thepudge

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One of the most annoying things about my tank is that my photo period is set up so that I only either get to see my tank in the morning or late at night. Right now my photoperiod starts at 4am and runs until 12. So when I get home, my lights are off and everything is shut down. I've been thinking about running 2 shorter periods -- from 5am to 9am, and from 5pm to 10pm.

Would this stress out the corals? I'd love to see my coral in the light more often, if its possible.

Thanks,

Alex
 

bad coffee

Inept at life.
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I don't think they'd get to rest if you went with that schedule. I could be wrong though.

Do you spend more time in front of the tank before or after work? Just shift your light cycle to whenever you view it more.

B
 

herman

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I know how you feel about viewing your tank. I go through it every day. Most weekdays I dont get to see it at all. :( But I would not do 2 photoperiods in there. Cant give you any good reason for it but if someone turned on the lights while I am sleeping I would stab or shoot them whichever item is closer :D

With that being said corals, fish and other inhabitants go through a specific cycle after lights out. How long they actually require I do not know. I will look around and see if I can get you an answer.

My solution to the viewing dilema is to get moonlight led's and a flashlight with a red color filter (does not disturb nocturnal creatures) Its quite entertaining. Many corals feed at this hour so that is when I feed reefroids, cyclopseeze etc. Quite fascinating actually.
 

heuerfan

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Thought the same thing, why are my lights on when nobody home to view it. I usually get home around 7-8PM so i moved everything up so i can see my tank with the main lights on when i get home. My room is completely dark during the day so there is no daylight leaking in.
 

inline6

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um.. I experimented w/2 photo periods before, but only on a tank with just corals. Didn't see any ill effects.
Only did this for about 6 months.
Also I believe having 2x the amount of times your ballast turns on and off will shorten the life of it.
 

ShaunW

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I wouldn't suggest 2 light cycles/24 hours. But I would be interested in what would happen under such an occurence. By doing 2 light cycles, you would be messing up circadian rhythms, the photosynthesis cycle (there is a light and dark cycle) and possibly many other processes.

All living creatures on earth, follow the 24hr period.
 
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thepudge

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I may switch the photoperiod around so they're on at night and off during the day, although i like looking at the tank in the morning. I've always wondered how much 'sleep' corals need to thrive. If I left the lights off for one day, and then just switched to 2 5 hour long photoperiods spaced out over 6 hours.. would the corals adjust? I am too gutless to try it, but it would be nice if it could work.
 

alrha

...
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my light go on at 7pm and off at 9am. this is a slightly longer photoperiod (for VHO at least) but i get to see my tank nights AND mornings.
 

thepudge

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I've read an article by Calfo suggesting that 2 photoperiods can be done for just corals.
I think the content was that commercial farmers might do this to increase spawning. Went on to say 6hrs on, 6hrs off and repeated.

Why just corals? Would it mess with fish too much? They wake up every time I walk by the tank, and my damsel growls at me if I don't feed him. I can't imagine that they'd be hurt by the light cycle.
 

loismustdie

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I've read an article by Calfo suggesting that 2 photoperiods can be done for just corals.
I think the content was that commercial farmers might do this to increase spawning. Went on to say 6hrs on, 6hrs off and repeated
.
I've read the same thing. It is actually suggested if coral or clam farming is your goal. Something about actually fooling the animals into speeding up their life cycle decreasing time in between spawns. I'm sure it would have poor effects on fish.
 

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