Longer Less Intense Lighting versus Shorter More Intense Lighting: Which is better?

[rknapp]

I tried to mimic the sun’s intensity as much as possible with my lights. I have three G3 Radion XR30 Pro’s over my 220G tank that are controlled by my apex. I set up the lighting schedule to match the average solar radiation curve. It has been set up this way for nearly 5 years now and I’ve seen very good coral growth over that time.

One thing that I like about this is that it seems very natural for the fish. As the lights dim in the last 45 minutes or hour I can see that many of my fish start heading to their sleeping places even before the lights are totally shut off. And by the time the lights do shut off most of the fish that go into the rocks to sleep are already there.

Very similar to Brett S here. Same 3 lights on my 160 so my max intensity is only at 80% on AB+ spectrum. Coral frags only 6 months old but most are showing decent growth.

 

[Uncle99]

For me, it’s not the length or intensity, but the consistency in the light (spectrum, mix and intensity) provided.

 

[scabbedwings616]

I use t5 aquaticlife with 6 bulb and 8 bulbs On m6 tanks and it’s preprogrammed and on a timer. It’s very intense for 6 hours then goes off. I love my lights

 

[T-J]

I'd like to add to my original thought now that I've had the day to think about this...
I supposed "best" will have some relation to the conditions that the coral was raised in. An aquacultured coral that came from a frag of a frag of a frag (etc.) will be used to certain PAR, spectrum, intensity and photoperiod of light. So to keep that coral "happy" we would need to keep it within those parameters. This may be significantly different than a mariculutred or wild caught coral. Or even from another tank raised piece that flourishes under a different type of lighting setup.
We see this all the time. I see a pic of a coral online, put it in my tank and it doesn't look like what I saw on the website. Over time it may come around, or, it may turn into some other color variation. Yes, I know tank parameters play into this as well, but light certainly has a significant role, IMHO.

 

[vetteguy53081]

1. Which do you think is better, a longer photo period less intense lighting or a shorter photo period with more intense lighting?

Longer photo period for me as my tanks are mixed reef and required is various light UV requirements.

2. Do you think there is a benefit to either one of these ways and if so what would they be?

I have corals that require light , which i provide a brighter zone and corals that prefer low light and the longer period is safest for me.

 

[JPM San Diego]

I am currently running four T-5's for 12 hours per day. Corals are doing great and I doubt I have the PAR provided by high end light fixtures. I agree with the comment that we are likely over-lighting our aquariums. I follow Tidal Gardens on YouTube and appreciate the coral spot light videos. I note the PAR levels at which he grows his corals commercially are typically much less than I see reported elsewhere. Reminds me of a trip to Grand Cayman last year. I was swimming at about 40 feet and noticed what looked like a red spot light down at 60 feet. It was a beautiful scolymia (?) fluorescing. I swam down for a closer look and pondered how well this coral was growing 60 feet down. Mid day sun was only producing soft lighting, yet it was enough for photosynthesis.

 

[FastandCurious]

my lights have a "cloud" program. when I have it on, the tank will go random shade, from left to right, across the tank. haven't used it in a while though. novelty wore off.

I would love to try this on my tank. It's what would naturally happen on the ocean so it makes sense

 

[jaxteller007]

Speaking of this, is there a good place to find the optimal PAR ratings for different corals? I'm thinking of renting a PAR meter to make sure everyone is happy where they are in the tank.

 

[X-37B]

Halides 8 hours a day full intensity.
Before halides 8T5's 9 hours a day, on then off.
May bring Halides to 9hrs but I get very good growth at 8 hours.

 

[AquariumSpecialty]

It may have already been said in the thread and I may be stating the obvious but light intensity and duration is very important for coloration, especially in many Acropora and SPS corals in general. Many species of corals can and will adapt to higher PAR levels and longer durations of intensity over time. Making drastic changes with lighting is is really a bad idea so take is slow. You will be thankful that you did it, especially with many shallow water acropora species. PAR meters are great for helping with intensity adjustments.

As a side note we were the 1st company to really push Apogee PAR meters in the Aquarium Hobby. It was also our company that co-developed and conceptualized the BioTek Marine BTM3000 that has now become the Apogee SQ-420 PAR Sensor. If buying a PAR meter or sensor is out of your budget then please take a look at our new rental program. You can now rent PAR meters for 1 week at a time.

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[Fish man]

I recently went to longer and lower. The reason is I have a large Montipora at the top of my tank I've had for a long time that is slowly loosing color, possibly bleaching. Everything else actually seems to be looking better but the Montipora has not recovered. This is a mixed reef with softies, lps and some sps.

 

[Radicalrob1982]

Longer Less Intense Lighting versus Shorter More Intense Lighting

There may be no science to any of this or maybe there has been a huge study and I have no idea! But I was thinking about this the other day and wanted to get your thoughts on it. Several months ago I decided I wanted to keep various types of coral in my tank (other than acros) so I decided to raise all the lights about a foot higher off of the water. I didn't touch the intensity or the amount of time that the lights stayed on or stayed off. The other day I decided to extend the time the lights were on by a couple of hours and that's what got me thinking. So let's talk about it!

1. Which do you think is better, a longer photo period less intense lighting or a shorter photo period with more intense lighting?

2. Do you think there is a benefit to either one of these ways and if so what would they be?

image via @apt220

I have mine set for 11.5 hours. I do a half hour ramp up and ramp down. Seem to be getting decent growth from my monti digis on this schedule. I also only run my lights at 75%

 

[Reef_Madness]

On my tank, I set my Radions to mimic the sun as closely as I can. My thought process being that, in nature, the intensity of the sun only peaks for about 2-3 hours and the rest of the photo period is a gradual ramp up or down. I've had pretty good success with this method.

 

[Timfish]

Like every other parameter it depends on the species/genotype/variety.

 

[reef4now]

I find that keeping lights on high intensity for 4 hours than ramp down for 4 hours work best both for corals and fish and controls algae growth.

 

[Crashnt24]

How about both? 12 hours of light on time. 5 hours of peak full intensity(what your tank can handle), with 7 hours of ramping up and down from 0%.