Multiple light cycles a day
- Thread starter rkcca
- Start date
airinhere
New member
Maybe. But I do not think so.
My experience is that it does not seem to have any impact on the fish.
I am trying to breed PJ cardinals (maybe Banggais later on) and I have around 20.
Also have Yellow tangs, chromis, fiji damsels (blue w/ yellow belly & tail), saddleback, cinnamon, maroon and ocellaris clowns, sleeper goby, mandarin, lawnmower blennys and scooter dragonettes.
So far no wierd behavior.
No babies from the PJ cardinals yet. (only 4 are old enough to anyways.) When the PJ cardinals or clownfish pairs start having babies, I would be confident saying there is no side effect of the dual light cycle.
My experience is that it does not seem to have any impact on the fish.
I am trying to breed PJ cardinals (maybe Banggais later on) and I have around 20.
Also have Yellow tangs, chromis, fiji damsels (blue w/ yellow belly & tail), saddleback, cinnamon, maroon and ocellaris clowns, sleeper goby, mandarin, lawnmower blennys and scooter dragonettes.
So far no wierd behavior.
No babies from the PJ cardinals yet. (only 4 are old enough to anyways.) When the PJ cardinals or clownfish pairs start having babies, I would be confident saying there is no side effect of the dual light cycle.
JetCat USA
In Memoriam
it was posted above, fish are stressed by this.
airinhere
New member
Jeycat, not to be argumentative, but how exactly are the fish stressed? I am assuming you are speaking from personal experience. What were they doing (or not doing) to show their stressed state?
I ask because I have experienced no real issues with the dual light cycle. Everyone is eating like pigs and behaving in their small communities like model citizens. Although in all fairnes Cardinals are kinda wierd in the first place.
I ask because I have experienced no real issues with the dual light cycle. Everyone is eating like pigs and behaving in their small communities like model citizens. Although in all fairnes Cardinals are kinda wierd in the first place.
JetCat USA
In Memoriam
your PJs are nocturnal hunters so the light cycles have little if any psychological effect on them. other fish get very 'hyperactive' i guess would be a good word for it, they run around like a kid filled up on chocolate candy and red bull. a fishes biological clock is set by the photo period, the dual cycles put them into a x2
I'm retired, i spend a great deal of time observing and tending my tanks, IME most fish don't like the change to the 6 on/off cycles. maybe if they were slowly acclimated to it with a shorter photo period daily with a longer darkness they'd acclimate to it less stressfully. i ran it for about 9 months, i could tell my fish weren't as relaxed as they normally are and as soon as i went back to a single photo period all the fish went back to their normal behavior.
there are always exceptions to the rule with this hobby and for some people they may never notice any differences, I've got 8 systems up and running currently, normally over 10 and I've experienced the same results with every tank I've tried the dual periods on, YMMV.
I'm retired, i spend a great deal of time observing and tending my tanks, IME most fish don't like the change to the 6 on/off cycles. maybe if they were slowly acclimated to it with a shorter photo period daily with a longer darkness they'd acclimate to it less stressfully. i ran it for about 9 months, i could tell my fish weren't as relaxed as they normally are and as soon as i went back to a single photo period all the fish went back to their normal behavior.
there are always exceptions to the rule with this hobby and for some people they may never notice any differences, I've got 8 systems up and running currently, normally over 10 and I've experienced the same results with every tank I've tried the dual periods on, YMMV.
JetCat USA
In Memoriam
it caused my clowns to complete stop nesting, they won't nest with anything less then 12 hrs. i never tried it with my Bangaii. with the clowns temp and extended photo period gets them spawning and it's every 2 weeks, i don't think they could stand any sooner, that puts a huge strain on the male as is.
airinhere
New member
Hmmm. Good points. The Cardinals are my most predominant fish. 8 in each of my 90 gal tanks and four in my 55 gal tanks. I also have some other guys in there, (lawnmower blenny, yellow tang.) But they all seem immune to the effects of my light cycles.
Now, my tanks with clowns and damsels. Well lets just say I expect them to behave rather agressive and almost all of them are still very young. (just under a year old. Got them all last November.) I am waiting for them to get old enough to start spawning behavior, but figure that their young age was the reason they had not started yet. Perhaps I should try some of my tanks with regular light cycles and see if my clowns don't start spawning.
What temp are you keeping your tanks at to help induce spawning? Clownfish breeding is not on my list of plans, but nesting behavior would be welcome.
Now, my tanks with clowns and damsels. Well lets just say I expect them to behave rather agressive and almost all of them are still very young. (just under a year old. Got them all last November.) I am waiting for them to get old enough to start spawning behavior, but figure that their young age was the reason they had not started yet. Perhaps I should try some of my tanks with regular light cycles and see if my clowns don't start spawning.
