Has anyone tried having lights off mid day? Im giving it a try. Opinions appreciated

jdoenumber2

New member
For the past couple weeks i have been doing 4 on, 4 off, 4 on, 12 off. I have a 250w radium on a hqi ballast. Cant think of any reason not too. So far i am happy with the results. Anyone care to share some input?
 
Alex, at ABC Aquarium, did something similar to this on his home tank. Maybe G can chime in with results.
 
Interesting. Can you guys elaborate on any theory associated with this practice? Simply put, what the dilly yo?
 
I will look for the article but the idea was that corals can only take so much light and most of the growth occurs at night so give them 6hr cycles. I have good growth but I don't have a control group to verify my claim. I do have a lot of coralline algae growth but that could be the LEDS. I work nights and the frag tanks are in the basement off the sump so the light cycle is not bothersome. I have them opposite hours of the main tank.
 
Certainly interesting. If you find the article, post it up. Or if you can think of the name of it, I can do a search.
 
Alex, at ABC Aquarium, did something similar to this on his home tank. Maybe G can chime in with results.

I first tried this when I had grow tanks in my home basement. Working long hours everyday I didn't get to see the corals with lights on. So I ran a double cycle. My father later did the same thing with his home display tank. He also did this to be able to check on the tank in the morning and late at night after work. The cycle I ran was 6am-12:00 and 6pm-11pm It allowed to do maintenance and see the corals open without messing with the timers. Didn't really run any controls to see if growth was faster.
 
I could see trying to simulate cloud cover but lights out at midday just seems unnatural IMO.

The idea is to get two light "days" out of one. Although I think there could be a benefit in mimicking the natural sun and moon cycle. Its also unnatural for humans to work 70 hour weeks, and for those that do its an option to be able to see the aquarium with the lights on. The may be a difference in growth, I didn't note anything extraordinary but all my stuff did very well. I would also think fish that rest at night and nocturnal grazers may not be very happy as happy with this.My tanks didn't have any fish, just corals. My father's home tank had fish in it, I will ask him if he noted anything in regards to this.
 
My main goal at first was to help control temps and make it more viewable when i am home. So far i am pleased with the results. Still waiting on a hot stretch to see how well my theory holds up on temp control.
 
I have thought about this for the sake of viewing/checking on the tank when the lights are on. Anyone know if an AC JR can be easily set for two light periods. I tried it with my moon lights and it was an epic fail so I removed the code.
 
I have thought about this for the sake of viewing/checking on the tank when the lights are on. Anyone know if an AC JR can be easily set for two light periods. I tried it with my moon lights and it was an epic fail so I removed the code.
I got my ac2 programmed to do it. Im sure you can with yours too.
 
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