Reef Discussion

[NiCd]

Hey Everyone,

I just finished installing a new light fixture over the weekend and am in the fun process of trying to get the colours right. Something that I have never put too much thought into though is the photoperiod.

Back with MH it was always 12 hours, the last few LED set ups I have came defaulted with 8 hour photoperiods and I have run with that (being lazy) and I cant say that I have had any issues with it.

I was just wondering if people have played around with this an noticed any difference in growth, nutrient levels, colour etc by going either on the shorter or longer end of things?

 

[Wrangy]

I've always run longer, usually a total time of 14hrs of light. At the moment for me it's 14hrs of4x 24w t5's and 5hrs of a 250w MH.

When I was running my Illumagic Blaze it was similar as well, 14hrs total. 3hrs of ramping up blues --> 1hr of ramping up with whites --> 6hrs everything on max --> 1hr whites ramping down --> then another 3hrs of blues and that seemed to work really well with all my corals and clams and it would be something I would trial if I were going led's again :) I did notice an improvement in health, growth and colour when I went from 12 to 14hrs with far more blue and a more intense max period though. One other thing I noticed was algae growth was slower due to more blue and less usable white period.

I think for me 14hrs total with 4-7hrs of max depending on lights is what seems to be working :)

 

[NiCd]

I have always had lights coming on about mid day but for the 6 hours before than I get direct sunlight, which I guess gives me around 14 hours in total but I dont know to what extent the sunlight plays and to if I should actually count that?

 

[Wrangy]

I have always had lights coming on about mid day but for the 6 hours before than I get direct sunlight, which I guess gives me around 14 hours in total but I dont know to what extent the sunlight plays and to if I should actually count that?

I would be curious if you could measure the sunlight and see what/if it's having any effects in terms of usable output. The worst thing you could do would be add some more lighting during the morning (mainly blues as it will have the least impact to begin with) and see what happens?

What sort of lights have you got over the tank now? And are you a blue person, anti-blue person or you don't care either way as long as the corals are happy?

 

[NiCd]

My light fixture broke at the end of warranty a little over six months back and I had been working out a solution with elos.

I have been staring at solid blue lighting for the last 6 months, so went a bit over the top with white when it came to the final specs of my new light as I was never a blue person to begin with and this has cemented the fact even more.

The new fixture is a one off custom elos planet pro that's 100cm long and runs mixed whites, reds, UV and some new blue mix that I dont understand but its meant to bridge the gap that is meant to be missing from the other leds on the market.

I dont have a PAR meter but looking the corals do have a bend towards the natural light. I wonder if by increasing the overhead light period it might at the very least stop this?

 

[Mattres]

That Planet Pro sounds wicked!
Hope u have a pic!
I've always had a photo period about 12-13 hours long, any shorter than that and I don't get to enjoy the tank much at night. Similar to you I get some sun shining in during the morning. My light starts ramping up from 10am

 

[Aspidites]

Ramp up at 9am, full between 1pm and 6pm and ramp down till 10pm.
I also have a 30 day moon cycle so there is always some night time blue happenning. My corals act differently on full and no moon nights.

 

[MagicJ]

To me, the key is the amount of PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) the corals are receiving, and not necessarily the time taken to deliver that PAR.

The MH had no dimming mechanism and so the 12 hours was full on light. Modern LED's, which have nice dimming/ramping capabilities, allow the light levels to be varied throughout the day. So, the 12 hours of MH might be PAR equivalent to the 14 hours of varied LED light.

Personally, I run a 9 hour photoperiod, from 1pm to 10pm. @Mattres why don't you start your photoperiod later in the day so that you can enjoy the tank of an evening?

 

[Mattres]

To me, the key is the amount of PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) the corals are receiving, and not necessarily the time taken to deliver that PAR.

The MH had no dimming mechanism and so the 12 hours was full on light. Modern LED's, which have nice dimming/ramping capabilities, allow the light levels to be varied throughout the day. So, the 12 hours of MH might be PAR equivalent to the 14 hours of varied LED light.

Personally, I run a 9 hour photoperiod, from 1pm to 10pm. @Mattres why don't you start your photoperiod later in the day so that you can enjoy the tank of an evening?

I start it at that time as I felt funny about the room lights coming on and off so many times before the tank lights would come on. 4 people getting ready in the mornings all at different times. Maybe I'm just over thinking it.

 

[somethingfishy76]

A slight blue in the mornings and a deeper blue in the evenings. During the day a crispier white to simulate a well lit rock face. 10am to 5pm on high. Ive dropped it back to 75-80% recently as I found 100% to be a bit too high.