4 - 8 - 4 - 8 Lighting Cycles

[Pancake]

Sorry if I missed it but do you have any lps or Acropora in the tank, and if so any noticeable changes?

8 month of 7on/4off/4on/9off schedule. For me, I can’t say conclusively that their is improvement, but can only say that my corals are better than I received them. The only thing I am sure of is that they are growing, looking healthy/PE and the colors look acceptable. Of course none Of it can be attributable to the schedule only. I can report that my eight month on the schedule so far has shown no adverse affects although I do notice that my goni seems to extend more fully with longer than 7 hours. I have been increasing my light par recently so i will observe and see if perhaps it will reach maximum extension with the higher par in less time. I will keep you guys posted if I notice increasing the par will reduce extension time. I started this tank with 4 month of regular cycle, and switched to 7/4/4/9 8 months ago and I can report for me no adverse affects for softie, lps, or sps. Weather their is improved growth or color will have to be seen as we the tank ages, but it will always be difficult to prove without a control.

 

[Pancake]

8 month of 7on/4off/4on/9off schedule. For me, I can’t say conclusively that their is improvement, but can only say that my corals are better than I received them. The only thing I am sure of is that they are growing, looking healthy/PE and the colors look acceptable. Of course none Of it can be attributable to the schedule only. I can report that my eight month on the schedule so far has shown no adverse affects although I do notice that my goni seems to extend more fully with longer than 7 hours. I have been increasing my light par recently so i will observe and see if perhaps it will reach maximum extension with the higher par in less time. I will keep you guys posted if I notice increasing the par will reduce extension time. I started this tank with 4 month of regular cycle, and switched to 7/4/4/9 8 months ago and I can report for me no adverse affects for softie, lps, or sps. Weather their is improved growth or color will have to be seen as we the tank ages, but it will always be difficult to prove without a control.

 

[HB AL]

8 month of 7on/4off/4on/9off schedule. For me, I can’t say conclusively that their is improvement, but can only say that my corals are better than I received them. The only thing I am sure of is that they are growing, looking healthy/PE and the colors look acceptable. Of course none Of it can be attributable to the schedule only. I can report that my eight month on the schedule so far has shown no adverse affects although I do notice that my goni seems to extend more fully with longer than 7 hours. I have been increasing my light par recently so i will observe and see if perhaps it will reach maximum extension with the higher par in less time. I will keep you guys posted if I notice increasing the par will reduce extension time. I started this tank with 4 month of regular cycle, and switched to 7/4/4/9 8 months ago and I can report for me no adverse affects for softie, lps, or sps. Weather their is improved growth or color will have to be seen as we the tank ages, but it will always be difficult to prove without a control.

Honestly I'm not gonna try and change my light cycle just now since my tank is doing so well right now on a 14 hour light cycle with my Kessils. It's a great and promising thing to hear that your corals are growing and colored good which means there healthy, but I can honestly say that if something changed like some kind of controlled test over time that proved the tank with the funky light schedule was growing and coloring up corals at a significant increased rate versus the other tanks, I would give it a shot, just not sure how my fish would like the light schedule changes, believe it or not my fish are more important to me than the plethora of corals i have. Good luck and give an update once in a while.

 

[Pancake]

Honestly I'm not gonna try and change my light cycle just now since my tank is doing so well right now on a 14 hour light cycle with my Kessils. It's a great and promising thing to hear that your corals are growing and colored good which means there healthy, but I can honestly say that if something changed like some kind of controlled test over time that proved the tank with the funky light schedule was growing and coloring up corals at a significant increased rate versus the other tanks, I would give it a shot, just not sure how my fish would like the light schedule changes, believe it or not my fish are more important to me than the plethora of corals i have. Good luck and give an update once in a while.

One other benefit I saw this summer was having the light off at the hottest part of the day helped to keep the tank a bit cooler.

 

[Pancake]

Spent an hour finely inspecting my tank after following a 6-6-6-6 lighting sched

* most notable is some def signs of some dying off of some GHA where I have had two 3x3in spots in two locations. Gha went from green to now a yellowish color and is retreating

* most of the palys seem to be more open and opportunistic when the lights are on

* had a small 3rd Pink Ladies Paly pop up that I hadn't noticed until this morning

* pink cat eyes palys were b4 the 6666 had long stems reaching for light when my entire 390nm to 490nm lights were at 50% power for 10hrs... but stems have shortened with two 6hrs periods of 100% power

* zoas about the same. Good news is none of them have closed up and refuse to grab light. Biz as usual under this 6666 sched

* fish have adapted as I got up at 3am to grab a glass of milk and all fish were sleeping happily in their spots from midnight to 6am. From noon to 6pm lights OUT the fish are still awake BUTswimming about slowly calmly. During lights ON my tangs are swimming and exploring and picking on LR to a higher energy level. No signs of "fin flare" which tells me stress. Also seeing they seem to be more of a community. At 10hrs I was noticing a small amt of chasing and a light sched few tail swipes. Is it possible that they are getting along better only seeing each other for 6hrs at a time rather than a longer 10hr window? I do not know (?)

