People' light cycles over reef

[Chris444]

What is your light cycle over a reef tank?

What coral types do you keep?

How many hours of:

WHITES
BLUES
OFF

 

[C. Eymann]

Blue t-5s - 12 hours

10k halides 7hrs

 

[sfin52]

I run 1 coralife t5ho 1 10k 1 antic. On at 1430-2230
1coralife t5 1 10k 1 antic 1430-2230

Fluval led gen 4 led light

 

[jda]

8 to 9 hours of Halide, on and off. No LEDs.

 

[CheckeredPants]

An Orphek OR2 Blue Plus strip from 9am to 10pm.
And, 4 T5 Blue Plus from 11am to 9pm.

 

[DuckSlayer627]

11 hours Actinic VHO's(yes i still have some of these, at least for a few more years) 7 hours 10K halide. No LED.

 

[erk]

I run 2 Lumia 5.2 pucks for 12 hours a day, blues at 80%, whites at 25%. Then 6 T5 bulbs, 4 blue+, 2 coral+, for 6 hrs in the middle. I keep everything. Leathers, zoas, gorgs, LPS, acros, montis, etc.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

I run a zetlight qmaven 6800 LED supplemented with 2 t5 blue + bulbs...homemade hybrid

I have an hour ramp up with just LEDs. Then t5s come on with full LEDs for 4hrs. Then LEDs go to just blue with t5s for 3hrs. Then just blue LEDs for 3hrs.

11hrs total
5hrs with "daylight"
6hrs with blues

I have a mixed reef: lps, sps including acros and some nems.

 

[Coral Euphoria]

3 hours blues, 6 hours blues and whites, 3 hours blues. SPS dominated

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I use three current usa marine pros model 4117 72 inch long over my 240 that’s 34 inches tall as well. They are on for ten hours a day with 1 hour ramp up and down. My tank has a lot of sps, lps and some softies. It’s a mixed tank but I have had amazing success with this setup.

The lights (three on top) the center is on blues only and is at 100%. The lights in front and behind whites are at 36% and blues at 80%. It gives it the nice shimmer look but still has the ocean blue and the brightes are insanely powerful. Before I had to move (last month), my maximus clam was about 24 inches down to 27 and did amazing with the lights at that range. I did try 50% once and corals were not thrilled and the clam didn’t really change much of at all.

 

[Bpb]

Blue LEDs 3 hours
Metal halide only 6 hours (no led)
Blue LEDs 1 hour

truthfully I don’t love the blue led look but it allows for a longer viewing period. I almost would rather have full spectrum leds for longer viewing. To match the mh spectrum. The longer I go in the hobby the less interesting all blue gets. Allows you to fake your pictures easier, but isn’t too exciting in real life

 

[NanoDJS]

RedSea 90 x 2 on 48x 24 x16 12 pm-11pm blue ramps up to 100% over 1 hour white ramps up for 2 hours then 100% both channels 15,000k for 4 hours then 1 hour ramp down on white and blue viewing until 10 with 1 hour ramp down . so 11 hour photo-period with only 4 hours 100% intensity , most coral I have seen in the wild only gets like 4 hours direct light (if that) most is super in direct and much lower par than what people shoot for these days

 

[X-37B]

Ati 6 bulb. 3C+ 3B+. Currenly running 8 hours all at once.

 

[PlasmaBoy]

RedSea 90 x 2 on 48x 24 x16 12 pm-11pm blue ramps up to 100% over 1 hour white ramps up for 2 hours then 100% both channels 15,000k for 4 hours then 1 hour ramp down on white and blue viewing until 10 with 1 hour ramp down . so 11 hour photo-period with only 4 hours 100% intensity , most coral I have seen in the wild only gets like 4 hours direct light (if that) most is super in direct and much lower par than what people shoot for these days

Yes I think the blasting method is what leads to a knife edge environment, you'll usually balance on the edge of bleaching to obtain bright colours. It's amazing to think only 4 hours of peak light can create brilliant colourful corals in the wild. I wonder how strong that peak is.

 

[WVNed]

T-5 7-9
MH 8-8

 

[Mical]

Deep Blue 120 w/ 3 Kessils 360we's

 

[Bpb]

RedSea 90 x 2 on 48x 24 x16 12 pm-11pm blue ramps up to 100% over 1 hour white ramps up for 2 hours then 100% both channels 15,000k for 4 hours then 1 hour ramp down on white and blue viewing until 10 with 1 hour ramp down . so 11 hour photo-period with only 4 hours 100% intensity , most coral I have seen in the wild only gets like 4 hours direct light (if that) most is super in direct and much lower par than what people shoot for these days

These days people even shoot for less par than ever before. 500+ par was once considered the goal for healthy growth and now people are suggesting par in the 200’s is sufficient for just about all sps. I seem to get the best growth when in the 350-400 range. Photoperiod is 6 hours. Sometimes I wonder if I should shorten it to 3-4 hours

 

[NanoDJS]

Yes I think the blasting method is what leads to a knife edge environment, you'll usually balance on the edge of bleaching to obtain bright colours. It's amazing to think only 4 hours of peak light can create brilliant colourful corals in the wild. I wonder how strong that peak is.

BRS did a really in depth look at par and everthing in these light on diff tanks and multiple lights , I think youll find what they say interesting , I would guess my corals are getting 100 bottom -250mid level and the top sps gets 350 ish give or take