How important is ramp up > peak > ramp down?

[Silverfish]

My buddy had a sw tank 20 years ago and would come home fm work and flip all of his lights on. Sorry but idk what kind. Had no clue. I do remember though, when he turned them on the reef literally exploded!! Like in seconds polyps bursting to life! He then fed them. Very interesting. Was it the light or the food or combination of both?

 

[Blknovass]

Yea we can do our best to replicate the sun but I had more draw backs with using ramp up so went back to on off lights.

 

[Stigigemla]

The last 2 weeks i have had a fast ramp down light on my big tank after restart. About 3 seconds. And some fishes are very stressed to find a sleeping place in that time darting to left and to the right. So I have to fix the slow ramping.

 

[PhreeByrd]

I use a ramp up/down because I can and because it's clearly less stressful for the fish and for nocturnal critters. Although almost all corals respond to the light/dark cycle, I don't believe ramping up and down has any affect on them at all. Metal halides do (did?) have an inherent (though relatively short) ramp-up, but I also don't believe that had any affect on corals, at least not on any that I ever kept.

I have often seen fish startled by suddenly turning on the lights at full brightness, so I do it for them.

 

[mta_morrow]

Not really sure. I do a 4 hour ramp up and down and 4 hour peak.
I can say you get to see everything open up and close down which I think is part of the natural process. So for that reason I personally think it is beneficial, but I have no science to prove it.

 

[Wicky48]

I agree that a ramp time is good for the fish, only in that it lets them wake up gradually. As well any nocturnal creatures have time to hide themselves. As far as a difference in growth of coral or burning appendages, I can't see a difference. I had MH and you can get a 30 minute ramp up controller for those as well, I have seen them in hydroponic stores which gradually in increases the wattage. Same as T5 you can get retrofit kits that have the ramping ballast. You can also just use a timer and have your darker bulbs come on first then brighter ones later. Have to say though I love the new LED lights for the sunrise/sunset feature. It just looks more natural. Plus some like the new Noopsyche K7 Pro II which I use have no flicker when the lights change hour but a gradual increase and decrease between hours. I am interested in T5, I see alot of people swear by them for uniform coral growth, not sure how correct that is but alot use it over LED for clams. In the new year I am looking at getting a dorsea clam and I believe 120° LED lights might be better then the 90° for them but I see no evidence that clams require a ramp up or down period.

 

[Wicky48]

I do think there are some fish that rely on certain periods to release their eggs in the current and males to fertilize. Corals as well I believe do the same thing in nature and I believe it's a nocturnal thing. No evidence in greater health but ramping may be a trigger when breading at home but I cannot prove this currently.

 

[Bpb]

I also feel like ramping should be specified. Do you mean a true 0% up to max intensity in indiscernible increments over hours (an led ramp), or an actinic period of dim light before the daylight? I mean my blue LEDs come on for 2 hours before the daylights. They’re maybe 1/5 the par the daylights are. Then another 2 hours before lights out. So that could be considered a ramp

 

[andrewkw]

The sun is my ramp up, but even using kessil led's I've never used a controller for them and just have them on simple on / off cycles. The fish wake up long before the tank lights come on. Actually my tank with a metal halide has a ramp up / down as I use some led strips for longer then the MH. I feel like if I had some really long ramp cycle I'd be waiting for the ramp up time to look at the tank. I like that it's 100% on, 100% off. For instance my tank was looking great last night before I went to bed after 11pm but the lights were still at 100% so I took some pictures. If it had been ramping down it would have been too dark.

 

[hart24601]

I have had some fish that would dart and hit the rock/glass when lights were flipped on suddenly, however this might not be the case for you and it's really the only reason I ramp up now - or make sure there is enough ambient lighting to not startle the livestock. Either way it's pretty workable. Just watch the tank and animals and see how they handle it. Too often IMO we decide to go down one path or the other and then ignore what the animals are telling us!

 

[Bpb]

The sun is my ramp up, but even using kessil led's I've never used a controller for them and just have them on simple on / off cycles. The fish wake up long before the tank lights come on. Actually my tank with a metal halide has a ramp up / down as I use some led strips for longer then the MH. I feel like if I had some really long ramp cycle I'd be waiting for the ramp up time to look at the tank. I like that it's 100% on, 100% off. For instance my tank was looking great last night before I went to bed after 11pm but the lights were still at 100% so I took some pictures. If it had been ramping down it would have been too dark.

Agree 100%. If fish startling is the chief concern, a 1-2 minute ramp up is sufficient. That is enough to gradually introduce light and let their eyes adjust. This 4 hour business just doesn’t make sense. I guess because actinic viewing is actinic viewing and your daylight should be a set point you either find most photosynthetically valuable, or most visually pleasing. So why prolong the in between with spectrums you wouldn’t otherwise prefer. Besides. Don’t they say tinkering with led spectrum constantly is bad? But why is it good to literally cover a massive spectrum change all day every day?

 

[Greybeard]

I'm running 2x Kessel Ap700's, no ramping time... the onboard control software sux, so I just plugged 'em into my Apex. On and Off... that's what I've got.

Nothing seems to mind

With an 8 bulb T5, you've usually got two power cords. You could set it up so that half comes on, then the other half... same thing shutting down, half, wait some time, the other half.

 

[Waterislife]

In my opinion it's not an issue for the corals they adapted most anyting good or bad but for the fish I absolutely believe it's totally stressful on them to shut the lights off if you ever been in the room when it happens they practically bounce off the sides of the tank a gradual off-cycle for the fishes essential

 

[Wicky48]

Agreed.

 

[paal]

I'm running 8x 39W T5 + roughly 150W LED. The T5s are split into 4 channels and are turned off with 15 min intervals. I then ramp down the LEDs for one hour.

Even with just the first pair of T5s going off, I've noticed my wrasses "jumping". The light difference is minimal, but still enough to potentially startle them.
As long as I'm using a lamp that supports it, I will always run some sort of ramp just to let the fish acclimate for bedtime.

 

[Wicky48]

Nice setup.

 

[Shooter6]

We used to turn on mh and turn them off without a issue

THIS RIGHT HERE! ramping is more for your eyes then anything

 

[PhreeByrd]

THIS RIGHT HERE! ramping is more for your eyes then anything

Except for the fact that MH lights all necessarily have a ramp-up time by their nature.

 

[Wicky48]

You can easily achieve a ramp up and ramp down with cheaper lights and timers if need be instead of spending on expensive lights. But now these days the programmable lights are getting better quality and cheaper so why not?

 

[Wicky48]

As well this is bordering on a discussing of best light type for reef and your preference.