photo periods

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by fishytime

I am not at all harassing Laurier (we know each other outside the forum). Is this not the reason why we post here? To gain insight and benefit from others experience(s)? I am just saying that he is making changes to the way he is running his system based on the fact that he feels the light is too intense for his sps.( 6x39w HOT5s???). I am just trying to make the point that his system is very young and this fact is more likely the cause of some of his sps loosing color.

Reducing the lighting cycle will darken the colors of sps. The coral reacts to the lack of light by darkening itself in an attempt to absorb as much of the available light as it can. Much like the difference between wearing a black shirt or a white shirt in the summertime(mmmmm summer).

You need to do some reading my friend...

People are finding corals coloring up, not darkening at all. They have been actually looking for the ideal photo period based on photoinhibition. This will allow the corals to have to work a lot LESS and have more time to grow/color up. Much like when you go to the gym, you are not building muscle while lifting but afterwards while your muscles are being repaired. You can really overdo it by staying in the gym too long. Corals can also get very tired under long periods of light. They actually then can darken. Since corals store energy during the day and grow at night plus can only utilize a certain amount of light to begin with, long photoperiods, especially in our tank (which are stuck at high noon) are unnecessary and sometimes harmful. Not harmful in the sense that you are going to kill corals but harmful in the sense that you can slow down growth and coloration. Although to some thats not a bad thing...

Certainly some coral may darken under lesser photoperiods but to claim they WILL darken as you have is kind of a broad statement. Perhaps look at the results on RC for a short photoperiod. You may want to start with the TOTM from a few months back.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-01/totm/index.php


Looks incredible to me...Not too dark at all.