How long do you keep lights on?

[pmcg2513]

Want opinion on how long lights should stay on?

When we first set up tank, water temp would lower (72) in the morning. Trying to keep temp even, my husband set up the lights to go from 6 am to 11 am and again 6 pm to 11 pm. The tank is doing well but wonder if it would be better to keep lights on for a set straight 10-11-12-14 hours?

Have several different corals. Some are over riding the tank (green star polyp) and others are the same or smaller than the day I bought them.

What is your opinion?

[Vilas]

Hey! I used to keep my horse in Mahopac. Nice area!

Keep them on a timer! Mine are on from 11AM to 11PM, everything stays happy. Having 2 cycles of lights is not a good idea, from my understanding. I believe it screws up the photosynthesis. Circadian rhythyms and all of that. Someone else can probably answer this better than I.
Also, get a heater in there! How warm do you keep your tank? My tank stays at 84..the heater keeps it steady. The summer came, so I bumped it up from 80 to 84, to minimize fluctuations.
FWIW...

[pmcg2513]

We do own a heater but not using it currently. It was some discussion between my husband and LSF man who set up the tank. Tank is in the wall under a staircase (Hard access) actually in a closet. We leave the closet light on a lot of the time to also help with temp. We have been using these methods and have kept the tank at a consident 77-78 degrees.

I tend to agree with Vilas. A consident 12-14 hours on and use heater if needed.

Vilas, will you talk my husband into this please.

Thanks

[zerrez]

I leave my actinics on for 12 hours, 10am to 10pm and my mh are on for 10 hours, 11am to 9 pm. Seems to work for me so far.

My two cents

Also I would not use the two light cycles, I would add some fans or something and skip the two cycles. Thats really really going to mess with some corals. You can phase the lights in and out to simulate the sun moving across your tank or something that way you done have them all on at once.

Oh and btw 72degrees is just a dream unless you have a very nice chiller. My tank stays 82degrees 24/7. No way Ill ever see 72. Meaning, dont worry about your temp rising some, unless you go over 86 or so I wouldnt worry.

[zerrez]

BTW Vilas, haha, about your sig. Before I sold my 225 a few months ago, I had the tops off due to cleaning it all out. I left to goto the store and my brother said they heard a very loud splash and a scream. They ran into the room and the cat was just in the process of pulling herself out of the tank. Man I wish I would have seen that, and its a good thing I was breaking down the tank and not worried about the cat in the tank hehe.


Sorry to butt into the thread but that cracked me up.

[Vilas]

Hey, as far as talking your husband into it, post on Dr. Ron's forum for a real scientific explanation as to why this is necessary.
However, from my limited knowledge, it's something like how we work. Circadian rhythyms are documented in humans and other animals - we need a constant cycle of night and day, something akin to the wild. You see your corals close up when the lights are off, they assume it is night, and open back up in the day. In studies that keep people underground with no clocks or set day and night, as studied in any psych 101 class, people get all kind of wonked up. Jet lagged travellers, stewardesses and pilots - the same thing. Corals, of course, are very different kinds of animals, but they're also photosynthetic. They -eat- light, if you want to think of it that way. (Yum, yum, a large actinic, hold the mayo!) Dr. Ron can explain the photosynthetic process to its fullest, but I can say that you really want a set aside day and night, not two mini-days.
Anyways, so there's my ramble.
I miss mahopac! Do you ever go to the LFS in between croton and ossining, in that little plaza..can't remember the name. Their reef tank was what first inspired the stirrings of the love of saltwater in me...
and as far as the sig goes, well, g33k (the grey cat, our mischevious dear) found a way of balancing on the hood when the lights are off for water changes and trying to get the cleaner shrimp, who's completley DELIGHTED to clean this large hairy arm! aieeeeeee! :eek1:

[mirski57]

FWIW, I have mine on a timer set to run from 10am - 9pm. Because of the MH's, the temp goes from 79@10am - 81.5@9pm.

[Marco]

I leave my actinics on for 14hrs and my whites for 12hrs. I would think if you had 2 light cycles a day it would force your corals to open and close twice a day therefore reduce their light absorption time. I would go with an all day cycle.

Just my .02

[kmu]

NO's are on for 12 hrs and VHO's are on for 5hrs. But the tank is in a room where three sides are glass, so it gets allot of daylight from the sun, thats probably why I didn't use metal halide. There are also curtains to simulate weaker periods of light and also intense periods of lights.

What do you duys think?

Mario Camou

[gialitt]

assuming you have 3-5 watts / gallon as loose minimum standard for keeping typical reef inhabitants then 8-10 hours is recommended. 12 hours or more means algae problems.