Does my reef get enough sleep?

[Sleepingtiger]

I remember going to 24hr fitness. There was a fish tank full of cichlids. Because its a 24hr fitness, the lights are always on. The fish were the worse looking fishing I have ever seen. They didn't move, colorless... basically zombies. Normally with cichlids they are fighting, aggressive behaviors and chasing. None here, they just floated.

So I am a night person. I have the lights on my reef to go dark around 11pm. However, i usually stay up until 1-3am. Even though the lights in the aquarium goes out, the lights in my living doesn't. The sun lights up my house and aquarium early in the morning because of the skylights. Do you all think there could be issue in the future? Now I am not like 24hr fitness, but my reef doesn't go dark like in nature where they get complete darkness for about 10hrs

 

[MurphyTheClownfish]

In my personal experience, as long as it's not blasting the tank, the light from your house should be fine, but that can depend on the type of light, location of the tank, etc. When do the lights come back on in your tank?

 

[Jaden9933]

I remember going to 24hr fitness. There was a fish tank full of cichlids. Because its a 24hr fitness, the lights are always on. The fish were the worse looking fishing I have ever seen. They didn't move, colorless... basically zombies. Normally with cichlids they are fighting, aggressive behaviors and chasing. None here, they just floated.

So I am a night person. I have the lights on my reef to go dark around 11pm. However, i usually stay up until 1-3am. Even though the lights in the aquarium goes out, the lights in my living doesn't. The sun lights up my house and aquarium early in the morning because of the skylights. Do you all think there could be issue in the future? Now I am not like 24hr fitness, but my reef doesn't go dark like in nature where they get complete darkness for about 10hrs

I personally wrap my tank in aluminum foil every night. I also have a “lid” made from an old cardboard box and aluminum foil tape. I then drape towels over the top to ensure that my corals always get 12 hours of pitch-black. Definitely seem to be happier when they get their beauty rest, in my opinion.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

I have a open concept design in my house where the kitchen, great room and the dinning room is one giant room. The aquarium is in the corner of the dinning room where there is no lights unless we are eating. However, its getting some light from the great room and kitchen. The can lights in the ceiling are 3000k i think. Its not blasting, but bright enough where the fish are still swimming about.

The lights come back on at noon. But the fish are up and about way before that.

 

[ying yang]

I think having a rest leriod for ourselves and any animal is extremely important for the health and fishes seem to get more stressed than us ( easier i mean and have greater effects from stress)
I wouldnt go as far as poster above wrapping tank in foil and blanket every night.
But for me i try to gove them darkness and try my best not to shine light from phone in at night but looking at all the pods/ critters interests me so this thread reminded me not to be shining light at night ha ha
Maybe draw curtains in room where tank is at night then natural sunlight wont get in tank in morning so they get longer darkness there ( some lined curtains or black out curtains/ blinds)

 

[Sleepingtiger]

I personally wrap my tank in aluminum foil every night. I also have a “lid” made from an old cardboard box and aluminum foil tape. I then drape towels over the top to ensure that my corals always get 12 hours of pitch-black. Definitely seem to be happier when they get their beauty rest, in my opinion.

No way.... If you go through that much trouble, it must be a very important. Maybe this needs to be discussed further or researched?

 

[Jaden9933]

I think having a rest leriod for ourselves and any animal is extremely important for the health and fishes seem to get more stressed than us ( easier i mean and have greater effects from stress)
I wouldnt go as far as poster above wrapping tank in foil and blanket every night.
But for me i try to gove them darkness and try my best not to shine light from phone in at night but looking at all the pods/ critters interests me so this thread reminded me not to be shining light at night ha ha
Maybe draw curtains in room where tank is at night then natural sunlight wont get in tank in morning so they get longer darkness there ( some lined curtains or black out curtains/ blinds)

The reason I wrap it is because it’s in my room and light from the TV lights it up quite a bit. I also noticed slighty better color and slightly faster growth. They get moonlight in the wild, but it’s very dim, and should never be strong enough to promote photosynthesis.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

