Too Much Light?

[Lisa Cain]

I was told today that I may have my lights on to long.

I have a 32 gallon biocube with the LED lights that come with it.

I run the white lights from 8:am to 8:00pm and the blue lights from 8:00 pm to 12:00 midnight.

The lights are off from 12:00 midnight until 8:00 am.

Am I keeping the lights on to much?

 

[mike werner]

yea,sixteen hours of light might be a little long.i do a 10hr period of light.some do more.i keep it at that to save a little electricity.im sure you can find lots of threads on photoperiods on r2r.you may want to run the blues and whites together for much of the time they are on.i do blues 10 hrs and overlap the whites for 8 hrs.

 

[sbash]

So you aren't running the blues and whites together at all during the day?

 

[paul barker]

Yes and no I put a AI prime on my 32 bio cube mix reef 2 hrs ramp up time 10am to 12am the whites are on only 6hrs thing are doing good

 

[BigJim]

Are you having issues with any corals? If they ramp up and down it might be okay depending on the type of light, depth of the tank, type of coral and other factors. Can you share some more details about the tank, light and corals?

 

[paul barker]

My light

 

[paul barker]

When I had the LED hood on I ran it 12 to 6 and 6 to 12 blues for my LPS

 

[Lisa Cain]

Are you having issues with any corals? If they ramp up and down it might be okay depending on the type of light, depth of the tank, type of coral and other factors. Can you share some more details about the tank, light and corals?

I have a big aneome that split into 3 anenome (hope they will suvive)
2 other bubble tip anenome
2 hammer corals
1 devil hand leathe coral
zoa
1 brain coral
1 sun coral
2 mini maxi crpet anenomie
1 candy cane coral
2 bubble corals
I had a lobo that bleached- I took it back to the store for them to save it. The store said I need to decrease my lights.
One of my anenomes also lost its color but is doing better now

I have a 32 gallon biocube that had LED light. I will look tomorrow and see if both white and blues are on.

 

[Lisa Cain]

So you aren't running the blues and whites together at all during the day?

 

[sbash]

Typically, I run blue for a couple hours, then whites (with blues) for 5-8, then blues for however long I want to view the tank in the evening. For example, my total lighting on my 220 is about 11 hours of blues and 8 of whites.

Dana has some interesting articles on light duration and growth, I suggest you look up his articles and read through them.

 

[Lisa Cain]

When I had the LED hood on I ran it 12 to 6 and 6 to 12 blues for my LPS

Is that 12noon to 6 pm for white light and 6 to 12:00 midnight for blue lights?

I kno nothing about lights.

 

[Lisa Cain]

Typically, I run blue for a couple hours, then whites (with blues) for 5-8, then blues for however long I want to view the tank in the evening. For example, my total lighting on my 220 is about 11 hours of blues and 8 of whites.

Dana has some interesting articles on light duration and growth, I suggest you look up his articles and read through them.

I will look them up thanks!!

 

[Dom274]

I think you're just fine, unless you were having algae issues and such. My LEDs vary in intensity throughout the day, but my photoperiod is 9am to 1am, with the main "daylight" being 1pm to 9pm.

 

[Lisa Cain]

I think you're just fine, unless you were having algae issues and such. My LEDs vary in intensity throughout the day, but my photoperiod is 9am to 1am, with the main "daylight" being 1pm to 9pm.

What color lights do you run from 9am to 1 am? Are the blue lights less intense then the white lights?

 

[Scooter90254]

It could be fine but why are you running them so long?

What are you gaining by running them for that many hours?

 

[Dom274]

What color lights do you run from 9am to 1 am? Are the blue lights less intense then the white lights?

Blues, and yes the intensity is turned down. At 9am the blues are 1%, ramping up to 10% by 10am and then to 80% by 1PM. I have ap700's so at 1pm the color adjusts to more of a daylight spectrum where it remains until the reverse starts at 9pm, ending at 1am. I work 2nd shift, so the tank is just turning on when I get up at 9-10am, and then winding down when I get home at 11pm or so.

 

[Dom274]

What are you gaining by running them for that many hours?

Why not? For me, the sun rises around 6-7am and sets at 8-9pm. That's a 14 hour photoperiod...

EDIT: I do use LEDs, so energy costs are so low it's not a factor to me.

 

[Dana Riddle]

The Hammer (Euphyllia) and Bubble (Plerogyra) corals can fare very well in low light (75-100 PAR). Loss of coloration in the Bubble-tips (I'm assuming they are either green or orange, perhaps a bit of both) is a sign of photo-bleaching, although it sounds like it's not serious if they're reproducing via fission. Ill make the assumption that the Lobophyllia was/is red. Typically, red corals are from low light environments.

 

[Lisa Cain]

The Hammer (Euphyllia) and Bubble (Plerogyra) corals can fare very well in low light (75-100 PAR). Loss of coloration in the Bubble-tips (I'm assuming they are either green or orange, perhaps a bit of both) is a sign of photo-bleaching, although it sounds like it's not serious if they're reproducing via fission. Ill make the assumption that the Lobophyllia was/is red. Typically, red corals are from low light environments.

Thank you when an anenome reproduces by fission what does that mean? Is it happy or stressed. I tried to reduce the light period this morning but I am not sue what i did. What does blue light do for corals? How long would you sugesst the intense daylights to stay on? What exactly is photbleaching?

 

[Dana Riddle]

Thank you when an anenome reproduces by fission what does that mean? Is it happy or stressed. I tried to reduce the light period this morning but I am not sue what i did. What does blue light do for corals? How long would you sugesst the intense daylights to stay on? What exactly is photbleaching?

First the easy questions: Fission means splitting into smaller parts, and is a reproductive trait of several anemone species - I would venture if it has the energy to devote to reproduction, it must be 'happy'. Photo-bleaching could mean several things, in the context of our discussion, it is loss of coloration in the anemone. The question remains however if the loss is due to non-production of the fluorescent proteins by the anemone, or if the protein itself bleaches. A crude analogy is the 'washed out' look of drapes exposed to sunlight over a period of time. Blue light is absorbed by the photopigments with the chlorophylls and can be used in photosynthesis, thus providing some nutriment to the host animal (coral, anemone, clam.) It can also induce coloration (colors that might 'pop' or fluoresce.) And finally, the tough question - Without knowing the intensity of the light (a PAR meter is the best compromise, but a lux meter is better than nothing) I can't answer your question. Others with experience with your particular light here on R2R are your best resource.