Lighting schedule?

[Gaspipe]

Can someone tell me how many hours a day should lights be on? I have two XHO AliExpress knock offs and a Kessil A360WE on a Waterbox MP25. My build can be found HERE if more details are needs. I currently have them on for 13 hours a day. The kessil on very low intensity to minimize algae issues.

No corals yet, just a single fish and a CUC to be purchased within 48 hours.

Thanks in advance!
Gaspare

 

[James M]

Around 9-12 hours a day

 

[Bpb]

Until you get corals, do whatever looks good and fits your schedule. Once you get corals, 10-12 hours a day total with 5-8 hours of that being higher intensity full spectrum “white” light. Keep the morning and evening intensity levels low though

 

[Gaspipe]

Until you get corals, do whatever looks good and fits your schedule. Once you get corals, 10-12 hours a day total with 5-8 hours of that being higher intensity full spectrum “white” light. Keep the morning and evening intensity levels low though

My lights are "dumb". The two LED lightbars are on/off and the 3rd (center) light is a Kessil A360WE with two knobs. I should try and borrow a PAR meter and get my numbers. That will help w/ the intensity. So 10-12 hours... cool

Thank you all!!

 

[Idech]

Once you get corals, 10-12 hours a day total with 5-8 hours of that being higher intensity full spectrum “white” light.

I’m new at this but everything I’ve read so far says not to use the white spectrum at high intensity. Are there many school of thoughts on this subject ?

 

[Bpb]

I’m new at this but everything I’ve read so far says not to use the white spectrum at high intensity. Are there many school of thoughts on this subject ?

I’ve always run mine at or at least near whatever I run the blues at and adjust the overall intensity based on what the par meter says. I am not overly fond of the blue look. It’s ok for a little while to wake up and bed down the tank, corals look cool glowing, but I strongly prefer the look of a natural mid day shallow water reef appearance

 

[outhouse]

im only running 1% intensity for B and W in a 30" deep 210G tank. 8 hours B, and 6 hours W. growth has been great. I was reading up on this and learned anything over 5 to 6 hours is overkill as far as maximum intensity, the rest is for your own enjoyment. I will raise my intensity up. but stability is key, and just make sure your not raising intensity to high, easy to fry corals with LEDs

 

[Gaspipe]

I have another question... my tank is on a floating shelf on a wall next to my desk. The tank is higher (the bottom of the glass is chin level when I am in the chair). When I look up I see the lights.. is that bad for my eyes?

 

[Bpb]

I have another question... my tank is on a floating shelf on a wall next to my desk. The tank is higher (the bottom of the glass is chin level when I am in the chair). When I look up I see the lights.. is that bad for my eyes?

Annoying? Definitely. Bad for you? Eh. There’s some research out there that would indicate prolonged staring at blue and uv wavelengths may cause some lens degeneration, over a long timeline. I wouldn’t worry about cataracts or anything though unless you spent hours a day staring directly at it for years

 

[Gaspipe]

Annoying? Definitely. Bad for you? Eh. There’s some research out there that would indicate prolonged staring at blue and uv wavelengths may cause some lens degeneration, over a long timeline. I wouldn’t worry about cataracts or anything though unless you spent hours a day staring directly at it for years

I saw an interesting, older thread on here where people went back and forth. Two doctors chimed in, and it seems it's "relatively" safe. Before reading your comment, I remembered BRS had an episode where they discussed ideas for the future regarding LED lights. They wanted reef lights in the ceiling mounted via "high-hats".

My concern is/was that I am sitting lower than the lights.. I may create a lightweight paper/plastic art display board and attach it. We'll see.

 

[Uncle99]

With no corals, you don’t in fact need any light, it just brings on the pest algae’s faster, so IMM the less, the better, but still, to what you think looks good.

7-9 hours maybe for your viewing…

 

[Gaspipe]

With no corals, you don’t in fact need any light, it just brings on the pest algae’s faster, so IMM the less, the better, but still, to what you think looks good.

7-9 hours maybe for your viewing…

Thank you for the reply! I didn't have my tank lights on since I bought my clownfish. I only turned them on the last 4 days and that is because I'm looking to add my CUC.

Not looking to over stock w/ CUC so may do 3 phases and avoid starvation.

 

[ReefChasers]

I think the best practice is to stick to an 8 hour "main photo period" where you are doing the majority of your par pushing. Then the ramp up and down can be left to you to decide what gives best appeal for your environment, on my home systems I run an 7 hour main period with a 2 hour ramp up with pretty low intensity and a 2hour ramp down of the same, usually super heavy in the blue/violet during the ramp up and down. Not so heavy on the blues during the main period. On commercial systems actually prefer the standard 8 hour photo period with a quick ramp up and down.

if you go longer, then you want to push less intensity, if you go shorter, then you can push more. But it's basically up to you!

 

[themericks]

I have mine set to mimic an Australian reef with sunrise/sunset daily time shift and the change in seasonal photoperiod duration. The longest photoperiod during the summer is around 13 hours and the shortest during the winter is around 11 hours. The lights ramp linearly up/down in the morning/evening over a 3 hour period from 0% intensity to whatever the daily peak is (also varies daily, max is 100% and min is 60%) and from 100% blue to 65% blue (I'm using kessil).

 

[Gaspipe]

I have mine set to mimic an Australian reef with sunrise/sunset daily time shift and the change in seasonal photoperiod duration. The longest photoperiod during the summer is around 13 hours and the shortest during the winter is around 11 hours. The lights ramp linearly up/down in the morning/evening over a 3 hour period from 0% intensity to whatever the daily peak is (also varies daily, max is 100% and min is 60%) and from 100% blue to 65% blue (I'm using kessil).

Now that is impressive! I'll have mine set to mimic when I'm mostly in my home office

I'll admit yours is more impressive!!

 

[themericks]

Thanks! To be honest, it's probably overkill for most setups. I'm doing an experiment in coral spawning and they need the natural light cycles for this. Was a pretty fun DiY project though!