Timed Lighting

[KookyNewky]

I have read posts where people are talking about having their lighting system on a timer. What settings should be used as far as on/off is concerned?

 

[Mikef1]

What do you have for lighting? Actinics and daylight bulbs, ect?

 

[KookyNewky]

Both

 

[Mikef1]

generaly I have my actinics come on for an hour by themselves, then I have my daylight bulbs come on with them for 8-10 hours and at the end I again run the actinics for an hour giving you a 10-12 hour photoperiod depending on how long you run your day bulbs.

 

[KookyNewky]

Thankyou

 

[Mikef1]

Your Welcome, and welcome to Reefs.Org

 

[FranklinP]

dumb question but working all day when I come home I want to see my tank so I turn the lights on for an additional 2 hours or so past dark (no I have no life) so when I get corals in there is that going to mess them up????? Kinda related so it's not hijacking right?

 

[taikonaut]

FranklinP, your coral is having jet-lag whenever you do that!

Seriously, it should not harm them in any way, but for consistency, why don't you shift the time by 2 hours so that you don't have to do that very often?

 

[Anonymous]

you get a timer...this way you can have your lights come on a couple hours before hand.. .... i run mine from 2-10 pm...8hrs which is really on the low side..my time comes on at 2 and shuts the lights out when i head to bed...i never have to mess with it..

 

[KookyNewky]

I was just thinking of another question...

I know in nature reefs would actually see a minimum of 12 hours daily plus the sunrise and sunset hours. Is there a maximum number of hours you should expose your reef tank to?

 

[leftovers]

At the equator the sunrise and sunset are exactly 12 hrs apart so your reef would see really only 12 hrs of light...you can get pedantic and fight semantics over this but the reality is that corals dont get anywhere near 12hrs of constant light.

There is no reason to not run your blue lights full time along with white and metal halide.

So with that in mind many many folks do the following:

Blue VHO -12 hrs
White VHO - 10 hrs
Metal Halide - 8-10 hrs

This simulates the way light tends to move anyways. Unless your coral sits on top of a coral mount (obviusly coral location is everything with regards to light it receives) it rarely if ever receives 12 full hours of full daylight.

Also virtually all reef lights sold are actinic lights in that they are tuned to give the spectrum required for optimum photosythesis. This hobby for some stupid reason likes to call just the blue lights actinic.