Cloudy Days over the Reefs

[clifg]

Did a search but only saw threads about cloudy water, so point me in the right direction if this has already been discussed. I have an in-tank mesh breeder that I put in last night (Shrimp Spawned!), which got me thinking. Right underneath the breeder, the corals are still getting hit by light but it definitely looks like there is a cloud overhead, which I think would be fine for them as clouds obviously naturally occur over reefs from time to time. So, is anybody doing anything to simulate days reefs might be covered with clouds? Do the corals need this break? Is running our lighting the way we do exactly the same every day fine? I know Saxby's setting teeters to give the corals a break, BRS AB+ for AI does not (which is the one I'm currently running). How else could we achieve the effect of occasional clouds? Thanks for discussing!

The "cloud" over my tank:

 

[brandon429]

nice post. we use light intensity modulation and mention cloudy days in response to reef insults here below and by the way there have been lots of posts lately where the light needed to be reduced in response: an alk overdose, a feeding overdose causing a burst of various param spikes and a few others. If you want to run it as a matter of routine timing its a neat idea and very natural agreed.


the trend in the hobby is 100% power, all the time, that's unnatural agreed. nice post and detail inference

we found that instating cloudy days when mistakes happen can greatly lower the incidence of bleaching in challenge reefs.

 

[clifg]

Anybody else want to get in on this conversation?

 

[DaneGer21]

I do this. Here is a screen shot of my AI app. Essentially it just lowers the par here and there...I’d have to look at my exact numbers but I think I do 10% reduction on the “low” spots.

 

[KenO]

For my GHL Mitras LX 7206 lights I can program in a cloud cover. It's been awhile since it set it up. So it is more random and I don't have to create a zig-zag pattern. Plus for my DIY lights which are controlled by my GHL P4, I can do the same thing and I programmed the system to simulate cloud cover.