Do you ever give your tank a "cloudy" day?

[knutez24]

I like to keep my lights off for a day at least once a week. I notice a huge difference in my zoas for a a day or 2 after. Other things such as LPS and SPS i don't notice that big of a difference except when the lights turn on the folowing day polyps are fully extended on most pieces of my acros.

I know from talking with others this is common practice with zoanthid keepers, but was curious how many other people do this, how often, and if they have found good results on other corals like lps or sps.

 

[SaltyFlip]

Never heard of giving a tank a "cloudy" day. Interested to see the discussions.

 

[Og Drogon]

Twice a week I put only the actinic lights on . It's my way to make a cloudy day lol.


Fix Your Fin Or Get Your Fin Fixed!

 

[rookie07]

I have a feeling that this will be the next big feature on light controllers. Having cloudy days, or times of the day.

I have done this before, and do it once a month or so, with no lights for this purpose...But I also have "coudy day" lights for a day when I add new Coral or Fish...so perhaps I have a total of 2-3 Monthly cloudy days (Cloudy Days= 1%-65% of my lights normal daily power) for a duration of 1-12 days (depending on type of fish/coral and were it came from).

 

[batt600]

I have a feeling that this will be the next big feature on light controllers. Having cloudy days, or times of the day.

I have done this before, and do it once a month or so, with no lights for this purpose...But I also have "coudy day" lights for a day when I add new Coral or Fish...so perhaps I have a total of 2-3 Monthly cloudy days (Cloudy Days= 1%-65% of my lights normal daily power) for a duration of 1-12 days (depending on type of fish/coral and were it came from).

The AI unit has that already and the new maxspect led fixture

 

[knutez24]

Ya by cloudy I meant a day without lights. I know some know some newer fixtures have features like this.

 

[knutez24]

I have a feeling that this will be the next big feature on light controllers. Having cloudy days, or times of the day.

I have done this before, and do it once a month or so, with no lights for this purpose...But I also have "coudy day" lights for a day when I add new Coral or Fish...so perhaps I have a total of 2-3 Monthly cloudy days (Cloudy Days= 1%-65% of my lights normal daily power) for a duration of 1-12 days (depending on type of fish/coral and were it came from).

I like the lights for acclimation. You don't quarantine new fish?

 

[rookie07]

Maaaan, I don't quarantine s**t

 

[motortrendz]

Maaaan, I don't quarantine s**t

haha +1 amen brother!... good clean fish come from good clean LFS.. eh who am i kidding.. survival of the fittest right?

 

[Wesley]

Mine have cloudy day/time all the time. My whole setup are under the Apex system control. When temperature, get high, fan1 blow on the sump water. When it get even higher, chiller power on, and turn off two of the HQI. When it gets even hotter, all 3 HQI are off. I also have their min-time off set to 30 minutes to make sure it's a big cloudy passing by.

 

[Nychris351]

every sunday is a cloudy day in my tank lol...thats 4 days a month..which way normal in almost any tropical environment

 

[IamRobG]

I do it once every 2 months or so i leave the light off for 2-3 days

 

[beerfish]

I've actually always wanted a "Real time simulation controller". I think it would be awesome if a controller downloaded real time weather information from a reef location and set parameters accordingly in the tank. Imagine a storm on the barrier reef causing the vortechs in your tank to pick up, the season changes causing a temperature variation, and the light cycle automatically adjusting to daylight hours.

To my knowledge, no one is doing this yet, but if there are any controller manufacturers on the board, take note...

 

[nate82]

I've actually always wanted a "Real time simulation controller". I think it would be awesome if a controller downloaded real time weather information from a reef location and set parameters accordingly in the tank. Imagine a storm on the barrier reef causing the vortechs in your tank to pick up, the season changes causing a temperature variation, and the light cycle automatically adjusting to daylight hours.

To my knowledge, no one is doing this yet, but if there are any controller manufacturers on the board, take note...

That would be awesome.. Wouldnt even have to be live, they could just average 5 years and make a standard reef weather year. I gotta assume that our corals and fish are better off without some of the natural misfortunes though...

 

[knutez24]

every sunday is a cloudy day in my tank lol...thats 4 days a month..which way normal in almost any tropical environment

Nice. I usually do sometime midweek. I usually just do a day, but the last 2 weeks i've kept them off until i get home from the work the 2nd day and run them for 4 hours the 2nd day. Just so i could see how the corals react. Do you notice any difference in the coral in the days after?

 

[knutez24]

I do it once every 2 months or so i leave the light off for 2-3 days

What do you notice in the days after? Why do you choose the 2-3 day period?

 

[knutez24]

I've actually always wanted a "Real time simulation controller". I think it would be awesome if a controller downloaded real time weather information from a reef location and set parameters accordingly in the tank. Imagine a storm on the barrier reef causing the vortechs in your tank to pick up, the season changes causing a temperature variation, and the light cycle automatically adjusting to daylight hours.

To my knowledge, no one is doing this yet, but if there are any controller manufacturers on the board, take note...

Def an interesting idea. Don't know how well some people would like a day or 2 worth of vortechs really stirring up their tanks....but i could see something like this being an option with controllers in the future.

 

[SaltyFlip]

I don't know if you've seen this but here's one simulating rain & lightning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuDYCCaVIKo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5pfP27VGE

and here's one simulating cloud cover:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26nfC0p33SQ

Full Tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udwr8SMBP7A

 

[pmark85]

I would imagine it'd have some sort of benefit to corals. They can finally rest from their constant growth cycle when the lights are on that many hours for that many straight days.

 

[jimidalock]

Flip, that is insane!! Iam assuming that is a store in Germany? That is taking reefing to the extreme!