lighting schedule

[bryan oestreich]

so I have a simple question. and cant seem to find any answers when I search this forum.

when running my lights. they are LED non programmable but dimmable. full spectrum. 3watts per LED. 55LEds in each fixture I have 2. there are about 15" above my tank that is 24" deep. all live rock is only half way up the rock so a good 24" between the lights and rockscape.

I know a lot of people run there lighting schedule start off with low blue ramp up for a bit than turn whites one and having them slowly ramping up to 80-90% to about half there time period then start ramping down the rest of the lighting period. and finish with only blue going ramping down.

my questions is. what effects does this do. does it help anything more than just turning both whites and blues on at a certain percentage (say 50% blue and 25% white) and keep it there throughout the day say 8hrs then turn both white and blues off for the night.
since I don't have a programmable lights I don't have the luxury to do that ramping up and and down throughout the day.

right now I turn my blues on for one hour then turn whites on. keep both going for 8 hrs then turn whites one leaving blues on for an hour then turn blues off. all lights off after 10hrs. blues run for 10hrs and whites run for 8hrs. all running at 50% blue and 25% white.

hopefully this isn't confusing or hard question to answer any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[twilliard]

I like to see it as preventing light shock.

 

[bryan oestreich]

I like to see it as preventing light shock.

well the problem is I work 12 hrs shifts. 4 days a week so I have no way of controlling it if I were to want to do more of ramping up and down throughout the day. cant afford new lights anytime soon so that's not an option. so I guess what im trying to ask is it there were any ideas that could help. or if im basically screwed

 

[scfurse77]

I think you'll be fine. No different then people turning on non dimmable T5 fixtures. Just put them on a cheap wall timer so your lighting times stay consistent

 

[twilliard]

well the problem is I work 12 hrs shifts. 4 days a week so I have no way of controlling it if I were to want to do more of ramping up and down throughout the day. cant afford new lights anytime soon so that's not an option. so I guess what im trying to ask is it there were any ideas that could help. or if im basically screwed

The storm controller can control any light with some electronics background

 

[bryan oestreich]

that was my next question. im not using any timers right now cause where my tank is and outlet and power are. so how bad can the lighting effect my tank say for an example. the tanks always get turned on the same time or within a 15minute time frame. there are times when at night I get behind an miss the time by a half hour or hour. so some days they are on an extra lets say an hour. will that do that much negative effect on tank or no?

 

[twilliard]

that was my next question. im not using any timers right now cause where my tank is and outlet and power are. so how bad can the lighting effect my tank say for an example. the tanks always get turned on the same time or within a 15minute time frame. there are times when at night I get behind an miss the time by a half hour or hour. so some days they are on an extra lets say an hour. will that do that much negative effect on tank or no?

Corals and fish do like their schedules but short changes in time should not be an issue

 

[bryan oestreich]

Corals and fish do like their schedules but short changes in time should not be an issue

okay I haven't had issues with the fish or coral. those are doing good. been battling with green hair algae so just trying to factor any possiblity

 

[ksc]

You should be fine but you should get those lights on a timer. Ramping up and down accomplishes nothing, but forgetting or not being able to turn off your lights could cause death to your corals.