16G Nano w/ corals- Light Sched and Mix of Colors

[Big Chief]

Hi Guys,

Been trying to find info on this... can't seem to get a solid answer, time for insights...

Ive got a 16G Innovative Marine Nano. It came with 2 LED fixtures, using 14K and 467nm blue. (6w white and 2w blue - each fixture)

Ive had some Zoa and Frogspawn for about 4 months and they seem fine, but growth seems slow and the Frogspawn is not "opening" as much as it used to. Been looking into afew things... and now I am on lighting.

For those Nano's using LED's, how do you run them? What is a typical on/off schedule... and MOST important... how are you running the colors?

Example: Currently I run the 14k white for approx 10 hours THEN when they go off, the BLUE runs the other remainder 14 hours. They are not adjustable, just ON/OFF and my timer is simple ON/OFF. I keep hearing people running a mixture (white AND blue) so it got me wondering? Then again, these are usually bigger tanks...

Should there be a period of darkness? I keep seeing the blue is better for growth but should be it in combo? I started thinking, maybe if I use 2 timers, I can run the blues longer then the whites come on WITH the blue for a combination, then DARK? So here I am looking for Nano advice.

Thanks,

 

[Bugboy2020]

The Algae inside corals need time to rest. So, yes, you are running your lights too long. A better schedule would be as follows -
Blues turn on
Two hours later
Whites turn on
Six hours later
Whites turn off
Two hours later
Blues turn off
This way your corals can wake up to a soft light. Then, once they're ready, they receive the full intensity of both the blue and white lights to power their symbiotic algae. Then, the whites turn off to lower the power, making the algae become more dormant. And finally, the algae rests once the blue light turns off.

 

[Big Chief]

Thats exactly what I started to think... makes sense.

The tank is also close to several windows, so the sunrise/daylight also helps to jump start things... In the beginning, I was turning on the bright white at 5:30am (still dark outside) just because the family is up then... but as I started to research lighting, it got be second guessing.

I plan to run something like the schedule you mentioned and also time it with the sunrise/windows lights.

Thanks again,