How long do your lights peak for???

[RogueGrown]

I'm just wondering how long some of us ramp light up and down and how long we leave lights peaked for?

Me personally, I'm new to this and have been playing woth my settings but have found a 3hr ramp up and down with a 5 hr peak to be making my corals happy and also keeping algae at bay.

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[xanthurum]

Mine are at peak or really close to it for about 4 hours

 

[BigDave]

I only have two banks of lights. All lights are on for 6 of the 8 hours I have lights on.

 

[Ztous]

I leave mine at peak for 12 hours but I know I'm on the really high end.

 

[anthonys51]

i have a 1 hour ramp up and 1 hour ramp down with peak for 8 hours. i know i am probably on high end too.

 

[ericarenee]

I am not so high tech with my lights. I have 4 sets 3 of them have two channels blue and white..

8 am. The Blue lights come on in the far left fixture.
8:15 am the blue lights come on in the middle fixture.
8:30 am the Blue lights come on in right fixture..
at 8:30 am the moonlights go off .
9:30 am The White lights come on in the far left fixture
9:45 am the white lights come in in the middle fixture
10:am the white lights come on in the far right fixture

10 PM Right white lights go off
10:15 middle white goes off
10:30 left white light goes off
at 10:30 moon lights come on Just small blue lights actually aimed up at top of canopy to fill the canopy with light not aim into tank directly.
11m Right blue light goes off
11:15 middle blue light goes off
11:30 left blue light goes off..

We are usually in bed by 10 to 11 pm ..

 

[RobZilla04]

Peak for me is Ch 1 (blue), Ch 2 (white), and full AquaticLife Edge white & blue channel. Four hours.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The zoanthellae in your corals can utilize between 5 and 7 hours of light that is intense enough for them to do photosynthesis. More than that isn't harmful.

Yes, in the tropics the sun is up way more than 5 to 7 hours. But the morning sun, until 9 or 10am and the afternoon sun from 2 or 3pm till sunset is at a steep angle to the surface of the water and therefore does not penetrate well enough for the algae (zoanthellae) to do photosynthesis.

I do a 5 hour ramp up where the last hour or two are high PAR, a 4 hour midday and a 6 hour sunset and again, the first hour or two are still high PAR. So I assume I'm getting between 6 and 8 hours of photosynthesis.

 

[homer1475]

I do a 3 hour ramp up to 6 hours peak, then a 3 hour ramp down. I also start off(1 hour before the lights start to ramp up, and 1 hour after) and end with just a couple small blue LED's to simulate the moon. Does nothing for my coral or fish, but does allow me to view the tank under night time conditions.

 

[cincyjim]

I do a 2 hour ramp up to a 5 hour peak and then a 2 hour ramp down.

 

[RogueGrown]

I agree with Ron here on having a long ramp up and down. There is only several hours in the afternoon where the light is penetrating straight down. Highest intensity late just before sun begins to go down.

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[sde1500]

My lights peak for 1.5 hrs, with a ramp up and down.

 

[GimpyFin]

I currently have mine on 10 hours total with a 7 hour peak and 1.5 ramp up/down.

 

[DM and the Boys]

10 hours total and 8 hours peak. I've an eight bulb T5 with DIY 48 3 watt blue Cree LEDs...

 

[RogueGrown]

My light is on for 11 hrs. It's the AI prime. I cut it down by three hrs cause I was getting a really bad algae bloom, It's been fading away ever since.

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[Voodoojar]

This conversation would actually be very helpful if everyone added PAR values and types of coral.

My tank is mostly SPS tank with some favia and chalice type stuff at the bottom. I do 4 hours of peak high intensity 600 PAR center of the tank at the water's surface bookended with 4 hours of ramp on each side. It took awhile to find the sweet spot in my tank I got as high as 700 PAR peak for 6 hours but I noticed some bleaching in the coral that are close to the surface so I've gone back down. I also leave a small amount of light 15 PAR at the surface on 24/7

 

[jd371]

I have 4 Kessils with T5 supplements over a 75g. My lighting schedule is 12 hrs with the Kessils ramping up 3 hours to peak, thats when the T5's turn on and stay on for six hours and then shut off when the Kessils start to ramp down for another 4 hours.

 

[RogueGrown]

This conversation would actually be very helpful if everyone added PAR values and types of coral.

My tank is mostly SPS tank with some favia and chalice type stuff at the bottom. I do 4 hours of peak high intensity 600 PAR center of the tank at the water's surface bookended with 4 hours of ramp on each side. It took awhile to find the sweet spot in my tank I got as high as 700 PAR peak for 6 hours but I noticed some bleaching in the coral that are close to the surface so I've gone back down. I also leave a small amount of light 15 PAR at the surface on 24/7

The tank has been running for almost 4 months now. I have 7 red leg hermits, one turbo, three nassarius snails, a peppermint shrimp (wearing out his welcome), a small watchman goby. I have a couple zoanthids and a green palys I just added. The palys won't show themselves yet but it's only been 48 hrs.

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