Accelerated coral growth tricks.

[Brew12]

Great post! I’m not here to bash it but how come when I switched to a 10 hour peak photoperiod my acropora started to actually show signs of growth?

There are many reasons that could be the case. Most likely is that you have lower levels of PAR than the coral can utilize.
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/7/aafeature
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1
Here are two great articles by Dana that help explore stuff like this.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Going out to get amazon parrot, I've always wanted one. I have fishes and corals, dogs, and need a bird to complete the trifecta!

Never a Bird!!!! I said that about fish though.

But no cats!?!? You can’t have a parrot and a dog without a cat.

I could.... or make that WOULD never have a cat. At least not a regular house cat.... I am in contact with an Ocelot breeder, but I won't even try introducing one of those into our family until my current 2 dogs are dead and gone, so that's gonna be a long time.


As far as the light cycle goes, my zoas for instance, retract when the lights are out, and open when the lights are on, so maybe going through that cycle more often is beneficial.... who knows. I'm not afraid to try. I think the "that isn't the way it is in nature" attitude hurts progress in the sense that the ocean sees pollution, storms that create no visibility and impede UV and sunlight for days or a week at time, and other predators etc.... yet we don't try to recreate that artificially or via manipulation in our tanks, but of course our tanks are closed systems basically.

either way.... I'm rambling

 

[Brew12]

But back to the premise of the OP, does cutting lighting enhance growth?

Unless I missed something, the OP never recommended cutting lighting. Most reefers I know only run a peak photo period between 4 and 6 hours. Some of us run long dim ramps on either end for viewing but not coral growth.

If anything, the OP was recommending more lighting to enhance growth, but to be more effective it should be split between two 6 hour periods per day than a single 6 hour or 12 hour period.

I'll post this link here, too, even though I just posted it.
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/7/aafeature

The section on Light Harvesting helps explain saturation and why the dark periods are critical to coral growth. If you are bombing your system with as much PAR as your coral can handle for 4 to 6 hours they become saturated and there is little benefit to additional lighting. The dark periods allow the chemical conversion time to occur and make the coral receptive to more light again. If the coral don't have a biological need to stick with a 24 hour clock (no circadian rhythm) then they can take in much more energy from 2 separate photo periods than one longer one.
Of course, if your PAR is too low to cause saturation in 6 hours than splitting the photo period won't cause an improvement.

 

[Brew12]

Only concern is quality of specimens. Will they be healthy and vibrant colors?

There used to be a lot of debate on this. I have no idea since people using this method seemed to have differing results but I never saw any controls implemented to try and isolate the issue. Would have been nice to have 2 tanks set up with shared water with 2 differing light cycles. The one thing just about everyone agreed on was more rapid growth.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

very interesting experiment though... I would agree with Brew12 that two tanks running on the same system with different lighting would be a better control...

@Bulk Reef Supply could be an interesting brs investigates.

 

[Stuartmercer]

Im going to set up 2 frag tanks connected so they have the same water quality and have 2 of the same lights on both tanks. Ones one for the 5 hours a day x 2 , the other for 10 hours a day. I will post a thread giving the results. in about 2-4 months. I think this will help with proof.

 

[Stuartmercer]

Someone do the experiment with me. Lets keep in touch and compare results! Reply to me if you want to participate.

 

[Brew12]

Ones one for the 4 hours a day,

Do you mean it will be on for 4 hours, 2 times per day?
I think it would be more interesting to give it 5 hours, 2 times per day, with 7 hours of dark in between. That way each tank gets the same amount of light for comparison purposes.

 

[Stuartmercer]

Do you mean it will be on for 4 hours, 2 times per day?
I think it would be more interesting to give it 5 hours, 2 times per day, with 7 hours of dark in between. That way each tank gets the same amount of light for comparison purposes.

sounds like a good idea

 

[mpsteve]

Please start a new thread just for this experiment as I’m curious of results

 

[ScottR]

Unless I missed something, the OP never recommended cutting lighting. Most reefers I know only run a peak photo period between 4 and 6 hours. Some of us run long dim ramps on either end for viewing but not coral growth.

