photo periods

[Delphinus]

I'd love to see a chart of a PAR or lux reading taking on an hourly basis on a reef somewhere in the tropics just to see what the intensity curve really looks like.

Last time I checked the tropics were an even-Steven 12 hour day. To my Calgary eyes the intensity is all the same except for sun-up and sun-down. But the flip side is what is the difference between one million dollars and two million dollars? To a guy who has neither, they are both "wow that's a lot of money." But to someone else it may make a large difference. So that's why I say I'd love to see what a real reef encounters typically. Hey I'm all for a 6 hour halide day because I pay way too dang much for electricity per month and I need to find a way to reduce that .. but I want to be able to see my fish. I'm thinking maybe some supplemental T5's just to frame the actual intensity portion of the day.

Starting to hear enough anecdotal evidence to believe that the reduced photoperiod is onto something but on the flip side I wonder if people are a little too eager to jump on the conclusion bandwagon. Sorry, not trying to be harsh but the fad bandwagon can really be a little bit silly in this hobby at times ..