Lighting schedule quesion...

bigfoot86 · Dec 15, 2013

Two 10000k maxspect razors sit over my 90 gallon mixed reef tank. Tank has been up and running for about 8 months now. My lights start coming on around 9:30 am and go out about 9:30 pm. Though I only have the lights set at peak (90% I set the peak at) for about 5 hours max. before it starts getting darker. Was wondering what people thought about that? Too short of time? Also, should I set my razor at 100% at peak?

During the time my tank has been up and running, everything for the most part looks pretty stable, but don't know if the corals would prefer a little bit longer period of the lighting schedule at it's peak. Any thoughts or suggestions? Has anybody experimented with changing the schedule and what were the out comes?

mike007 · Dec 16, 2013

I run my blues one hour before and after and the main lights are on 100% for 8 hours.

glb · Dec 16, 2013

Following. I just got a controller and am trying to figure this out.

philr · Dec 16, 2013

I run actinics they turn on at 1130am and off at 930pm. I have two 50 watt T5 bulbs. Then at 2pm the halides come on, these go off at 8pm. I have two 100 watt metal halide bulbs. In addition I have 1 small led blue light actinic that remains on 24 hrs.

bigfoot86 · Dec 17, 2013

Ok, from what I see it looks like 6 to 8 hrs is prob the time frame for maximum brightness. I've only been running at peak brightness for about 4 1/2 to 5 hours a day. Philr, I see your from pa. I'm from the allentown area, just wondering which lfs you go to. I'm always looking to checking out a new store.

CastAway · Dec 17, 2013

Setting up my lighting time frames now as well, tagging along. In my ignorance I was trying to emulate the arching sun, with 100% only for an hour or so, midday, and a ramp-up on either side, starting and ending with blues only.

bigfoot86 · Dec 17, 2013

I'm experimenting with it now. It starts ramping up slowly at 930. Hits it peak at 1200 and holds it till bout 730 pm. When I started, peak was from 1230 pm to 430pm.

philr · Dec 17, 2013

Hello bigfoot86.... I have been going to That Fish Place since I lived in NJ. Going back more than 25years! I also sometimes go the Something Fishy they are a bit to the East of PA. I have noticed ads for a newer place in Timonium MD, a would like to go there someday just to look around. I have seen their ads on this forum, but currently cant think of the name. Where do you go?

jokervueboi · Dec 17, 2013

JeffBowlin said:
Setting up my lighting time frames now as well, tagging along. In my ignorance I was trying to emulate the arching sun, with 100% only for an hour or so, midday, and a ramp-up on either side, starting and ending with blues only.

I've set mine like that too. Starting 0% to 100%.hourly then from 100% to 5% blue only

bigfoot86 · Dec 18, 2013

Yea, Something Fishy is literally a couple miles from my house...so I am fortunate to have a decent lfs close by, but I'm always interested in checking out new stores. Thanks for the info philr. I'll have to look into the one in MD too.

TJ's Reef · Dec 18, 2013

I run my DIY LED lighting for an approximate 13 hour period overall, its way more complicated than necessary but wanted to create something NOT FOUND by any manufacturers out there. My design has six linear front-to-back circuits with the 1st (East) starting to Ramp-up (8%-70%) at 7:45am followed every 20 minutes by next Westerly circuit finishing at 9:45am. I then have a 7th circuit consisting of twelve 3w XML 6500K that runs only 2 hours from 11am - 1pm as a Noonday PAR blast. Then following same path begins to Ramp-down 1st at 6:40pm and finish last 6th circuit at 8:40pm.
The Tropics region get very consistent lighting throughout the year 11-13 hours daily and not the big seasonal swings we get further North or South. So these animals have adapted to this and though they could/can survive with less.... not optimal.

The one thing I see that concerns me on some of these LED threads is about the percentage of power used. There is a HUGE RANGE of PAR/PUR output on different fixtures and running anywhere near 100% on most is WAY TO MUCH. For mine as an example I have my drivers tuned to 700ma and then Apex running them at 70% of that so in essence only have my (96) 3w LED's peaking at around 50% (70% of 70%) or running 490ma out of 1050ma rated emitters. I run all my LED's without optics since the tank is only 20" tall and fixture is 6.5" above surface and can/could cook SPS/Clams at bottom if I ran at 100%. Without using some type of light meter to get PAR readings I'd highly recommend not to run your fixtures above 50-60% especially with the use of optics. IMHO the reason so many people that do not like LED's or have had bad experiences with have greatly over lit there Reeftanks with them or seen one who has.

Cheers, Todd