14 hours lighting AI prime too much ?

Nanolifeuk

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I run David saxby setting at 70%. I have tweaked whites down even more.

ramp up @ 8am. Doesn’t max till 12pm.
Ramps down at 9pm off 10:20 pm.

The reason for this is for room air circulation I leave blinds and windows open. The room is naturally light from 6am - 10pm anyways.

is this too much light ? I know some people run it at 9 hours max. And does the room need to be dark while lights are off ?
 

Chrisv.

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I have a very slow ramp with multiple phases over a about 12.5h. I have a longish dawn and longish dusk. I work and if I don't have it set up like this, I won't get to see the tank. I've been doing it this way for a year or so with no problems this far.
 
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Nanolifeuk

Nanolifeuk

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I have a very slow ramp with multiple phases over a about 12.5h. I have a longish dawn and longish dusk. I work and if I don't have it set up like this, I won't get to see the tank. I've been doing it this way for a year or so with no problems this far.
Exactly my predicament… lights would always be off otherwise. I would sacrifice a couple hours lights on in the morning if needed and start them @ 10am.

Do you know if the corals will be fine, with natural daylight in the morning up until that point? Don’t want to stress them out.

this is mine :

6D080B84-6297-405E-A795-B1ACFEDC11D7.png
 
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Nanolifeuk

Nanolifeuk

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12hrs on, 12hrs complete darkness
it’s a real pain. Natural light starts 6am in summer. Are them two hours until lights on @ 8am okay ? Window is west facing.

I set off for work @ 6 so it’s either leave the blinds down all day or turn the lights off at like 8pm .

it’s quite a old dusty room also (old house).I’ve spent months removing it all I prioritise having the windows open. With the blinds down I can’t get fresh air in.
 

Chrisv.

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it’s a real pain. Natural light starts 6am in summer. Are them two hours until lights on @ 8am okay ? Window is west facing.

I set off for work @ 6 so it’s either leave the blinds down all day or turn the lights off at like 8pm .

it’s quite a old dusty room also (old house).I’ve spent months removing it all I prioritise having the windows open. With the blinds down I can’t get fresh air in.
Honestly I like having just a little light before I leave for work, so that I can fix things in the morning if there is a problem.

I really don't think whatever light leak you have coming in from your windows (or you know, lights you need to get ready for work when winter returns) is worth worrying about.

You have a fairly steep ramp in the morning. Looks like a steep ramp up between 8-9 and a slow ramp between 9 and 12. What if you had a much less steep ramp in the first phase and then a steeper ramp rate in the second phase? This would mimic the natural reef more closely too-- where dawn can take a while, and corals might be illuminated with scattered light on a reef slope for large portions of the day.

I guess it all depends on what you're growing too.
 

thatmanMIKEson

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it’s a real pain. Natural light starts 6am in summer. Are them two hours until lights on @ 8am okay ? Window is west facing.

I set off for work @ 6 so it’s either leave the blinds down all day or turn the lights off at like 8pm .

it’s quite a old dusty room also (old house).I’ve spent months removing it all I prioritise having the windows open. With the blinds down I can’t get fresh air in.
One of my systems has a little natural light that hits it for a few hours, but my other is in a room with dark shades so it gets no light and I have insulation on the windows, but the in the same idea you could use something you hang on the tank to block the light it will not harm the tank and when you get home you take it off. :)
 

Chrisv.

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One of my systems has a little natural light that hits it for a few hours, but my other is in a room with dark shades so it gets no light and I have insulation on the windows, but the in the same idea you could use something you hang on the tank to block the light it will not harm the tank and when you get home you take it off. :)
Do you find that this makes a difference?
 
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Nanolifeuk

Nanolifeuk

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Honestly I like having just a little light before I leave for work, so that I can fix things in the morning if there is a problem.

I really don't think whatever light leak you have coming in from your windows (or you know, lights you need to get ready for work when winter returns) is worth worrying about.

You have a fairly steep ramp in the morning. Looks like a steep ramp up between 8-9 and a slow ramp between 9 and 12. What if you had a much less steep ramp in the first phase and then a steeper ramp rate in the second phase? This would mimic the natural reef more closely too-- where dawn can take a while, and corals might be illuminated with scattered light on a reef slope for large portions of the day.

I guess it all depends on what you're growing too.
Yeah that’s not a bad idea actually. I had it steep in phase one because daylight was picking up quicker than the ramp up was so that’s just to ‘get them on’ to speak.
 

razorskiss

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In the freshwater world it's not unusual to have a 'siesta' midday where the lights go out to make it possible to have the tank lit earlier in the morning and later in the evening to increase viewing hours. Do people not do that with reefs?
 

Chrisv.

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In the freshwater world it's not unusual to have a 'siesta' midday where the lights go out to make it possible to have the tank lit earlier in the morning and later in the evening to increase viewing hours. Do people not do that with reefs?
We tend not to, because it causes polyps to open or close depending on the species, but I believe there has been published research on doing multiple photo periods per 24h. I don't remember the data. For some reason I think it wasn't horrible. Worth a Google.
 

razorskiss

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We tend not to, because it causes polyps to open or close depending on the species, but I believe there has been published research on doing multiple photo periods per 24h. I don't remember the data. For some reason I think it wasn't horrible. Worth a Google.
Ah, that makes sense
 

oreo54

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Yeah that’s not a bad idea actually. I had it steep in phase one because daylight was picking up quicker than the ramp up was so that’s just to ‘get them on’ to speak.
And a quick tip, if you want to enjoy your reef a bit longer over the weekends, no problem, just increase the photoperiod but make sure you compensate by reducing the intensity for a few hours during the day

Concept is dli....
https://www.redseafish.com/blog/light-intensity-photoperiod-relationship/

https://reefs.com/magazine/a-differ...hotoperiod-spectral-quality-and-light-dosage/
Existing evidence suggests that photoperiods of at least 17 hours per day can cause disruptions......However, this evidence combined with the fact that constant or prolonged photoperiods are unnatural, it is probably best to avoid periods of illumination exceeding much more than 14 or 15 hours per day.


For fun, and to show the "it's complicated" side:
 
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Nanolifeuk

Nanolifeuk

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An instantaneous measurement of PAR is analogous to the number of raindrops falling upon a given area in a given time. We should be more interested in the total amount of PAR falling upon a given area per day, which is similar to inches of rainfall per day.
I like this analogy. I’ll knock an hour off at night, and if I see any declines in health I may aim at lowering the intensity in the evening.
 

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