I think having a rest leriod for ourselves and any animal is extremely important for the health and fishes seem to get more stressed than us ( easier i mean and have greater effects from stress)
I wouldnt go as far as poster above wrapping tank in foil and blanket every night.
But for me i try to gove them darkness and try my best not to shine light from phone in at night but looking at all the pods/ critters interests me so this thread reminded me not to be shining light at night ha ha
Maybe draw curtains in room where tank is at night then natural sunlight wont get in tank in morning so they get longer darkness there ( some lined curtains or black out curtains/ blinds)

I think me going to sleep earlier will help me with my health as i am normally up around 7:30.

I need to think of a way to get them more night time. I just hate sleeping, such a waste of time.

I think i am looking at my sump for pods more than I look at the fish and coral

 

[Jaden9933]

No way.... If you go through that much trouble, it must be a very important. Maybe this needs to be discussed further or researched?

My tank is extremely important to me and I like to try to keep everything as close to “perfect” for them, as possible. It might be a little overboard, but it’s a very quick process that takes less than a minute.

 

[Sleepingtiger]

My tank is extremely important to me and I like to try to keep everything as close to “perfect” for them, as possible. It might be a little overboard, but it’s a very quick process that takes less than a minute.

I wish they did this to the aquarium at the 24hr fitness. The fish looked horrible. They think by turning off the aquarium light that it will be good.

 

[Reef.]

I remember going to 24hr fitness. There was a fish tank full of cichlids. Because its a 24hr fitness, the lights are always on. The fish were the worse looking fishing I have ever seen. They didn't move, colorless... basically zombies. Normally with cichlids they are fighting, aggressive behaviors and chasing. None here, they just floated.

So I am a night person. I have the lights on my reef to go dark around 11pm. However, i usually stay up until 1-3am. Even though the lights in the aquarium goes out, the lights in my living doesn't. The sun lights up my house and aquarium early in the morning because of the skylights. Do you all think there could be issue in the future? Now I am not like 24hr fitness, but my reef doesn't go dark like in nature where they get complete darkness for about 10hrs

similar situation with my tank but I do turn the room lights off if watching TV, I also cover the tank with blackout material.

 

[ying yang]

The reason I wrap it is because it’s in my room and light from the TV lights it up quite a bit. I also noticed slighty better color and slightly faster growth. They get moonlight in the wild, but it’s very dim, and should never be strong enough to promote photosynthesis.

Sorry if came across i being snotty as i wasnt meaning to be.
Just saying i wouldn't go this far but if you dont mind doing it and see benifit then thats great and i understand we all do stuff that others would never think doing.

Me personally when tank lights go off,i always make sure got a table light on plus tv is on.i then notice my copperband butterfly fish hunting on the rocks without the annoying cleaner shrimp harrassing him and im conscious i can't keep table light on to long ( about 1 hour) then just lights from tv which is on wall next to tank for few more hours ( at this time copperband settles down for the night.
And my mrs says im crazy doing stuff like this as they just fish and be ok.but we want the best for them so do strange things to try give them what we think is best ^_^

 

[afrokobe]

I personally wrap my tank in aluminum foil every night. I also have a “lid” made from an old cardboard box and aluminum foil tape. I then drape towels over the top to ensure that my corals always get 12 hours of pitch-black. Definitely seem to be happier when they get their beauty rest, in my opinion.

similar situation with my tank but I do turn the room lights off if watching TV, I also cover the tank with blackout material.

I thought I was bad, lol. My gf has been yelling at me because I keep making us sit in the dark during the day on the weekends because the tank lights don't come on until 2 PM. I might need to steal the blackout material idea.....

 

[jfoahs04]

I definitely wouldn't leave them on 24/7, but I also don't go to the extremes that others do.

