lighting questions

[SuRFeR BoY]

i read and was told that you should not run metal halides all day .. vhos in the morning , at noon metal halides for 2 hurs and then vhos again in the evening. this gives you the high noon affect. this true and necc? i have a softies tank and run the same 220 watts of vhos all day long.. my window stays open when i wake up at 6 for school so as the sun comes up the tnak gets light. at 12 my tank lights turn on and then the run straight through till about 1- 1 30 in the morning.. now the blinds on my window are still open so the sun slowly goes down.. so tech. they are getting less light... does this act the same. as what i described earlier?

 

[Harif87]

I think its best to run the MH's for about 8-10 hrs and let the lights startup and finishup with the VHOs. 2 hrs a day might be way too little.

 

[DonCisco]

2 hrs seem to be too little, remember that this are tropical creatures, in nature the "noon" sun last from 10am to like 2 pm, so I would say a minimum of 4 hrs. I myself run the MH for 6 hr, the rest of the time, PC with 1 hr either side of actinics only.

 

[SuRFeR BoY]

nice.. thanks guys.. im thinking about purchasing.. i have to see my budget cause then the eletric bill comes in to place lol.. so far its a softies tank and i run 220 watts on 55 gallons..