Taotronics lighting schedule

[ketchup318]

Hi all. I have a set of 120 watt lights. Currently, I have them on from 3pm to midnight. My rationale being that in the morning and afternoon it would be fine with natural light.

I just got a pom pom xenia. A few nights ago my son woke me up at 4am and I noticed that the xenia was closed up. It's this normal?

Just concerned cause this is my first coral...

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

 

[manbeast]

My Xenia closes at night as well, so it sounds perfectly normal, from what I've heard Xenia is almost impossible to kill and almost as impossible to get rid of if you tire of it

 

[manbeast]

By the way what % do you have the lights set at

 

[ketchup318]

I set them as low as possible, which is still pretty bright...

I do wonder if I should get night lights of some sort... it does get really dark at night... it'd be nice to somehow simulate the moon.

 

[Big Tex]

I set them as low as possible, which is still pretty bright...

I do wonder if I should get night lights of some sort... it does get really dark at night... it'd be nice to somehow simulate the moon.

just slowly fade out on the lowest power for both, fade the white to blue only on lowest power setting for a moonlight setting, then completely off for night time.

 

[mwilliams]

My Xenia closes at night as well, so it sounds perfectly normal, from what I've heard Xenia is almost impossible to kill and almost as impossible to get rid of if you tire of it

I guess I must be the exceptional case I can never keep Xenia's they will last about 4 months in my tank and disappear.

But following along because I just got the taotronics and have not decided on an good lighting schedule yet.

 

[Phranque]

Even if you do use actinics for moon lights, dark is good....... all creatures go through a circadian rhythm, and need some time of total dark for rest.

And, yes, it's perfectly normal for many corals to close up/retract at night....

 

[manbeast]

I guess I must be the exceptional case I can never keep Xenia's they will last about 4 months in my tank and disappear. But following along because I just got the taotronics and have not decided on an good lighting schedule yet.

I bought the Taos with the built in timers so it was pretty easy, I have the blues come on at 8:30 am then add in the whites an hour later at 9:30 have both on all day until whites shut off at 8:30 pm and blues an hour later at 9:30, a total of 13 hours. When I first put them up @ 9" above the glass lids over a 24" deep tank, I started at @ 35% on the intensity and would wait 7-10 days before bumping it up another 5%, if I noticed one of my corals starting to react badly I'd knock it back 5% wait a few more days and try again. I think what has worked in my tank as far as the Xenia is I don't have any physical filtration on my tank, no socks or sponges in the sump just lots of live rock and chaeto, most of what I have in my tank is soft corals relying on light and whatever they can grab out of the water, so my feeling is that if I filter the water to well I'll starve out my corals, this may not be accurate but this logic seems to be working at least for now

 

[ketchup318]

I didn't think the Taotronics had a timer option... the only ones I saw with with dimmer and without. I think the with dimmers was an extra 50 dollars....

I just bought the dimmer last month, if I knew there was one with a timer option, I would've definitely bought it...

 

[manbeast]

I didn't think the Taotronics had a timer option... the only ones I saw with with dimmer and without. I think the with dimmers was an extra 50 dollars.... I just bought the dimmer last month, if I knew there was one with a timer option, I would've definitely bought it...

tt- al12 and tt- al16 on amazon, a little pricy but I like them do far

 

[mr_X]

I would try to simulate the natural day for the fish. As far as corals are concerned, they simply need X amount of light for X amount of time, and that's it. They don't care about morning/evening transitions or moonlights.

 

[Rfirman]

Is there a taotronics model that has the timer included but at a fair price with the moonlights as we'll?

 

[mr_X]

The moonlights are too bright on those units IMO. What do you consider a fair price?

 

[manbeast]

The tt-al16's at $219 on amazon are the cheapest I've found and as mr. X says these moonlights are a bit too much, I don't use them right now on my 24" deep tank but maybe if I had a 30" deep tank they might be ok, but probably still excessive

 

[manbeast]

You should probably also take a look at thread titled "lighting your reef ... Best bang for your buck" if your interested in further conversations about led lighting

 

[Rfirman]

Nice ok sweet. Ya I was trying to get one for 150. But I would have to get 2. So I guess 300 total

 

[mr_X]

Just get 2 of the ones without moonlights. They are closer to 120 or so. You can use a blue night light or a string of blue christmas lights for moonlights. Get a bit creative and save $$$
You don't need the multicolor units BTW. Those are personal preference. The straight blue and white units work exactly as well.

 

[Rfirman]

I can't find any for 120. And the ones I can find say they have a 2 year warranty but I don't know how we'll that will be because they are in china

 

[huma-huma]

As far as ive experienced,Their reliability doesnt seem too bad