I use the Saxby settings on my AI Prime. Lights start slowly ramping up at around 10 and "peak" between 1-5pm. They then gradually decline until going dark at about 10:30-10:45. My tank is in my open concept living room/kitchen area which is in the corner of our condo building with two walls of windows. So there's ambient light even at night and plenty of light in the AM when the sun comes up, well before the Prime comes on. I think it's fine.

Every night at about 9:30-10, things clearly start to settle down. The fish start their "sleep" routine (clown in his corner, blenny camouflaged and in his hole), and the sweeper tentacles are out on the candy canes. When I get up at around 6:30, the fish are also starting to stir, softies and LPS starting to extend, etc. By 7:30, they're fully active even with the lights off. It may not be perfect, but clearly the ambient light isn't a problem. In a shallow tropical reef, they often have more than 12 hours of pretty direct sunlight. Moonlight also penetrates for many hours. Unless you have your aquarium light on for all/most of the day and night, they should be fine.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I used to own large parrots. They most definitely need a good 10 hours of uninterrupted darkness to repair and rejuvenate their feathers, etc. I can’t say the same holds true exactly for aquarium fish— but I bet those 24-hour fitness store fish were suffering. On the other hand, maybe a little extra ambient room light until you go to be at 3 a.m. isn’t “as” bad. (?)

 

[Reef.]

I thought I was bad, lol. My gf has been yelling at me because I keep making us sit in the dark during the day on the weekends because the tank lights don't come on until 2 PM. I might need to steal the blackout material idea.....

I used a bedroom blackout blind, I love my sleep, can’t deny the fish theirs

 

[Jaden9933]

Sorry if came across i being snotty as i wasnt meaning to be.
Just saying i wouldn't go this far but if you dont mind doing it and see benifit then thats great and i understand we all do stuff that others would never think doing.

Me personally when tank lights go off,i always make sure got a table light on plus tv is on.i then notice my copperband butterfly fish hunting on the rocks without the annoying cleaner shrimp harrassing him and im conscious i can't keep table light on to long ( about 1 hour) then just lights from tv which is on wall next to tank for few more hours ( at this time copperband settles down for the night.
And my mrs says im crazy doing stuff like this as they just fish and be ok.but we want the best for them so do strange things to try give them what we think is best ^_^

No worries! I didn’t take it as being snotty at all. I like seeing other people’s views on the odd things I do

 

[Jaden9933]

I definitely wouldn't leave them on 24/7, but I also don't go to the extremes that others do.

I use the Saxby settings on my AI Prime. Lights start slowly ramping up at around 10 and "peak" between 1-5pm. They then gradually decline until going dark at about 10:30-10:45. My tank is in my open concept living room/kitchen area which is in the corner of our condo building with two walls of windows. So there's ambient light even at night and plenty of light in the AM when the sun comes up, well before the Prime comes on. I think it's fine.

Every night at about 9:30-10, things clearly start to settle down. The fish start their "sleep" routine (clown in his corner, blenny camouflaged and in his hole), and the sweeper tentacles are out on the candy canes. When I get up at around 6:30, the fish are also starting to stir, softies and LPS starting to extend, etc. By 7:30, they're fully active even with the lights off. It may not be perfect, but clearly the ambient light isn't a problem. In a shallow tropical reef, they often have more than 12 hours of pretty direct sunlight. Moonlight also penetrates for many hours. Unless you have your aquarium light on for all/most of the day and night, they should be fine.

I run my lights very intense compared to most people. That’s another reason I want them to have their beauty sleep

I feel like after a long day of lighting like this, they’ve deserved a nice, dark break ;Hilarious

 

[Danroo]

Your tank will tell you if its nighttime for them. How I know about mine is having my leather closed up when the light goes out, my bengai cardinals become more active (cause they’re nocturnal). Hermit crabs move more at night. Lastly my clown goes to its corner.

 

[Big Smelly fish]

My lights turn off and never worried about the fish and coral not being able to settle down for the night even if a room light is on while we are watching tv or reading, never heard of all this until reading this post.