Lighting/sps Q
 

Last year I tried a experiment where I ran 2 photoperiods on sps tank. 6 on 6 off

The coral loved it got great color. Fish not so much. It drove them bat sh!t crazy.

Since I no longer have a mass fish. And the ones I do house are semi cryptic to cryptic. I want to do it again

Question is.

Do you think it would be harmful to run one photoperiod at 10k and the other at 20k?

I wouldn't think it to be bad as alot of tanks that run mh/t5 are set at different times so the colors are not always blended

This way I may be able to get growth of 10k during my away time and 20k for color while I'm home to watch

I'm glad you posted as I was trying to find the other thread about two photo periods and was curious of the results.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

From my experience to corals did very well. I had great PE and they really colored up.
I did alot of reading on the blackout time and could not find anything about extended dark periods. Although coral does need a dark photoperiod 4/6 hours is plenty. And photo saturation happens in a limited time depending on intensity. So in theory simulating 2 days in one should increase growth not adding 1 full year but more like 1.5 simulated years to 1 actual years. This should also allow for more intensity during lights on period to archive photo saturation

I just don't want to shock the corals with 2 different colors

I don't think I quite understand what you mean by two photo periods. Do you mean your lights are on during two different times of the day? Like 6 hours on, then 6 hours off, then 6 hours on again ?

Like a grow op for plants, you know 6 on 6 off cycle....:lol:

Yep exactly. There 6 on 6 off right now

There's alot of literature that sps only need 4 hours of intense light. Once photo saturation has occurred the light is wasted.

There was a study done in Hawaii on this since they have seen 40 days of rain with little to minimal light.

Lps on the other hand has shown slightly negative effects losing to much Zooxanthella.

I did this before with good results. As of now the lights are 6 hours @20k 6 off 6 hours @14k 6 off. Would like to take the 14k cycle and turn to 10k but not sure if it would shock the coral

In most parts of the ocean most acropora are no more than 5 meters down, this is strictly based on my own observation... When I went diving off one of the smaller islands in Nha trang, Vietnam I noticed huge tabling acros just a few feet below the water and ofcourse the montiporas were deeper but alot of the acros enjoyed the light at the surface. Acros that grow near the surface are definately in 10k or even 6500k light, quite a warm colour. Take into consideration their colour was abit tanned, I wouldn't see a problem using 10k as you would get vibrant pinks purple reds and green although it could also promote algae growth.

I guess it would be an experiment to try, but it all depends on what is aesthetically pleasing to you. For me I like to view my acros under 20k lighting, I hardly ever bother looking at my tank during the day, only view it at night when it's quiet and all the corals pop.

That's why I was wanting to different k values. The
4am till 10am at 10k to encourage growth and 4pm to 10 pm at 20k for my viewing pleasure

Interesting. Personally I don't see the 10K bulbs being a problem for your SPS. When I first started this tank I was running 10K halides with supplemental actinic T5s. Sometimes my T5s would burn out and it would take me a few weeks to find replacements and in the meantime, my tank would be strictly on the 10K bulbs for days. I didn't notice any change really. 10Ks definitely do grow SPS fast. They also grow algae fast too though as Chris suggested. I recall film algae on my glass being a problem every 24 hours. In fact, that's how I can tell when my current 14K bulbs are warn out. They shift closer to 10K and as a result I start to get film algae a lot quicker.

That's actually similar to what most people with Halide and T5 combo units do, isn't it? That's kinda what I do.

My 22K T5s are on from 10am to 10pm for my viewing pleasure.
From 1pm to 8pm the 14K halides are on for growing. The only difference being that my two photo periods overlap during the "growing" hours.