New Question on lights

[Knowledgeborn07]

I have a aqualight compact 260 w on a timer. The actinics come on at night and I have been leaving them on all night until the others come on at 6 am. Is this cool or should I turn them off before bed and have no lights on. I dont have lunar lights or moon lights.

 

[LakeEd]

Hi Knowledgeborn,

Most people will run a 10-12 hour light cycle. This is the total time they have their lights on, on their tank.

Personally, I have my Actinics turning on a noon, then off at 11pm., and my MH lights on at 1pm and off at 10pm. I have found that my fish and corals do better when they get a true "night" period of darkness.

 

[returnofsid]

I would have your actinics come on about an hour before your daylight bulbs and stay on about an hour longer than your daylight bulbs. For instance, Actinics on at 8 am...daylight on at 9 am....daylight off at 7 pm and actinics off at 8 pm. This is just an example of a 12 hour cycle. You can adjust your times depending on if you want a 10 hour, 12 hour or whatever. You can also adjust your times to give you the lighting when you're most likely to be home to enjoy the scenery...lol. Fish and reef don't care what time the lights come on or go off...as long as they're getting enough light. I know someone who works a strange shift and has his lighting on from about 6 pm until about 6 am. I also know of people who do something like 8 pm to 8 am because of heat issues in the summer in very hot areas.

 

[Krish]

I agree with the others. Also, when you start to add livestock in there, they will need a few hours of darkness so you don't even want actinics on. Infact, some moon lights will keep some coral polyps open. As for how long you should have the lights on a day, photoperiods usually range from about 8 hours to about 12 hours on average.

 

[Knowledgeborn07]

Woke up today

And saw that the rock is almost all reddish brown and the crushed coral which was white is changing also. Im am seeing little furry white balls around on the rock. Kinda like the tops of dandelions when they seed or a dust bunny