Lighting: Number of Hours?

[N83259]

Sometimes I don't get home until 8, 9 or 10pm on a regular basis. So I was thinking of setting the light timer to go off around midnight so I could have a few hours to enjoy the aquarium in the evenings. But in the winter at my lattitude, sunrise is about 7:30 am this time of year.I understand that a 12 hour light/dark cycle is ideal and that makes sense since reefs are close to the equator. So if I set the lights to go on at 12 noon and off at midnight, the ambient light in the room (no direct sun on the tank but the room is bright), from say 7:30 am to noon would equal about 16.5 hours of total light. Since I'm planning a reef tank, do you think this would be stressful or otherwise harmful to fish & inverts?How many hours of light is too much on a regular basis? The system has T5s, 4 watts/gallon daylight plus actnic if that matters. Thanks - N83259.

 

[neilanh]

As long as the tank isn't getting direct sunlight (through a window or sliding door or something) it'll be fine. I do the same thing, my lights don't come on until after noon. A little ambient light in the morning hours won't hurt anything.

 

[360º]

ok i know this is probably just me.

but i hate looking at a tank without the lights on

i run mine 8am-8pm and then 2 hours of moonlight till 10pm

 

[rush]

I have my blue lights go on at 1pm

white (middle rows) on at 2 pm

whites go off at 8 pm

blues go off at 11pm

6hours whites, 10 hours blue,

then moonlight can go through the night

i have reefkeeper moonlights which follow the real cycle of full moons ect.

 

[iDream]

ok i know this is probably just me.

but i hate looking at a tank without the lights on

i run mine 8am-8pm and then 2 hours of moonlight till 10pm

you may start seeing some nuisance algae growth with lights on that long. i dont like looking at a dark tank either but i hate looking at a tank with HA even more

 

[rush]

I have a lot of hermits and snails lol

plus i use the cleaning magnet twice a week, keeps everything crystal clear

I find 10 hours of blue doesnt cause too much algae, whites are only on for 6 hours

 

[iDream]

i meant 360, yours is fine, i have mine set for 8 hours white, and my actinics are always on (a problem im having that is too lengthy to explain and clog up someone elses thread with, should be about a $15 fix, but im too lazy to order the parts right now lol)

 

[thincat]

Go for a 12 cycle to your viewing pleasure. /as long as it's the same everyday I see no problem with a 10-12 hour cycle that covers your time at home.

 

[360º]

you may start seeing some nuisance algae growth with lights on that long. i dont like looking at a dark tank either but i hate looking at a tank with HA even more

im actually having trouble growing hair algae to feed my lawnmower blenny..... i bring HA covered rocks from a neighbors tank, let him eat it all then i return the clean rock.

only algae i see growing is a little bit of brown stuff on the glass.... but he seems to scrape that off too