lighting concerns

[dolphinman213]

lights overnight
i run my white lights for 12 hours--then my blue actnic light comes on afterward for 12 hours(during the night)will doing this upset the balance of the reef, since it never is any darkness for the fish to sleep

 

[sir_dudeguy]

first there is never complete darkness on a normal reef anyways (well there is, but only a few days here and there when its cloudy or whatever).

But second, why are you running the actinics during the night, and not along with the daylights?

 

[shag26272]

i would run them together, if you want get some moonlights for night

 

[dolphinman213]

but will it off balance my reef(the blues are for nighttime and they are on for 7 hours not 12

 

[shag26272]

what do you mean balance? Actinic doesnt simulate night time. if that was the case people would buy lights half the wattage and just run them 24 hours a day

 

[zacharytrimble]

You may find that running actinics during the day is a really neat experience. I've found that it really makes the fish shimmer...and it causes some of the florescing properties of corals to really come out for your enjoyment. I would try switching to the day. Get a little add on moonlight or something and that looks really neat at night.