As part of my investigation into my bleaching corals, Im trying to figure out what a decent light cycle is-
PLEASE POST YOUR LIGHT CYCLES AND LETS COMAPARE NOTES
Heres My current cycle:
2pm Actinic on
2:30pm VHO on
7pm VHO off/MH On
10:30MH off
11:30Actinic off
Im currently going for 8hrs of growth light. might not be enough, but Im transitioning to MH. I also hear mixed stories about 8, 10 and 12hr cycles. namely that the longer cycles dont really translate to higher growth and may lead to higher algea growth… what do you guys think?
I run 7:15am to 10 pm with my standard florescent and single VHO. I only have 1 zoanthid (no other light demanding creatures). I have no algae issues, but I do have somewhat of a DSB and a turbo snail that works a full time job.
Actinics on at 9 (abount)
Daylights (10K) come on at 10
Daylights off at 8 (about)
Actinics off at 9
I have noticed increased algae on occasion, but usually a result of overfeeding rather then lighting. Not sure how it applies to increased / decreased growth. I do however know that the areas of the world our corals live in naturally get about 12 hours of sunlight a day year round. And I think we all try to simulate nature as best we can.
Ours comes on at 1pm and goes off at 1am. Mainly, I chose that length so that it is on when we are home and we have plenty of time to enjoy it. We have seen no detrimental effects on the corals from the extended light schedule and growth is pretty good. We dont have SPS thought, so I cant comment on them.
i run my dual 175 watt metal halide from 3 pm till around 11 pm. i also run 160 watts of flouresent bulbs >2 mairine glows and 2 50/50 bulbs at same time. notice a little brown on bed and glass on occasion from lights but really no hair or any other algea at all.
As normal I’m probably no where near the average, but actually no where near where I would like to be as well. On average since I moved and have not yet hooked my automation up I turn my lights on at 10:30am and they go off around 2-3am. No ill effects anywhere eccept for a higher electric bill and my new display has a little extra algae in it.(which is expected anyways because it’s new)
Typically though I ran my lights for about 10 hours a day and had no transition at all as far as dusk, dawn, and mid day. Corals could care less about the sudden change. The biggest reason to run actinics in the am at night is not to shock the fish and for looks for us. Some corals pop brighter under just actinics.
Maybe you could slowly adjust things to make it 9 hours a day. Give the corals a little more time to build up some extra energy. Wouldn’t be a drastic change and might help just a little bit.