photoperiod and growth rates in SPS?

dots

Premium Member
In SPS we always thinking about growth rates and how to increase our own and at the same time have excellent color.

By now, most of us understand about "quality" of light hence the majority using blinding amounts of Metal Halide, "quantity" as in watts and with that, I find that most of the time we focus on color "K" of light and how that affect the growth rates. However, other than the infrequent poll, photoperiod of light is rarely discussed.

I recently did a lighting upgrade from 150's to 250's DE MH......I would think that that much of a boost would improve my coloration and growth rates......the colorations have improved, but growth rate not so much........

My question is.....I believe that I had read an article containing some information about photo inhibition.....meaning after the saturation point, the extra light actually has a negative effect that not only could fade your coloration, but slow or stop growth all together......has anybody seen this first hand by adjusting your photoperiod?

I realized that I still was using the older photoperiod with my 150's to try to get stuff to color up, but now with the 250's that photoinhibition could be an issue and I could have swung the pendulum from one end to the other!!

But I am really curious is when people have played with there photoperiods, what result have you seen directly with growth rates only?

mine was 150's/250's week ago: Actinics on: 12 hrs daily, MH 10hrs daily

now: Actinics: 12hrs daily, MH 8 hrs daily....

I was trying to simulate the 12 hour day, but remembered the intense light was only a fraction of that........what have you found works best for you?

BTW the new lights have been on for awhile and lets assume that all other parameters are optimal.......not really looking for solutions but your first hand observations/opinions of photoperiod lengths.....Thanks!!
 
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I run my halides for 8 hours a day. I once dropped down to 6, but thought I noticed a decrease in growth so I bumped it back up to 8. I run actinics 12 hours.
 
2x250w 14K DE, 8 hours a day. I just bumped this up from 6 hours a day (for the past year) three days ago. It is to soon to tell if it is for the better or worse. I run no other supplemental lights at this point. Waiting to get the new Maristar MH/T5 combo pendent.
 
I have a similar question; can u make up for lower intensity light with a longer photoperiod? As long as the light requirements are met does it really matter? Also I have been wondering about increasing the photoperiod past 12 hours so that a lower wattage bulb could be used. For the most part the higher the intelligence of a creature the more sleep it needs. Not to call corals dumb but in reality how long does the night portion of the photoperiod really need to be?
 
I didn't think that they were when I had my 150's over mine....but it was the best I could do....Its kinda a quantity vs quality thing IMO.
 
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