Hello all,
So today I got a new light! Since my saltwater hobby has been more expensive than I had initially planned I have been scouring ebay for deals. Last week I won a new seaclone 100 protein skimmer (not the CPR I was hoping for, but from what I've read, the seaclone is actually a great unit). I should get that tomorrow.
The other thing I won was a PFO 250 watt HQI metal halide with a Hamilton 14K bulb. Here's my idea... My current photo period is from 9:00am until 11:00pm with a Coral Life aqualight with 1 10K and 1 actinic. Now I plan on running both, but as this is winter I'm trying to conserve energy somewhat.
I'm thinking I will turn on the aqualight at 9am, like normal, I'll run that until 4 and then I will turn off the aqualight and turn on the metal halide for about 6 hours until 10:00, then the aqualight again until 11. Note that all those times would include a 30 minute overlap.
Q1) Is 6 hours sufficient time for the metal halide to be on? I currently have some zoas, kenyas, blastos, GSP, and green monti-cap, but I want some more LPS corals like a frogspawn soon.
Q2) What suggestions/adjustments would you suggest I make to this schedule?
Q3) Do you think it would be better to leave the aqualight as 50/50 or should I replace the 10K daylight with another actinic?
Thanks all for your input!
(Also, with regard to the acclimation, I will use the screen method and start with 3 layers or so of screen and each week I will take away 1 layer.)
So today I got a new light! Since my saltwater hobby has been more expensive than I had initially planned I have been scouring ebay for deals. Last week I won a new seaclone 100 protein skimmer (not the CPR I was hoping for, but from what I've read, the seaclone is actually a great unit). I should get that tomorrow.
The other thing I won was a PFO 250 watt HQI metal halide with a Hamilton 14K bulb. Here's my idea... My current photo period is from 9:00am until 11:00pm with a Coral Life aqualight with 1 10K and 1 actinic. Now I plan on running both, but as this is winter I'm trying to conserve energy somewhat.
I'm thinking I will turn on the aqualight at 9am, like normal, I'll run that until 4 and then I will turn off the aqualight and turn on the metal halide for about 6 hours until 10:00, then the aqualight again until 11. Note that all those times would include a 30 minute overlap.
Q1) Is 6 hours sufficient time for the metal halide to be on? I currently have some zoas, kenyas, blastos, GSP, and green monti-cap, but I want some more LPS corals like a frogspawn soon.
Q2) What suggestions/adjustments would you suggest I make to this schedule?
Q3) Do you think it would be better to leave the aqualight as 50/50 or should I replace the 10K daylight with another actinic?
Thanks all for your input!
(Also, with regard to the acclimation, I will use the screen method and start with 3 layers or so of screen and each week I will take away 1 layer.)