Light cycle

SeattleReefer

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I am wondering what the best time for my reef lights to turn on and off for my 15 gallon cube aquarium?
 

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I am wondering what the best time for my reef lights to turn on and off for my 15 gallon cube aquarium?
This is a loaded question and has many factors at play here. Do you have a ramp up and down period? What is your light intensity at full daylight period?

For example I have my lights turn on at 10 am and are off at 8pm. They have a one-hour ramp up and down. Daylight intensity is at 100% with a blend of different intensities.


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I am wondering what the best time for my reef lights to turn on and off for my 15 gallon cube aquarium?
This is a loaded question and has many factors at play here. Do you have a ramp up and down period? What is your light intensity at full daylight period?

For example I have my lights turn on at 10 am and are off at 8pm. They have a one-hour ramp up and down. Daylight intensity is at 100% with a blend of different intensities.
Unfortunately we don’t have a controller to do a ramp up and down period but the light is currently at 100% intensity from 12-9 PM which I think is not ideal
 

Reef Jedi

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Unfortunately we don’t have a controller to do a ramp up and down period but the light is currently at 100% intensity from 12-9 PM which I think is not ideal
What type and brand of lights are you running? Do you know how many watts they are?
 
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Justfebreezeit

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Personally id reduce to 7-8 hours since its straight to max intensity.

That light has a 40w draw at 100%
 

Justfebreezeit

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That's up to when you want to view the tank. Just preference.

I do 1:30 - 8:30 at the moment.

That schedule fits into when I can view it the most.
 

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I run my AI Prime on my 15 gallon 12 hours per day, with one hour ramp up and down, so 12 hours peak. IMO anything 8-12 hours is fine. So it depends when you want your lights to run... if you want the lights on when you're home in the evening for example if you want them to turn off at 10, then turn the lights on as noon or 2 pm as you like. If your light doesn't have a built in timer-, then get a wifi plug so you can program the time, they are pretty cheap on amazon.
 

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