What temp are you keeping your tanks at to help induce spawning? Clownfish breeding is not on my list of plans, but nesting behavior would be welcome.
JetCat USA
In Memoriam
i keep them between 75-76 and if they are reluctant to spawn I'll bump it up slowly to 79-80 only if bumping the lights up from 12 to 14 doesn't do the trick. usually once you get them started if left undisturbed they'll continue as long as you keep things steady and keep them fed quality foods.
you'll also have much better luck with them in individual tanks. due to remodeling my Clarkii are in a 75g frag tank with a pair or maroons, they refuse to nest and the male is often sleeping alone too while the female snuggles up with the nem.
JetCat USA
In Memoriam
i couldn't tell that clams or anemones cared either way, they didn't respond positively or negatively, either way they got 12hrs of light in a 24 hr period and seamed content regardless. with my carpet nems i kept the same feeding schedule, i feed them every two days, if you bumped that up to once a day (which would be like ever second day with the dual photo periods) i can't say if they'd fully digest the food in that amount of time.........might be a test for one of you guys running the dual cycles now.
other mobile inverts didn't seam to care either way as well, snails/crabs/shrimp climb under ledges and go into dark areas even with lights on, they prolly didn't even notice a change
other mobile inverts didn't seam to care either way as well, snails/crabs/shrimp climb under ledges and go into dark areas even with lights on, they prolly didn't even notice a change
MJAnderson
Premium Member
I'll throw in my first (unscientific) observation. Too soon to tell if my sps will respond positively, but it seems my blastos/acans are thrown by the change in schedule. Usually I feed about 45 minutes after lights out and I have great PE. Not so much since I switched the lighting. I'll keep it up for another week to see if the adopt.
MJAnderson
Premium Member
I might have to take back my earlier observation. Came home today and two sps had shed all their tissue -- a bali slimer and a blue acro. I checked all my parms and everything was normal.
airinhere
New member
MJAnderson, I am truly sorry to hear about your loss. This probably should have come up earlier, but how do you maintain your tanks temperature during the day?
I ask because I used to have my cooling fans turn on with my daytime running pumps. I had to get an adapter and run my fans on the same timer that I run my halide lights on.
My tank got down to 76F in the middle of the day (when the lights were off, but the fans were running) for two days when I was running the original cooling fan cycle. I only noticed because I stopped by the house during lunch and freaked when I saw the temp in my tanks. I switched to have my fans on only when my lights were on (and thus my tank would get warmer). Since I switched my tank stays right at 78-80F day or night.
I ask because I used to have my cooling fans turn on with my daytime running pumps. I had to get an adapter and run my fans on the same timer that I run my halide lights on.
My tank got down to 76F in the middle of the day (when the lights were off, but the fans were running) for two days when I was running the original cooling fan cycle. I only noticed because I stopped by the house during lunch and freaked when I saw the temp in my tanks. I switched to have my fans on only when my lights were on (and thus my tank would get warmer). Since I switched my tank stays right at 78-80F day or night.
MJAnderson
Premium Member
The tank is in the basement, so when the lights aren't on the heaters are to keep the temp at 80. It goes between 79 and 80.5. I drip kalk and dose 2 part so my ph stays in the 8.30s and my alk between 10.-10.4.
airinhere
New member
How big were the SPS that you had STN? Is all the tissue gone? Flesh still on part of the coral? tips? Base? SPS are notiriously sensitive, but I just added about 15 new frags to one of my 90 gal tanks from a frag swap last weekend and they are all doing great.
Light cycle changes could be causing something to occur to injure your corals, but I am hesitant to say its the altered schedule itself. Its just a matter of figuring out what the light cycle change is impacting and fixing that issue. (Or just going back to the regular light cycle).
Light cycle changes could be causing something to occur to injure your corals, but I am hesitant to say its the altered schedule itself. Its just a matter of figuring out what the light cycle change is impacting and fixing that issue. (Or just going back to the regular light cycle).
JetCat USA
In Memoriam
i never had any problems swapping from the single to the double and then back to the single....
MJAnderson
Premium Member
Both were about 2" frags I got from someone. Have had them in the tank for about 6 weeks. Both lost all the flesh at once. Not sure what else to check. I know the lighting could mess with PH---possibly it went too high but I tested it at the end of one of the 6 hour cycles and it was 8.36.
I'm going to try it with two 4 hour cycles and see how things react then work it up from there.
I'm going to try it with two 4 hour cycles and see how things react then work it up from there.
