonlights for night time. My tank even sits by the front window which faces the south. I get some green algae but the snails take care of most of it. I'm starting to get a good bit of coraline on the glass which I need to scrap off before it gets too bad. So far I've never had a problem with the red algae (knock on wood!)