How essential is ramping lights up and down.

[Paul B]

I also have a 6' tank. My lights have been going on and off instantly since Nixon was President. It never bothered my fish (most of which are spawning, ) or Nixon

 

[BradB]

In 20 years, I've very rarely ramped lights and I think there is little, if any benefit except those watching the tank.

While a perfectly flat ocean bottom on cloudless days have light come on and then off gradually, reefs are not flat and most locations are shaded near sunrise and sunset and clouds vary throughout the day. If you want a natural system, you want light for 6 hours that changes the angle the light comes from but shifts spectrum and intensity very little with breaks in intensity throughout - not an unnatural 12 hours from the same direction with gradual fade on to actinic only shifting to daylight and then back to actinic and dimming.

 

[Willbiker]

Looks like lots of people don't bother but I think the concerns raised by some are valid. The fish do dart when lights suddenly change so I think making the transition less aggressive by some low level cheap leds will easy the transition. Ill go for this approach as im super happy with my black box leds and don't fancy spending 2k on a fancy rig thanks for the feedback

 

[Fish man]

There have been other threads about this and no one seems to have any scientific data as to whether or not it benefits or harms fish or corals. I've never heard of any fish or coral dyeing if the lights don't ramp. As many others have said, we did it for years before LED's told us it was cool/necessary. Since we can't ask the fish I can only go on personal experience. Although I do have eyelids non of the lights in my house ramp up or down and I've never suffered any ill effects.

 

[batfish5]

No ramping.Ecotech on 7 hrs. then off all manually, just press button lol.

 

[Rmckoy]

I have ran 8 bulb T5’s for years .
the only option is off and on .
There was a fixture that came out a few years ago . One of the features was lightening when lights were out .
Supposed to replicate nature a little
same as ramping .I’ve never seen any scientific proof that it’s better or not

 

[mucky1957]

Surely ramping the lights up and down mimic a 24hr daily cycle. I'm assuming that the fish and corals somehow someway relate to the dark/intense/dark again as they would do in the wild.
I actually have a 4' LED black box from China. It cost me $300 incl shipping and taxes. 3 channels and 24 different options for light settings every 24 hr and I use them all. From 1% blue at 7.30 am to a max of 30% white and 100% day blue and night blue from 11am to 6pm and then back to 1% blue at 11.30pm. A friend of mine suggested that to mimic the moon I could leave my lights on all night at around the 3% mark so I'm going to try that for a few weeks and see if anything changes.

 

[Willbiker]

Surely ramping the lights up and down mimic a 24hr daily cycle. I'm assuming that the fish and corals somehow someway relate to the dark/intense/dark again as they would do in the wild.
I actually have a 4' LED black box from China. It cost me $300 incl shipping and taxes. 3 channels and 24 different options for light settings every 24 hr and I use them all. From 1% blue at 7.30 am to a max of 30% white and 100% day blue and night blue from 11am to 6pm and then back to 1% blue at 11.30pm. A friend of mine suggested that to mimic the moon I could leave my lights on all night at around the 3% mark so I'm going to try that for a few weeks and see if anything changes.

What version do you have? Viparspectra?

 

[Wayne P.]

One of my friends has the "black box" vipar spectras, I think. No ramping capability. He used the "Reef Pi" to get his lights to ramp up and down.

 

[Willbiker]

One of my friends has the "black box" vectras, I think. No ramping capability. He used the "Reef Pi" to get his lights to ramp up and down.

I've also looked into the reef pi but I cant get the premade circuit board sold on tindie. Looks like there are not being made anymore

 

[mucky1957]

What version do you have? Viparspectra?

HYA06-72x3W 48inch led aquarium light LedAquaGrow.com.
Thet were bought in Sept 2016 and are really good. The problem is that I'm not sure the firm still exists. I have tried to contact them for a new power box but they dont reply.
That said..Ive just looked up Viparspectra and they also look good...but do they allow for different timer options ?

 

[Uncle99]

Visparspectra has a timer to individually set the blue/violet channel and the white/red/green separate.

I think anytime we more closely mimic nature, certainly can’t be a negative.

