Lighting question

[knowles101]

Hey guys, this might sound like a weird question but my light fixture has 2 switches, one for my dusk/dawn bulbs and one for my Day bulbs...should they both be running at the same time during the day or should the dusk/dawn bulbs only come on for those times?

[mikerobart]

Depends on a few things. If your daylights completely overpower your dusk/dawns (actinics ?) and aren't even noticeable when daylights are on  you may choose to have the dusk/dawns go off when the daylights come on. If you like the colour they add, leave them on.

More info on the type of lights would help!

For example in my case, with a 2x250w MH  + 2x24w PC actinics, I will turn the actinics off when the MH come on.. you can't even notice a difference really( the colour of my MH is such that they don't make much difference.)

On the other hand, if you had say 2x250w MH + 4x54w t5ho's, I'd be inclined to leave those on!

If it's all t5, or all pc, you probably want to leave both on for a good portion of the 'day' part of your light cycle.

[Rybren]

By dusk to dawn, do you mean LED moonlights or blue actinics?

If LED moonlights, then there's no need for them during the day.  If you mean the actinics, then most would have them go on for an hour or so before the daylights.  The daylights would then come on for 8-10 hrs along with the actinics. The actinics would stay on for an hour or so after the daylights go off.  If you have moonlights, then they would come on as the actinics go off.  I leave mine on until 7 or 8 am, then the tank gets a bit of filtered light from a distant window.