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Originally Posted by gooliver  Rob, i notice you are running a rather short MH period (5 hours) - can u share your lighting specifications and your overall experience with photoperiod. Also, do you know of any good articles on the subject?
PS. I have began listening to the podcasts a few weeks ago...im up to episode 30 and closing in. Since I've started listening to the podcasts, my ride home from work on the infamous 405 freeway (more like a parking lot) has become educational and fun. keep up the good work 
Golan |
yes, actually i don't have any articles on short
photoperiods, however some time back i started seeing people talk about it, and did what research i could. basically, i found that its mostly a waste to run the
MH for more than a few hours in most cases. this of course is specific to your lights setup and inhabitants.
for me i have 2 250 XM 10,000K
MH bulbs. i have many corals, that fall into height and medium light needs along with clams that need high light. the research i did do indicated that after as little as 2 or 3 hours of
MH lighting most of your corals reach a photo-saturation point where they are no longer making good use of the available light.
this leaves you in a situation where you have lights on for only a couple hours, but since this is the main lighting in many tanks people don't want to only look at there tank during a 2-3 hour window so they leave them on longer.
in my case about 8 months ago i started shortening my
photo period from 8 to 5 or 6 hours, and some day i wont turn the light on at all (leaving only my
actinics on there normal schedule). i cant say i have had drastic results, but i have notice better coloration in many of my coral. again, its not drastic, and may not even be related to the shorter photperiod, but at this point my stuff is growing and looking good, the lights are on when im home and my electrical bill is lower..
ryan 
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