About leaving the lights on...

[jeffmor]

I know that one should leave the lights on for about 8 hours a day, but I notice that when the lights are off they hide the whole time. As soon as the lights come on they seem happier and go exploring and swim everywhere. I also noticed that they swim sort of diagnal when the lights are off but swim straight when the lights are on. Is it really bad to leave the lights on for about 12 or longer? I wonder because natural daylight is about 14 hours.

[Crepe]

What's hiding? No, at the tropics the day is always 12 hours and 12 for night. This is because the region is near the equator and isn't affected by the tilt of the earth. Secondly the sun doesn't really produce much light until it's high enough which is from 2 hours after sunrise and 2 hours before sunset.

[pat8you]

No you can leave them on for a longer photo period. Depending on how strong your lights are people some times have problems with algae blooms when they increase their photo period. I would not try and go longer then 12 hours though. Try increasing it slowly to help photoacclimate your coral to the additional light. This will give you a chance to keep an eye on your algae growth as well.

[jeffmor]

I only have live rock, fish and clean up crew. The fish hide when the lights are off. I live on the gulf coast and I was just thinking about when the sun rises and sets here but thanks for the input. I still wonder why they swim diagnal when the lights are off though

[Jimbo7]

Im sure they hide as a natural defense. In nature its probably not safe to be out swimming after dark. I would guess its the same for the diagonal swimming, which is an interesting observation.

[thincat]

At night fish hide so that they can rest and get some sleep. All animals need sleep time. You can set your lights on a timer and set any photo period that you want. As stated stay within the normal 12 hour limit and you should be okay.