Simulating Day/night cycle- Lights

[sickboy]

I was curious how everyone did there day/night lighting cycle, and whether they follow the day/night outside.
I work 12-8 and wanted to have my lights set around my schedule. Is this bad? If I were to have my actinics come on around 9-10am with the 10K an hour later, then the 10K shutting off around 10-11pm, would this work? Here in Omaha the sun comes up around 7 and sets around 8:30. There would be a little morning light coming through the window. Would this mess with my fish?
Do the fish/coral somehow know what the day/night cycle is outside or are they totally reliant on the aquarium lights?

 

[kevine6678]

That should not be a problem. Just be weary of having your lights on for too long because this will promote algae growth.

 

[sickboy]

Thanks. So how long should the lights be on? Is there a magic number or is it just preference and algae growth that determine it?

 

[shiby1510]

You can set your lights to any scehdule you want really. The only thing you will want to do is make sure you slowly adjust the tank to the new schedule.

 

[jeffr259]

I'm gonna hijack this thread a little bit since it kind of relates to a question I had:
I have my timered lights come on around 11am so they are on later in the evening so I can enjoy the tank when home from work. Problem is, I can't get the fish to be very active in the early am (cause the lights are off) when I want to feed. Is it ok (no corals in the FOWLR tank) to have the lights come on for an hour in the am while I'm getting ready for work so I can get the fish active and ready to eat. Then the lights would go back out for another 3-4 hours until 11am. Will this make the fish and inverts go loco???
This is probably not a problem, but just wanted to check with you guys!
Ohhh, forgot to put it that I'm running coralife tubes, half actinic, half daylight. I graduate the lighting from actinic only, 30 mins later DL come on....and vice versa when shutting down.

 

[fatcat]

Originally Posted by JEFFR259
http:///forum/post/2617780
I'm gonna hijack this thread a little bit since it kind of relates to a question I had:
I have my timered lights come on around 11am so they are on later in the evening so I can enjoy the tank when home from work. Problem is, I can't get the fish to be very active in the early am (cause the lights are off) when I want to feed. Is it ok (no corals in the FOWLR tank) to have the lights come on for an hour in the am while I'm getting ready for work so I can get the fish active and ready to eat. Then the lights would go back out for another 3-4 hours until 11am. Will this make the fish and inverts go loco???
This is probably not a problem, but just wanted to check with you guys!
Ohhh, forgot to put it that I'm running coralife tubes, half actinic, half daylight. I graduate the lighting from actinic only, 30 mins later DL come on....and vice versa when shutting down.

Instead of feeding them in the morning, can't you feed them when you get home from work???
my lights turn on at 3:00pm and go out at 11:00pm my fish eat around 8:00pm...

 

[nordy]

Originally Posted by sickboy
http:///forum/post/2617325
Thanks. So how long should the lights be on? Is there a magic number or is it just preference and algae growth that determine it?
I think your schedule is what you should use as a starting point when figuring out just how long to leave your lights on, though algae growth can also influence your schedule. I put dark curtains on my windows (south facing) when I saw some of my corals leaning into the natural sunlight early in the day. That helped some with reducing algae growth.When I got my new Nova Ex Pro, I was so happy with them that I had them on from 6 am to 10 pm! Way too much light and now I have them on from 11am to about 8pm, with the actinics overlapping the "white" lights. Since it takes awhile for my corals to wake up and open after the lights come on, I feed everybody at night when I get home from work.