Light schedule question / parameter quick question

Angel_V_the_reefer · Jul 25, 2021

Hey guys so I was wondering if I could change my light schedule and when the lights turn on and off. So I usually have my lights turn on at 10 am and off at 10pm. The problem here is that I work through out the day and don’t really get to see my tank shine in the blue until 9pm. I would like to move up the ramp up to 11 pm and off at 11am. Could I just move the time around with no effect on the corals ? Also, I had a alk, cal, and mag problem. I have dosed alk to my tank and now it is coming back to normal. However I’m still unsure how my calcium and magnesium went up without me dosing anhthing. I did notice that in my mixing bucket I had this black precipitate form on the bottom after having my salt pre mixed for a week. Could this have had an impact on my next water change/new batch of saltwater ?

Ron Reefman · Jul 26, 2021

Angel_V_the_reefer said:
Hey guys so I was wondering if I could change my light schedule and when the lights turn on and off. So I usually have my lights turn on at 10 am and off at 10pm. The problem here is that I work through out the day and don’t really get to see my tank shine in the blue until 9pm. I would like to move up the ramp up to 11 pm and off at 11am. Could I just move the time around with no effect on the corals ? Also, I had a alk, cal, and mag problem. I have dosed alk to my tank and now it is coming back to normal. However I’m still unsure how my calcium and magnesium went up without me dosing anhthing. I did notice that in my mixing bucket I had this black precipitate form on the bottom after having my salt pre mixed for a week. Could this have had an impact on my next water change/new batch of saltwater ?

You want to switch the lights to be on at night and off during the day? Or am I missing something here?

The only part of the light schedule that is REALLY important to the coral is the higher intensity midday light, which is when the zooxanthellae will do it's photosynthesis. And this period needs to be about 6 to 8 hours long. Shorter and you get less photosynthetic feeding for the coral. And the zooxanthellae usually won't do photosynthesis more than about 8 hours at the outside, so longer intense midday lighting doesn't provide for more photosynthetic feeding. It might help with pigment production however (I'm unsure about that part). The ramp up to midday and the ramp down to night are far, far less important... if they even matter at all.

I think you need to do a more full explanation of you Ca and alk issue. What are you dosing? Are you dosing by pump or manually? What were/are the alk & Ca levels before and after. How much did you dose and into how big a tank?

Angel_V_the_reefer · Jul 26, 2021

Ron Reefman said:
You want to switch the lights to be on at night and off during the day? Or am I missing something here?

The only part of the light schedule that is REALLY important to the coral is the higher intensity midday light, which is when the zooxanthellae will do it's photosynthesis. And this period needs to be about 6 to 8 hours long. Shorter and you get less photosynthetic feeding for the coral. And the zooxanthellae usually won't do photosynthesis more than about 8 hours at the outside, so longer intense midday lighting doesn't provide for more photosynthetic feeding. It might help with pigment production however (I'm unsure about that part). The ramp up to midday and the ramp down to night are far, far less important... if they even matter at all.

I think you need to do a more full explanation of you Ca and alk issue. What are you dosing? Are you dosing by pump or manually? What were/are the alk & Ca levels before and after. How much did you dose and into how big a tank?

I was thinking on moving the light schedule one hour ahead so instead of having my lights turn on at 10 am I would have them turn on at 11 am. And yes my corals seem to be doing great !!

And as to my parameters , my alkalinity is currently at 7.8 dKH, my Calcium is at 575ppm, and Magnesium is at 1720 ppm.

I am dosing manually where I add .5 dKH per day. I try to space out in the increase by using a syringe and dropping a few drops here and there. My parameters before I started dosing, which was about 4 days ago were as follows : alkalinity - 6.5 dKH , calcium - 575ppm , magnesium -1800.

my current levels as today are : alkalinity - 7.8, calcium - 575 ppm, magnesium - 1720 ppm.