4 on 8 off light cycle

I think I read somewhere once that zooxanthellae can only absorb so much light at a time. Once the amount of light reaches that limit, then any more light actually starts doing damage to the coral. The zooxanthellae then need to use the stored energy to repair the damage done to the coral instead of putting that energy towards new growth. (Or something like that) Anyone else ever read this?
Also, isn't T5 bulb life also shortened by more frequent on/off cycles?
 
I just reprogrammed my Frag tank lights to 6 on, 6 off
and my algae scrubber to 8 on, 4 off a few days ago
 
Harry_Y said:
I just reprogrammed my Frag tank lights to 6 on, 6 off
Click to expand...

That's probably going to be a bit too much, thing is there's the debate the study makes that after 4 hours of light corals don't get as much growth and energy from zooxanthellae, so with 6 hours you're adding on an extra two hours with only 6 hour break in between... Could go either way, but imo the 4 hour cycle might be a better start.

So has anyone tried this with side by side systems?
 
organism said:
That's probably going to be a bit too much, thing is there's the debate the study makes that after 4 hours of light corals don't get as much growth and energy from zooxanthellae, so with 6 hours you're adding on an extra two hours with only 6 hour break in between... Could go either way, but imo the 4 hour cycle might be a better start.

So has anyone tried this with side by side systems?
Click to expand...

I agree.. when you look in the graph in the published paper motility really falls off after 4.5 hours....

As far as testing I'm planning to when I finally get setup (I'm hoping to get the wall up and opening cut out this weekend). I know that's not "has done" though. I will have a group of tanks w/shared sump for sps and a group of tanks w/a different sump for LPS that I am planning on trying 8/12 and 4/8/4/8 on.
 
organism said:
That's probably going to be a bit too much, thing is there's the debate the study makes that after 4 hours of light corals don't get as much growth and energy from zooxanthellae, so with 6 hours you're adding on an extra two hours with only 6 hour break in between... Could go either way, but imo the 4 hour cycle might be a better start.

So has anyone tried this with side by side systems?
Click to expand...

I really like this idea, but its confusing.
1. The real ocean has NOTHING like this. So why would it help corals in a tank when you are trying as hard as you can to reproduce natural parameters such as lighting, water quality, water movement and similar life??
2. Wouldn't this mess w/ the livestocks minds. I mean personally if all of a sudden my world started being day for 4 hours and night for 8 i would lose it, wont most fish/crabs/inverts possibly react the same?
 
NothingbutNANO said:
I really like this idea, but its confusing.
1. The real ocean has NOTHING like this. So why would it help corals in a tank when you are trying as hard as you can to reproduce natural parameters such as lighting, water quality, water movement and similar life??
Click to expand...

Farming isn't about recreating natural parameters, it's about increasing growth. How often do corals cut and glue themselves in the wild under 20k lighting? To put it into perspective, is it natural parameters for a human to increase growth by pushing 300lb barbell up and down?

2. Wouldn't this mess w/ the livestocks minds. I mean personally if all of a sudden my world started being day for 4 hours and night for 8 i would lose it, wont most fish/crabs/inverts possibly react the same?
Click to expand...

It's pretty doubtful that inverts and calcified jellyfish share much with us in the way of psychology, so probably not... I don't know how fish would do though, I wouldn't put any in there.
 
Haha. You are absolutely right on everything. I still think farming is recreating some natural parameters and wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be a terrible idea. I may try it out. Anyone having luck? Or any thoughts?
 
I think that's the cool thing about farming corals, you can take what's natural for them and then tweak it to make them grow more, have better colors, etc... Aquaculture's so relatively new to the hobby that imo we're still on the tip of the iceberg :)
 
Someone touched on how t5's lives are shortened by frequent on/off. Is the same true for mh? I am interested in replacing my fixture, but I don't need to kill it haha. Would rather repurpose!
 
NothingbutNANO said:
Someone touched on how t5's lives are shortened by frequent on/off. Is the same true for mh? I am interested in replacing my fixture, but I don't need to kill it haha. Would rather repurpose!
Click to expand...

I can't find the supporting data but I believe the answer is yes.
 
Ok, well I am gonna do it on my 14 as my mh is in phx atm. Picking that up is over 2 weeks away. I will post back and let everyone know how things are doing in the tank. Currently my main interest is a set of zoo's that are not propagating. We will see after 2 weeks w/ t5 bulbs if they start, if so it will be worth it to me for my mh. Plus when they die I might be able to convince the woman to let me get http://goo.gl/pNnfm haha.

Thx everyone. I will post back with my success or utter failure either way. :)
 
I just started it this week on my frag tank with my leds so im not to worried about the effect on bulb life. I don't have another tank other than my well established display so not really fair. More interested if thing survive happily like zoas, softies, sps, and the two fish lol
 
Ya I would be concerned with the fish, but I cannot find anything that says specifically whether or not they will get upset by the schedule. Good luck
 
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