photo period for zoas with leds

[icemountain]

Not sure if this is the right section for posting this but is anyone using leds over zoas/palys? What is your maximum photo period and your max full day light period. I have mine coming at 8am with sunrise and then have full from 11-to about 5:30pm. After that, it starts to slowly dim down for sunset and moon lights till 11pm. Is that too much? I also have sps, clams, and lps in the tank.

 

[Pappy]

What kind of LEDs? I have Crees with the blues going from 10-10 whites from 12-9 but only full for 15 min.

 

[icemountain]

They are China made fixtures. 120w with 55 leds and 90 degree optics.

 

[laynframe]

I run 2 AI sol blues and i run my photo period from 10am to 10 pm. sunrise until 1, full 98 percent power from 1 to 5 and then start dimming again with moon lights too.

 

[Mr. Microscope]

This is tough to call as it depends on the intensity of your LEDs, where your zoas are placed, and how deep the water is. How many, what kind, and at what strength are you running your LED's? Spacing of the LED's also makes a difference. Are they butted up against one another or several inches apart? Finally, do you have optics? (EDIT: Oops, I see you answered some of those questions already.)

With lighting in general, I believe high intensity for short periods of time is best for growth since corals actually do their growing in the dark. They photosynthesize during the day. Some people do a little as 2 hours.

I once read a scietific paper where some marine biologist figured out that two photoperiods/day is best for growth. This experiment used 400 watt MH, but was done with SPS and not zoas. The scientist figured out that the coral stopped photosynthesizing after four hours. So, basically on for four hours, dark for eight, repeat.

Aside from growth, there is the aethetic and practical aspect of enjoying your reef with the lights on. Personally, I have a longer photoperiod for my display tank so everyone in the family can enjoy it. I used the 4, 8, 4, 8 method with a frag tank in the past and had good results. BTW, I only use LED's so the theory seems to translate over.

To address your specific question, your photoperiod seems a bit long to me. I'd cut it to about 8 hours, but it's your call.

 

[icemountain]

This is tough to call as it depends on the intensity of your LEDs, where your zoas are placed, and how deep the water is. How many, what kind, and at what strength are you running your LED's? Spacing of the LED's also makes a difference. Are they butted up against one another or several inches apart? Finally, do you have optics? (EDIT: Oops, I see you answered some of those questions already.)

With lighting in general, I believe high intensity for short periods of time is best for growth since corals actually do their growing in the dark. They photosynthesize during the day. Some people do a little as 2 hours.

I once read a scietific paper where some marine biologist figured out that two photoperiods/day is best for growth. This experiment used 400 watt MH, but was done with SPS and not zoas. The scientist figured out that the coral stopped photosynthesizing after four hours. So, basically on for four hours, dark for eight, repeat.

Aside from growth, there is the aethetic and practical aspect of enjoying your reef with the lights on. Personally, I have a longer photoperiod for my display tank so everyone in the family can enjoy it. I used the 4, 8, 4, 8 method with a frag tank in the past and had good results. BTW, I only use LED's so the theory seems to translate over.

To address your specific question, your photoperiod seems a bit long to me. I'd cut it to about 8 hours, but it's your call.

They are pretty close together and I am running the blues at a max of 65% and the whites at a max of 50%. They are all Epistar leds. I have changed my lighting to being max from 11-4pm and then starts sunset from around 430 till 7. moon lights are on from 7-9. Sunsrise starts at 10.