I use three Visparspectra and for blending and ramp, two Halos.

 

[Willbiker]

Visparspectra has a timer to individually set the blue/violet channel and the white/red/green separate.

I think anytime we more closely mimic nature, certainly can’t be a negative.

I use three Visparspectra and for blending and ramp, two Halos.

Looks fantastic!

 

[mucky1957]

Visparspectra has a timer to individually set the blue/violet channel and the white/red/green separate.

I think anytime we more closely mimic nature, certainly can’t be a negative.

I use three Visparspectra and for blending and ramp, two Halos.

I looked the lights up on the web and I cant see any details about a timer..can you tell me more pls

 

[Willbiker]

Visparspectra has a timer to individually set the blue/violet channel and the white/red/green separate.

I think anytime we more closely mimic nature, certainly can’t be a negative.

I use three Visparspectra and for blending and ramp, two Halos.

What manufacture are the halo lights? They look nice and compact

 

[KrisReef]

There have been other threads about this and no one seems to have any scientific data as to whether or not it benefits or harms fish or corals. I've never heard of any fish or coral dyeing if the lights don't ramp. As many others have said, we did it for years before LED's told us it was cool/necessary. Since we can't ask the fish I can only go on personal experience. Although I do have eyelids non of the lights in my house ramp up or down and I've never suffered any ill effects.

Well, maybe? There is literature that indicates that coral and clam spawning are synchronized with the lunar cycle (which is linked to the solar cycle, and both pull at the tidal cycle) but I expect that you are correct that there is no scientific literature linking LED lighting to either the lunar or solar cycles, much less the tides.

Scientists who want to do experiments under artificial lighting often use lighting schemes that mimic expected ambient light patterns, or simply fix "daylight" patterns by having the lights on/off for 12hours/"day."

I think it is obvious that Just because there are scientists doesn't mean that a scientist will know anything more about the benefits or harm to coral that may occur from artificial light rhythms. Anecdotally, I have known many people who get disturbed when the power goes off and they have to reprogram their (old school) light timers afterward.

I think the scientists are still out to lunch on so many things that reefers have figure out but not published yet. You all should give yourselves more credit. Most science isn't applied, (Unpublished data.)

 

[Midrats]

I run a dimmable Sunpower that I ramp all the bulbs together up and down. I don't run a separate actinic dawn and dusk. I like a consistent spectrum and coverage throughout the photoperiod. I could take or leave the dimming, but since it's capable why not? The real reason I bought it was for the one cord.

 

[Hugh Mann]

As far as I know, and have had experience, as long as it's not a major change, pitch black to bright whites, you should be fine.
I have my black boxes rigged to a duel outlet timer, blues on, off when whites come on, then back on when whites shut off.

If you wanted to mimic a ramp up/down and have two lights, could have one kick on, then however long later the other, then reverse?

 

[RalphTech]

We have a Current lighting and water pump system. Cost not so bad on Amazon. The LED's come on at 3PM with blue at 90%, white @ 70% and red and green below 20%. In an hour it changes to 98% blue and 89% white. The r+g go to 24%. Stays till midnight then ramps down for an hour to wake-up values. From 1am to 3pm it's set at just blue at 3% for moonlight. This is over a 13G Fluval. Hey, I can even mimic lightning and moving cloud cover. All this for under 200 bucks on the 14" light length. I added 2 pumps which can change flow types and speed. A new montipoura and the LFS said to put it at the top and add plenty of light as in my dalight schedule but the monti is bleaching. Showed the LFS pictures and he said I need more light. I don't know what to do lightwise but snipped off the bleached parts. Should the blue and white percentages be lowered?
Technology is great if used to the extent.

 

[Tired]

My light comes on at a very low intensity, as low as it can be, and takes about half an hour to ramp up. At night, it goes down to its lowest intensity and stays like that for an hour. The morning ramping is meant to hopefully not startle the fish too badly. I don't think it's medically required for them, but I didn't see any reason to not try to avoid startling the lil guy. The low intensity at night is because I'm trying to get amphipods to come out of hiding, while still allowing my goby to see and eat them. I don't know if it works, but I figure it won't hurt.