If anything, the OP was recommending more lighting to enhance growth, but to be more effective it should be split between two 6 hour periods per day than a single 6 hour or 12 hour period.

I'll post this link here, too, even though I just posted it.
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/7/aafeature

The section on Light Harvesting helps explain saturation and why the dark periods are critical to coral growth. If you are bombing your system with as much PAR as your coral can handle for 4 to 6 hours they become saturated and there is little benefit to additional lighting. The dark periods allow the chemical conversion time to occur and make the coral receptive to more light again. If the coral don't have a biological need to stick with a 24 hour clock (no circadian rhythm) then they can take in much more energy from 2 separate photo periods than one longer one.
Of course, if your PAR is too low to cause saturation in 6 hours than splitting the photo period won't cause an improvement.

I believe the OP mentioned 4 on 8 off. I guess peak would be between on and off? I’m confused now.

 

[Stuartmercer]

Please start a new thread just for this experiment as I’m curious of results

I will for sure!

 

[SciGuy2]

Someone really needs to call Dana Riddle into this conversation. He has written a lot about required light, too much light, etc.

 

[Brew12]

I believe the OP mentioned 4 on 8 off. I guess peak would be between on and off? I’m confused now.

He did, but that is still 8 hours of peak lighting per day which is more than most people run.

 

[Brew12]

Someone really needs to call Dana Riddle into this conversation. He has written a lot about required light, too much light, etc.

I was thinking this would be a great topic to move to the lighting forum. We have some real guru's there in addition to Dana.

 

[Rockit]

I have heard this before and think I’ve seen the study somewhere along the way. I was considering trying it in my frag tank. I searched online and couldn’t find anything. I did however find a study that seems to indicate that I should be dumping my parrot’s poop into my tank: https://phys.org/news/2019-03-importance-bird-poo-coral-growth.html

huh....
I got a ton of chicken ****.... wonder if that would work??

 

[Stuartmercer]

Please start a new thread just for this experiment as I’m curious of results

I started a new thread for it. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...t-really-increase-growth.608648/#post-6130963

 

[ReeferB28]

So, I've sat back and Read people's Posts regarding this topic. Just to clarify, The scientists studied the correlation of peak sunlight and the peak production of zooxanthelle, which are symbiotic to all photosynthetic corals. The vast majority of tropical reefs occur in a geographic location to where Peak sunlight ranges from 2.5-4 hours roughly. So, naturally the organisms in our corals have adapted to do the vast majority of their photosynthesis during this period . The , "4 on 8 off cycle" basically allows the zoaxhanelle to through the light-dependent phase of photosynthesis, while the hours of total darkness puts them in light-independent . As with nature it isn't particularly exact, nor is fully predictable. Just to be clear, I never said it only works for zoanthids, never specified anything except for zoas. But, since the vast majority of the corals we keep are photosynthetic and contain zooxanthelle, then it should speed up growth in conjunction with basic proper levels of Reef chemistry for more than just zoas. To the person who referred to my location being in proximity to DC, and that I must be some member of the scientific community that is simply spitting out, "theories" that are common, and well-known methods that reef hobbyists have been doing for years. I say this, unfortunately, I am not a scientist by trade. Although I wish I had taken that route! I'm simply an old-school, not 90's ,"OG" status.
I am avid coral reef hobbyist, just like everyone else on this forum. Let's be crystal clear about this whole topic, it isn't necessarily," natural " but it aids hobbyists in getting more production, thereby aid in conservation. I jumpstarted this thread for all of to come together to share our experiences, and get people experimenting, etc. It's natural for some people to be skeptical of radical ideas. But it's been researched, and proven. More importantly, it needs more research in order to sustain our hobby. Looks like I got you all talking about something of substance, instead of the vast majority , "ID please". Reefs.com is the place to get your morph , "ID's".

 

[ReeferB28]

@Brew12 - I hope I’m not coming off as combatant. :) I’m just trying to learn more.

I know! All good sir!

 

[bluprntguy]

I'd also be interested to know what happens when you take a frag from a "2 light cycles a day" frag tank and move it to your main display tank with a regular "one light cycle a day" system. Especially with SPS, I'd expect significant changes in color/density of the coral and possibly changes in growth patterns.