What does this all MEAN? I don't have a clue.

I'm liking the new sched and plan to continue it until smthg keenly makes me aware of slight problems.

I believe I'm into Week 2 maybe 3. I can remember.

I'll report again come Feb 1st. If I happen to forget to update you can kindly send me a PM asking how its going.


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I think I will modify my 7/4/4/9 to your 6/6/6/6 schedule. It makes more sense. It has some scientific papers that suggest some benefits and it will work better during the summer time for cooling purposes. Also it will save me more money by dialing down 1 hour of mid tier electric pricing. Thanks Everyone for helping me come to my own personal conclusion through this thread.

 

[Pancake]

I think I will modify my 7/4/4/9 to your 6/6/6/6 schedule. It makes more sense. It has some scientific papers that suggest some benefits and it will work better during the summer time for cooling purposes. Also it will save me more money by dialing down 1 hour of mid tier electric pricing. Thanks Everyone for helping me come to my own personal conclusion through this thread.

On second thought..... I need to think it about it a little more because perhaps fish and inverts need longer rest at night.

 

[HB AL]

One other benefit I saw this summer was having the light off at the hottest part of the day helped to keep the tank a bit cooler.

Ya that would be a benefit but being my leds dont produce the heat that halides or even t5s did it's really minimal how much temp they add to the tank. My central AC keeps things perfect for my tank and the family.

 

[Pancake]

On second thought..... I need to think it about it a little more because perhaps fish and inverts need longer rest at night.

I will wait 2 more months for skimjim update and will transition to 6/6/6/6 just in time for summer! My concern was, perhaps unwarranted, is the work done by inverts in complete darkness. The lights off during the day is not completely dark and doesn’t seem to affect the fishes a whole lot, but I wonder if peppermint shrimps/ emeralds and other cuc may not be able to enjoy their extended dark hours..... 6 hours should be long enough though. Also I wonder about my mandarin if the reduced light out will cause reduced sleep and will make the mandarin scavenge more which will lead to more eating and pod depletion. Well my mandarin eats pellets so I guess not too big a deal but still.....

 

[ZoWhat]

@Pancake @HB AL @Thales

I dont know man.... seeing some super polyp extension on this 6666 sched

Got out my Samsung Galaxy s9 and took this pic under 100% light power at 10pm Jan 8th.

Again doing a 6hr 100% ON / 6hr OFF / 6hr 100% ON / 6hr OFF sched

Not trying to "one up ya" but they're the Fullest I've ever seen them

 

[Daniel@R2R]

To the op, I wouldn't get to worked up or bummed out about all the different posts concerning your post as it relates to a different type of light schedule or other unrelated topics that came up. I didnt really see anything bad said attacking you personally, just people asking for some kind of literature on the topic and if indeed there are public or vendors actually doing a study of this in a controlled environment. When I first clicked on the thread I was expecting to read about some personal experience or some articles from studies validating changing our light cycle for the benefit of the corals but unless I missed it (I honestly didnt read every post) I did not see a link or read a post with first hand knowledge to back up and validate your initial claim. Please dont take any of this personal from anyone, people are just looking for some form of validation of the idea. Now not trying to derail the thread but I haven't done a water change in over 2.5 years, change my filter socks only once a week and run my Kessils for 14 hours a day and my 1st hand knowledge has shown me that the way I do things definitely works, from the results I experience. I have a tank that's grossly overstocked with fish ( i feed them 10 to 14 Hikari cubes a day) and corals so I have a huge bioload but it works for me. It's not a gorgeous tank like alot of the pics I see people post but it's good enough for me. Now if your initial post about a different light period ends up being valid I will admit I would try it out immediately. Hers a cell phone pic from the other day just so you get an idea of what a cluster my tank is, and I dont even have a controller or doser, it's just me doing everything manually.

That's stunning! Love it!

 

[bhallo0217]

Another angle I'd be curious about is whether this light cycle would be helpful in knocking a dino outbreak back or any aggressive algaes? I know there are 72 hour lights out practices but I wonder if the on and off short cycles would prohibit their growth. Just a curiosity.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

My 2 cents and Dana could answer this. Corals require a certain amount of light and time. An excess total light can be harmful. You can have lower light levels and run them 12 hours or very high levels and run them 4 hours. I think you can run higher light outputs by splitting up the time so it allows the zooxanthellae to rest.

 

[Shooter6]

How does these split lighting schedules effect the other livestock, fish ect?

 

[Pancake]

Another angle I'd be curious about is whether this light cycle would be helpful in knocking a dino outbreak back or any aggressive algaes? I know there are 72 hour lights out practices but I wonder if the on and off short cycles would prohibit their growth. Just a curiosity.

