Multiple lighting cycles a day

[seth the wine guy]

Anyone run more than one lighting cycle in a given day. Like six on six off?
If so, what are your results/experience with it?

 

[ripped tide]

You know I do. 4 on 8 off 4on 8off


Great growth!

 

[jef4y]

I would probably do it on a frag tank but enjoy my display lighting too much to have a downtime during the day.

 

[falos]

Ripped Tide;766353 wrote: You know I do. 4 on 8 off 4on 8off


Great growth!

+1 I'm 6-10 on 10-6 off

 

[morganatlanta]

I've thought about doing them a few hours on in the morning and then on six or so on in the evening, but I was concerned that would just be too "unnatural". So you guys are saying it's not a problem?

 

[ripped tide]

MorganAtlanta;766414 wrote: I've thought about doing them a few hours on in the morning and then on six or so on in the evening, but I was concerned that would just be too "unnatural". So you guys are saying it's not a problem?

I wouldn't say that it is a problem and I wouldn't say that it isn't. It takes some corals and fish a little time to adjust to the new settings. Once everything is adjusted, I'd say it's well worth it.

 

[seth the wine guy]

Ripped Tide;766353 wrote: You know I do. 4 on 8 off 4on 8off


Great growth!

falos;766384 wrote: +1 I'm 6-10 on 10-6 off

Why 4 on and 8 off as opposed to 6 and 6?

How dark is the room when your tanks are off during daylight hours? Is there a lot of ambient light from windows or anything? I'm also wondering how much ambient light confuses the corals. My lights come on at 2pm but the room is full of indirect light. Most of the Z's are open before the lights are even on. I should probably start a different thread for that topic.

 

[rhyerob]

How long does it take to acclimate the corals to this new light cycle

 

[rhyerob]

Very interested in seeing this because those are the only times that I'm home to witness my tank so Might as well optimize the time that I can see it. I also am interested as to why it's four on eight off as opposed to six on six off. Could you please clarify

 

[ripped tide]

Seth The Wine Guy;766420 wrote: Why 4 on and 8 off as opposed to 6 and 6?

How dark is the room when your tanks are off during daylight hours? Is there a lot of ambient light from windows or anything? I'm also wondering how much ambient light confuses the corals. My lights come on at 2pm but the room is full of indirect light. Most of the Z's are open before the lights are even on. I should probably start a different thread for that topic.

Only 4hrs because it only takes 3 for a photo period, I was feeling generous when I programmed my lights and gave them an extra hour.

My tanks are in my basement and there are only two windows, which most the light is blocked by curtains. The lunar cycle of my AI's put more light in the tank than outside light. Sometimes my wife has the overhead lights, or tv on, but not for a long period of time.

The reason I gave more to the rest period was also a hope to not grow as much algae. I wake up around 7:30 and leave by 10:00 at the latest. I get home around 7:30-8:30, so the 8hrs of rest time gives me more viewing time.

 

[dine]

Ripped Tide;766437 wrote: Only 4hrs because it only takes 3 for a photo period, I was feeling generous when I programmed my lights and gave them an extra hour.

My tanks are in my basement and there are only two windows, which most the light is blocked by curtains. The lunar cycle of my AI's put more light in the tank than outside light. Sometimes my wife has the overhead lights, or tv on, but not for a long period of time.

The reason I gave more to the rest period was also a hope to not grow as much algae. I wake up around 7:30 and leave by 10:00 at the latest. I get home around 7:30-8:30, so the 8hrs of rest time gives me more viewing time.

Guess what you will be doing in a couple weeks...

 

[ripped tide]

Dine;766446 wrote: Guess what you will be doing in a couple weeks...

Lol :yay:

 

[rhyerob]

Ripped Tide;766437 wrote: Only 4hrs because it only takes 3 for a photo period, I was feeling generous when I programmed my lights and gave them an extra hour.

My tanks are in my basement and there are only two windows, which most the light is blocked by curtains. The lunar cycle of my AI's put more light in the tank than outside light. Sometimes my wife has the overhead lights, or tv on, but not for a long period of time.

