Cali Kid Corals

Lighting Schedule / Photo Period

yellojello

yellojello

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I've read a few threads from old BAR threads, and stumbled across a few others on other forums, about Shorter Photo Period = Better Coral Health.
The old BAR threads are from 2009 and some 2010. Since LED's have been in use a lot now, let's see those updated schedules. Or any changes you made and noticed any improvements. Also, I forgot if the consensus was to have the sump light exactly opposite of Display lights, or to have some full darkness in between.

Old:

Reefbrite Blue's @ 16.6 brightness : On at 9:30 AM | Off at 8:30 PM (11 hours)
Phoenix 14k 250W SE : On at 11:00 AM | Off at 7:00 PM (8 hours)
Sump Light : On at 10:00 PM | Off at 8:00 AM (12 hours)
Moonlights : Follows Moon Schedule

Thinking of switching to:

Reefbrite Blue's @ something brighter maybe 20 : On at 9:30 AM | Off at 5:30 PM (8 hours)
Phoenix 14k 250W SE : On at 11:00 AM | Off at 4:00 PM (5 hours)
Sump Light : On at 8:30 PM | Off at 6:30 AM (12 hours)
Moonlights : Follows Moon Schedule
 
Why are you thinking about going lower? Are you having issues? If not, I suggest not changing it just for the heck of it.
 
Blue LEDs go on at 3:30 and off at 1:30am (10 hours).
Whites go on at 4:30pm and off at 12:30 (8 hours).

I don't want to mess with it too much. It's a substantial increase in light from the weak MH that I was using temporarily and that is with both channels dialed in to ~50% output. I'm increasing the brightness over the course of several weeks. If I adjust the photoperiod it'll be when the LEDs get brighter and only as necessary... I'm keeping more demanding specimens now and moving my softies to parts of the tank where they get a little less light. So far everything seems happy except my torch, which has been declining for some time (before the new lights).
 
MH are only on for 5 hours each side (staggered 1 hour). RB's are on in the morning when I wake up and in the afternoon. When one MH is on RB's are on to keep the other side of the tank lit. When both MH's are on RB's are off. Moon lights are on when RB's or MH are off.

From my Apex.

Blue Reef Brites
If Time 07:00 to 09:00 Then ON
If Time 11:50 to 14:01 Then ON
If Time 17:59 to 20:10 Then ON

50/50 Reef Brites
If Time 07:20 to 09:00 Then ON
If Time 12:15 to 14:01 Then ON
If Time 17:59 to 19:20 Then ON

Left MH
If Time 13:00 to 18:00 Then ON

Right MH
If Time 14:00 to 19:00 Then ON

Fuge light
If Time 20:08 to 12:05 Then ON

Moon light
If Time 09:00 to 11:50 Then ON
If Time 20:08 to 07:01 Then ON
 
Yellow- your new lighting schedule would have minimal time for tank viewing. I haven't heard of shorter light durations = better coral health, that doesn't make sense unless someone is oversdosing their corals with light in the 1st place.
I do have sump light opposite display tank. I don't have any evidence to prove it's better but have heard it's good for keeping the oxygen levels higher & ph more stable.
 
It certainly does make sense if you are aware of why :) With higher intensity lights you reach photo saturation quicker. MH's are known to do this which is why people run them less, well, amongst other reasons like saving a little $$$.

Jake Adam's did a good job explaining why when he came out and gave a talk to the club a few years back. I he also did an article in AAOL on it.

I think it's covered in this seriea:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/6/aafeature2
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/9/aafeature2
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/11/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature

and if it's not covered, well, you got to learn about flow :lol:

FWIW reverse photo period doesn't increase O2, it just doesn't allow CO2 to build up which suppresses your PH.
 
Yeah, i remember that most plants max out at about 6 hours of high intensity light then their chlorophyll waits for night fall to processes the stored up energy. I'm sure corals are something similar, but what's high intensity for what corals *shrug*. I remember some guy having his lights on a 6 on 6 off schedule but I can't recall if it did any good.
 
When I used to have halides and T5s:

1200pm T5s on
1pm halide on
7pm halide off
10pm T5s off

Now with my dimmable LEDs

8am 1% of royal blue ON, then the intensity of the 3 leds gradually increases during the day and highest intensity is around 3pm-6pm(W 25% B 35% RB 35%), then it goes down from 7pm to 11pm...depending on the lunar cycle, the moonlights are on or off. The light is pretty much on from 8am-11pm.
 
Sfork said:
Yeah, i remember that most plants max out at about 6 hours of high intensity light then their chlorophyll waits for night fall to processes the stored up energy. I'm sure corals are something similar, but what's high intensity for what corals *shrug*. I remember some guy having his lights on a 6 on 6 off schedule but I can't recall if it did any good.
Click to expand...
6 on 6 off creates havoc within the poor coral. Horrible idea and an awesome way to harm your coral.
 
I know some plants and trees can aim their leaves to increase and decrease light absorbtion, increase or decrease water demand, etc. I wonder if soft corals posses a similiar trait?
 
Sfork said:
Yeah, i remember that most plants max out at about 6 hours of high intensity light then their chlorophyll waits for night fall to processes the stored up energy. I'm sure corals are something similar, but what's high intensity for what corals *shrug*. I remember some guy having his lights on a 6 on 6 off schedule but I can't recall if it did any good.
Click to expand...

I have tried that 6/6/6/6 cycle on my turf-scrubber, growing algae.
It did result in a minor increase in growth, but not much. Barely noticeable.
But I stopped, since I really prefer to run ATS at night, counter to main tank, for PH/oxygenation/heating.

Doing that for life forms more complex than simple algae seems like a bad idea.
 
How long did you do it for? Some alga will increase for a temporary period, then crash.
 
GreshamH said:
How long did you do it for? Some alga will increase for a temporary period, then crash.
Click to expand...
Hmm. Interesting.
I only did it about 4 weeks, for a test.
But I scrape most of the algae off every week, so that 4 weeks is generally longer than the lifespan on the screen.
 
Not sure how much it has to do single cell over macro. I know it can wreck havoc on some single cell phytos.
 
GreshamH said:
I know some plants and trees can aim their leaves to increase and decrease light absorbtion, increase or decrease water demand, etc. I wonder if soft corals posses a similiar trait?
Click to expand...

I'm certain of it.. at least to some extent. It's happening in my tank right now. My neon toadstool reaches towards the light like a sunflower. At first I wasn't sure but I rotated it around (cruel?) to see if it would re-adjust and lo and behold within a couple days it had tilted back towards the light again, regardless of current flow.
 
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