Although I haven’t had any visible Dino’s or any other visible nuisance algae in my tank for over 6 months, I realize that’s not proof of any sort, just representing that the light schedule could be a possible factor. To put into perspective so you can guess for yourself what may be the contributing factors, I will list my habits. I have a strict 0tds water rule and use tropic marin pro which is the cleanest salt I’m willing to afford. I haven't done any scheduled water changes, but occasionally add salt water to compensate for water pulled out for acclimating/dipping new coral and cleaning maintenance (monthly average is 5 gallons for approx 70 gallon total water volume). Just throwing it out there as I don’t have the before and after experience to report for my 6 months of trouble free visually unnoticeable algae tank. Also it would be a great experiment, if someone who has algae issues could try the 4/8/4/8 or 6/6/6/6 schedule for algae control...... Although, I doubt anyone will risk such an experiment as it seems like a slow an unproven method. I think this light schedule is probably more a preventative measure than a cure imho.

 

[Kuzurí]

I'm just now getting back into reef keeping after being about 15 years removed, so much has changed in that time period. This concept is very interesting. I'm considering implementing the following lighting schedule on my Red Sea. What about the moonlight? Should that be on during the 8 hours off (during the day) or only at the conclusion of the final on cycle?

 

[Pancake]

I'm just now getting back into reef keeping after being about 15 years removed, so much has changed in that time period. This concept is very interesting. I'm considering implementing the following lighting schedule on my Red Sea. What about the moonlight? Should that be on during the 8 hours off (during the day) or only at the conclusion of the final on cycle?

Oooh interesting! So your saying that your moonlight is on for your dark period as in your tank is never Pitch black? If you don’t mind me asking what are benefits of that? Also I think weather you would use moonlight during the 8 hour off period would depend on what your purpose of the moonlight is for your tank. Then we can deduce if it would be beneficial to have the moonlight on during daytime.

 

[Kuzurí]

Don't get me wrong, I haven't done it yet.

The tank would be pitch black from around 10pm-6am

From what I can tell, there is not enough data to support this and it's not how it works in the wild. However, I'm interested as it does make some sense if the corals only need 4 hours. So if you do 2x 4 hour light periods per day, would they grow faster?

 

[ZoWhat]

OP here. JAN 18th

Still loving this lighting sched 6-6-6-6

Zoas and Palys all still w i d e open like lil satellite dishes just sucking up the light.

Seeing NO reason to change. And actually seeing LESS algae bc my lights aren't roasting the tank for 10hrs straight.

The way I'm seeing it, the coral is getting what it needs in two 6hrs photo periods and not one long straight run at 10hrs

Fish are well adjusted and eating like hogs.

To review for those still paying attn
6am to noon ON
Noon to 6pm OFF
6pm to midnight ON
Midnight to 6am OFF

Nothing in the tank is sleep deprived.... as a lot of you are concerned about. Fish acting normal, alert when the lights are ON, all gather when I approach the tank for feeding.... they've all memorized my feeding actions.

No lethargic activity, no flared fins, no fighting with each other.....but they still argue on Friday Nite Poker Night playing poker together. They bet using empty hermit crab shells


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[bdeppen]

OP here. JAN 18th

Still loving this lighting sched 6-6-6-6

Zoas and Palys all still w i d e open like lil satellite dishes just sucking up the light.

Seeing NO reason to change. And actually seeing LESS algae bc my lights aren't roasting the tank for 10hrs straight.

The way I'm seeing it, the coral is getting what it needs in two 6hrs photo periods and not one long straight run at 10hrs

Fish are well adjusted and eating like hogs.

To review for those still paying attn
6am to noon ON
Noon to 6pm OFF
6pm to midnight ON
Midnight to 6am OFF

Nothing in the tank is sleep deprived.... as a lot of you are concerned about. Fish acting normal, alert when the lights are ON, all gather when I approach the tank for feeding.... they've all memorized my feeding actions.

No lethargic activity, no flared fins, no fighting with each other.....but they still argue on Friday Nite Poker Night playing poker together. They bet using empty hermit crab shells


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Excited to hear this is working. I’m very interested in this as it would give me more viewing time. Added growth would be great but hearing there are no negative effects so far is reason enough for me.
Thanks for taking on the project and keeping us all updated.

 

[Daddy-o]

OP here. JAN 18th

Still loving this lighting sched 6-6-6-6

Zoas and Palys all still w i d e open like lil satellite dishes just sucking up the light.

Seeing NO reason to change. And actually seeing LESS algae bc my lights aren't roasting the tank for 10hrs straight.

The way I'm seeing it, the coral is getting what it needs in two 6hrs photo periods and not one long straight run at 10hrs

Fish are well adjusted and eating like hogs.

To review for those still paying attn
6am to noon ON
Noon to 6pm OFF
6pm to midnight ON
Midnight to 6am OFF

Nothing in the tank is sleep deprived.... as a lot of you are concerned about. Fish acting normal, alert when the lights are ON, all gather when I approach the tank for feeding.... they've all memorized my feeding actions.

No lethargic activity, no flared fins, no fighting with each other.....but they still argue on Friday Nite Poker Night playing poker together. They bet using empty hermit crab shells


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Thanks Captain SkimJim for the results you are sharing! Please continue to share. I am going to change the schedule on my frag tank. Any thoughts on a 5 on, 7 off, 5 on, 7 off ?
Cheers! Mark