Long light schedule

[Wiz]

Hey, i am having an issue with light timing. I work second shift. Im busy during the day. The time i look at my tank is usually 10-12pm. This creates a real issue with lighting. The tank is in my living room which has a huge 3 section window. My family is 5 people and there is a fair amount of traffic. There is no way to avoid light after 7am, sometimes earlier. My lights start with moons at 9am. But the inhabitants are already awake by that time because of indirect natural light. My lights go off at 12am as that is usually bed time. (Supposed to be anyway). So i get an hour of actinics and an hour of moons. Not ideal but its the best i can do. I get one day off. Sunday. So i get to see it then. Not enough.
So after the backstory, i feel bad because the fish are up from like 7am at the latest till 11 or 12. I wonder if im messing with there internal clocks. Then I think if the fish are awake anyway,maybe i should just run the lights at 7. But 7am to midnight! Thats crazy. I dont know how to handle it. I hate the idea of not being able to see my tank at night. Am i being a greedy guy? Anyone with similar issues?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Hey, i am having an issue with light timing. I work second shift. Im busy during the day. The time i look at my tank is usually 10-12pm. This creates a real issue with lighting. The tank is in my living room which has a huge 3 section window. My family is 5 people and there is a fair amount of traffic. There is no way to avoid light after 7am, sometimes earlier. My lights start with moons at 9am. But the inhabitants are already awake by that time because of indirect natural light. My lights go off at 12am as that is usually bed time. (Supposed to be anyway). So i get an hour of actinics and an hour of moons. Not ideal but its the best i can do. I get one day off. Sunday. So i get to see it then. Not enough.
So after the backstory, i feel bad because the fish are up from like 7am at the latest till 11 or 12. I wonder if im messing with there internal clocks. Then I think if the fish are awake anyway,maybe i should just run the lights at 7. But 7am to midnight! Thats crazy. I dont know how to handle it. I hate the idea of not being able to see my tank at night. Am i being a greedy guy? Anyone with similar issues?

Kind of similar issue. I work 8AM to 5PM. So to have a schedule that only goes from 7AM to 6PM I don't get to see anything. So I altered my schedule to come on at 11AM and off at 9AM. Everything seems to be doing ok. For yours you could do a on at 2 and off at midnight. Do this for a week and see if you can observe how everything is doing. If they're not happy with it change it back, if they're doing ok then you're good to go. Ambient light in the room isn't nearly strong enough to effect your corals. And as long as the fish are getting some period of darkness, they should be ok

 

[Denisk]

My sps tank only kicks on lights at 12:00pm and shuts off at 10:00pm. It also gets indirect sunlight through the window in the morning but all my fish seem as happy as can be. I would set up a schedule where it works best for you. I have some friends that run from 3pm to 12pm and they’re gorgeous successful tanks. There isn’t really a wrong unless you take some considerations into. But at the end of the day, you want it to be enjoyable when you’re home.

 

[Tautog]

I’m retired and don’t sleep enough so I run blues from 7 am to 11 pm, with full lights between 11 am - 6 pm
ATI Sunpower 80 watt

 

[FartyParty]

If you cant avoid having it dark during the early morning, get an extra large/long black beach towel and cover it before you go to bed. You can uncover it when you are home, to peep. This is actually a treatment method for certain forms of algae outbreaks (with lights off in those cases, of course).

 

[Wiz]

I’m retired and don’t sleep enough so I run blues from 7 am to 11 pm, with full lights between 11 am - 6 pm
ATI Sunpower 80 watt

And running the actinics that long doesn't bother anyting?

 

[KMench]

I run my lights from 8a-8p. Then it’s actinic from 8-12.

 

[Wiz]

I run my lights from 8a-8p. Then it’s actinic from 8-12.

8 a.m. to midnight and everything seems happy

 

[Mas_Frags_SS]

My work schedule as similar as well I leave my house at 6 AM in the morning are usually don’t get back until 1 AM in the morning,
My lights are on the whole time,
of course Blue’s first, then goes to full spectrum then back down to Blue’s.
I’ve never had a problem with my Fish or CORAL and the biggest thing I did was just put a auto feeder on for my fish and as for the coral that was my biggest concern at all but when I get home I feed them and sometimes in the morning ill feed the coral. Both Fish and CORAL are thriving in my aquarium I am using LEDs with ATI as my better lighting just seems to make the tank do so much better the combination of the two.
Off subject just little bit
I know different parts of the world where they capture most of the aquatic life that we put in our aquariums, unless they are aqua-cultured indoors, in the reefs getting up to 14 to 16 hours of light from Dawn to Dusk, along with moonlight. Once a year The longest day of the year and also when the moon is the closest to the earth, it triggers most all the Coral and some invertebrates to release the next generation to start new reefs wherever they may lay after they float through the ocean and find a place to settle and the process starts all over again they do it all at once for a higher success rate of replenishment.
Sorry to go a little off subject but I’ve always thought that second part to be very interesting but as for the lighting I have never had a problem with very long periods of lighting

 

[Wiz]

Not at all love good info

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

6am to 10pm here.
It’s actually a bit shorter than it’s light in the summertime.

The “day” look starts at 730 -8ish.
But it’s only really about 100 par at the top of the tank when it starts. The blue look is only about 50 par or Less at that point.
Adds nothing to DLI if your tracking it.
So depending on your lights , you may be able to create a long day look that adds little to nothing to growth or par.