polarbear Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Do you need to run actinic lights? Those of you who have MH lighting, do you run actinic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEN H Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Hello. We do run them. We keep the MH on for 8-9 hours, remember that a full photosynthetic day is about 10-12 hours. After the big lights click off we keep the actinic lights running till about 9pm then they automatically switch off and the moonlights come one. If is important to run the actinic lights to give all your smaller creatures the extra light that is not as intense as the MH. So, just run them so you are essentially getting a total of 10-12 hours of combined light and you will be fine. Hope all works out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 Do you run MH lighting on your 29 gallon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I would like to. I am running just MH's now and would prefer a 10k MH and added actinics. However, I just have pendants so am running 14k MHs. It works and looks fine but I love how a tank looks with actinics only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 Is you MH light a 150w? How do you deal with the rise in temp? Do you have a picture of your setup? I would like to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEN H Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Mitchel, Who are you asking the question to about the 29 gallon tank and the MH lights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted October 3, 2009 Author Share Posted October 3, 2009 Either you or Zara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEN H Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 We do not run the MH on the smaller 29 gallon tank, only on the 210. Our 29 gallon we just use the T-5's and keep them on for about 10 ours and then run the actinic lights. It works just fine and our corals are fine and healthy. Hope it helps, Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted October 3, 2009 Author Share Posted October 3, 2009 Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonSequitur Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 I don't run actinics with my MHs currently, so I run 14k lamps to get the blue look. Eventually I'll probably switch to 6500k or 10k lamps and t5 actinics so I can have a sunrise/sunset effect, but for now the system works fine with 12 hrs of 14k MH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 I don't run actinics with my MHs currently, so I run 14k lamps to get the blue look. Eventually I'll probably switch to 6500k or 10k lamps and t5 actinics so I can have a sunrise/sunset effect, but for now the system works fine with 12 hrs of 14k MH. Polarbear, As opinions go, I do not run actinics on my outside propagation system. Because I want growth and am noy interested in color, I do not push the soft corals and macro-algae. On my show tank, I use T5 in a 50:50 ratio with 19K bulbs. I have been very dissapointed in the T5 actinices that I have purchased. I run all tank lights for twevle hours. Refugium lights, as a rule, or on an oppossite light cycles. Pat C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 I run both MH and actinics and 6700ks. i recently switched to 10 t5s to see if their is a difference b/t them. normally i run 1 250w MH 4 actinics 2 Giesemann Pure actinics/2 Giesemann actinic +/2 GLO 6700k midday bulbs, with a phoenix 14k. i like the Giesemann bulbs better than anything else. as far as the white or midday type light the GLO 6700k is a very white bulb for a 6700k bulb and i like that the Giesemann 10k/6700k bulbs are very yellow and ugly. with the 10 t-5 setup im running all the above plus 2 more actinics, minus the MH. i really like the look of the tank with the actinics i like the blue look. i do miss the shimmer from the MH bulbs. if i had a 29g nano i would still run a 150-250w MH pendent but it really depends on what you have in your tank. if you have sps and lps i would run a pendent open top with a fan blowing over the top of the tank for cooling. the MH can raise the tank temp some but running it topless will help drastically with that i know Zarathrustra2 had a very nice 29g nano and ran the MH lights on it i believe he had a 150w (i may be wrong on the size) pendent over than setup it was a very nice tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Also, depending on what type of tank you have i know most nano cube type tanks have upgraded tops with MH built in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted October 3, 2009 Author Share Posted October 3, 2009 will mine is a biocube. the top and the lights come off. I have a 150w 14k MH light fixture that sits on top. The band is Current. it has a fan built into it. I will probably have to have some more fans. Is there a was to hook the fans up to the light fixture so them come on when the lights come on? or do i have to plug them up on their own. thanks for all the feed back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 you can plug them into a power strip with the MH and turn it all on at the same time. but thats all i can think of without splicing the cords togeather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted October 3, 2009 Author Share Posted October 3, 2009 cool. thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonSequitur Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 I'm not sure what voltage the stock fan in the biocube uses, but if you can get fans that operate at the same voltage you can probably splice them into the existing fan circuit, but the easiest way is probably what mhart suggested, plugging them into the same power strip as the MH fixture, then plugging that into the timer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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