The reason I gave more to the rest period was also a hope to not grow as much algae. I wake up around 7:30 and leave by 10:00 at the latest. I get home around 7:30-8:30, so the 8hrs of rest time gives me more viewing time.

How long did it take you to get everything used to this photo. I.e. did you step into it or did you just jump in. With both feet

If you stepped into it I would like some advice so that I could do the same myself

 

[falos]

I use to run 3 photoperiods per day but it was murder on bulb life had to replace mh every other month t-5 every 3 months
I keep my reef tanks in the bedroom to keep little hands out of it until the man cave is finished so there is no ambit light
I'm not shure is the added on off cycles will have the same results as far as chip life in led only time will tell
But on bulbs you take there usable life span and cut it in half for 2 pp and if you run 3 pp per day you only have 1/4 the life span on the bulbs
Alge can be a pain at first so be ready to increase wc not % but Times a week and bee ready for a 3 day black out if you have eny HA in the tank. Wet skimming will be your friend if you feed heavy or don't go ULNS
Cal and alk will be used up faster also so figure out how much more you nead to add daily for best growth
Evaporation will go down sum so keep that in mind wen running Kalk and cal reactors

And one last thing I noticed fish don't like it at first if you are adding a delicate fish to your tank eather git him use to the light cycle in qt you nead to back down to one photocycle and then ands others every few days till the fish gits use to it

 

[ripped tide]

Rhyerob;766463 wrote: How long did it take you to get everything used to this photo. I.e. did you step into it or did you just jump in. With both feet

If you stepped into it I would like some advice so that I could do the same myself

Started this "dual" cycle a little over a year ago(when I switched to LEDs)

I jumped right in. I did notice that some corals (mainly Lps) took a longer time to get used to it. It maybe have taken 2-3 months for the Lps to adjust(this could be from switching from halide to LED as well.

I have no Experiance with t5/halide with multi cycles, so I can't comment on bulb life, but falos is probably right.

Algae will grow wild if you don't prepare for the lighting cycle by making sure that you have a constant control of po4 and no3.

 

[seth the wine guy]

I'm tempted to jump in on this. Algae needs more than light to grow so I know that problem can be addressed proactively. Ca, Alk, Mg can be jacked to meet needs. I like having problems like the tank thirsting for more of those three! Means something is going right.

 

[ripped tide]

My consumption rate is rediculous. That ca reactor is the best purchase I could have made.

My 93 cube was consuming 100ml of each of the BRS 2part daily. My corals have gone from twigs to colonies in ~1 year's time. Algae was an issue when I was still in my 50g, but that was on me. Knowledge is power, but without money, you'll still be running an ehiem!!!! Haha. Anyways, things are better now and my 93 has a MUCH better set up.

 

[falos]

Ripped Tide;766541 wrote: My consumption rate is rediculous. That ca reactor is the best purchase I could have made.

My 93 cube was consuming 100ml of each of the BRS 2part daily. My corals have gone from twigs to colonies in ~1 year's time. Algae was an issue when I was still in my 50g, but that was on me. Knowledge is power, but without money, you'll still be running an ehiem!!!! Haha. Anyways, things are better now and my 93 has a MUCH better set up.

A cal reactor will save you big time I'm at 150ml a day cal alk I dose 75ml in the am 75 in the pm and 50ml of mag 25/25 30ml amino acids 20ml trace elements
I also wet skim 5 gal Ato runs new salt water at 1.010
The wet skimming keeps me from from having to run eny media I just use a small amount of carbon to keep house hold contaminants down

 

[snowmansnow]

Does this cause additional PH swings? Or, does it keep it level because the light off time isn't as long?

B

 

[falos]

Wen I was running a skimmer that was rated a little higher then my system volume yes I was having small ph swings but I added a skimmer rated 3x system volume it became unnoticeable
A fudge with a reverse light cycle helps also
The hardest part I have had running multi cycle is finding out how much 2 part I neared to add per day I was testing 2x a day for a week cal,alk,mag but worth it in the long run