Reef lighting how long

You should understand by now that If you want to ensure robust plant growth and correct absorption peaks for photosynthesis, you must analyze the PAR and Spectrum of your LED fixtures. It will help you to get the PAR in the right areas instead of the wrong ones and at the appropriate wavelength so that the plants get the desired spectrum.

Every tank is different. The lighting period for your reef tank depends on a variety of factors such as type of corals, amounts of algae, and the position of the tank and the lighting fixtures. Though the reef aquarists vary in their opinion about reef tank LED timing. Here I am going to give you some general recommendations about LED lighting hours.

Total Photoperiod: Total photoperiod consists of lighting with full intensity, ramp-up time, and ramp-down time. Reef aquarists differ about the total photoperiod time. While some argue that a tank can run even if the total photoperiod is as low as 4 to 7 hours, some increase the range from 8 to 12 hours.

The total photoperiod depends on the types of corals you have in your reef tank and the PAR and spectrum that the tank is receiving. However, I recommend you to use about 9 hours of total photoperiod. Allocate the other two hours for ramp-up and ramp-down. Core Spectrum Period: The core spectrum period indicates the amount of light with the highest intensity.

The PAR also remains at a peak at this period. A core spectrum period in a reef tank should not exceed 7 to 8 hours.

I recommend keeping one hour of ramp-up period for the reef tank. When it comes to the ramp-down period, I prefer it to be 1 hour. Dark Period: Like any creature on the earth, the fishes and corals need to have some dark atmosphere around them to take rest. The dark period in the reef tank lets the corals get rid of CO2 created by the photosynthesis. Types of Corals: You must consider the dominated types of corals in your tank to determine the hours of LED lighting in the reef tank.

When it comes to mixed reef tanks, the PAR amount can be as low as 75 and as high as And finally, the soft corals dominated tanks need only 50 to PAR of light to keep the corals healthy. On the contrary, low PAR and low with medium or low spectrum will require more hours of lighting. In case you have high-intensity lighting, that will fit best with LPS and SPS corals whereas low-intensity lighting is ideal for soft corals.

Softies or blue lights use the lowest intensity. Those can be used for the longest period without causing any negative impacts on the corals. And when it comes to using the white lights, you have to be the most careful. It is because if you use them for a longer period than necessary, they might cause coral bleaching. On the contrary, if the LEDs are in a raised position, the water will take time to consume the temperature and the PAR. So, if you place the LEDs at a higher position, you will need to ensure more hours of light.

On the other hand, LEDs at the lower position might require 1 or 2 fewer hours of light a day to keep the corals and fishes healthy. When it comes to using T-5 or metal halide lights, you just need to think about the duration and intensity of running the lights. However, times have changed and in case you move to LEDs, you have to think about how you can program the multiple channels of lights that come with different colors.

You also need to figure out the length of time, brightness, PAR, spectrum, and the right color while you set LEDs for a modern reef tank. Using lights of the blue spectrum can be viewed as the foundation of coral lighting. But, you might find it difficult to enlighten all the corals with blue lights only.

You can ramp them up from zero to the fullest in one hour or two. However, you can keep the tank under these lights for 8 to 10 hours.

You might just try to use blue lights for corals avoiding other lights. I consider the red and green as accessory colors. If you are a beginner, programing the red and green in combination with other colors of light might seem confusing to you.

Our first recommendation for programming the red and green light for your reef tank is using both the color in equal proportion. Keep in mind that excess red light might attract more nuisance algae in your tank. Moreover, deep corals like Stylocoeniella and Leptoseris do not like to get under excess red lights for too long. So, refrain from using unnecessary red lights in the reef tank. Sometimes they can be so bright and powerful that corals strive to get used to them.

To avoid coral bleaching, I recommend you use bright white lights for half of the time of the photoperiod. If you can manage a PAR meter, make sure that the lights do not exceed umols micromole light for longer than 6 hours. To avoid any harm to your corals due to overlighting, it will be wise to keep the bright light corals at the top and low light corals at the bottom of your reef tank. There are not many manufacturers out there who have ventured to make specialized LEDs for reef tank use.

The case is that there are many LEDs available to use for different purposes. However, it is not impossible to use them for your reef tank if you know how to acclimate the tank inhabitants with the PAR and spectrum of the LED lights. When I am writing this, LED bulbs of k are available for reef tanks. But as the manufacturers are trying their best, we can expect to get LEDs with a higher power soon.

Is it the question that pops-up in your mind? Well, the reasons for moving to LEDs are many. So, do LED lights come without any drawbacks? The answer is, no. Whether it is metal halide lights or LEDs, excess lighting in the reef tank has adverse effects on corals and fishes. Have you heard of coral bleaching? Excess lighting can cause stress on corals. When corals are stressed, they release their symbiotic zooxanthellae out. Zooxanthellae are very essential elements of corals because they bless the corals with color.

Considering these lights are designed for reef tanks, it is not too much to ask. Giving reefers the ability to adjust spectrum past that point is fine, but it should probably be hidden away with large warnings and caution signs informing you that treating it like a toy and making frequent changes is a one way ticket to brown town. Kessil has done this well by locking down the critical spectrum peaks for coral health and allowing changes to less critical peaks for visual appeal which is what they call Kessil Logic.

Red Sea followed suit with the ReefLED and its Reef Spec which has locked down an optimal spectrum based on their own research for optimal metabolic function within corals but still allows some adjustment to accomodate personal preferences. Any manufacturer that clearly outlines the right mix for a reef tank or refines it further with various spectrums specifically for SPS, LPS, etc. Something reefers should seriously consider when shopping for lights.

Ignoring this and choosing something less expensive then attempting to tune it yourself will likely show within your corals and various other aspects of the light itself.

In most cases we make spectrum blending suggestions using a spectrometer to measure and adjust the light to match the most successful spectrum mixes. This is a good resource to check out the spectrums an LED light is capable of producing and how to mix the color channels to achieve the desired goal. If there are limited resources available on the light you selected, you will just have to make your best guess short of using a spectrometer yourself which is extremely costly and time consuming.

For that reason most reefers will turn those UV, violet and blue spectrums to the maximum and then add in white until it looks appealing. The red and green are used sparingly just because the reefing community is undecided on their value. Red and green tend to also contribute heavily to creating the disco ball effect because those individual colors are easy to see shooting all around the tank.

Once you get the color the way you like it, you will likely need to adjust the overall intensity. Some LEDs like Kessil and EcoTech Marine have an intensity slider that will adjust intensity all of the color channels in ratio but some require this be done individually per color channel. Using a PAR meter is really the only way to tell when you have hit the desired intensity which we offer for sale or rent.

If you are not sure of the best settings for your particular light, ask! Almost any question on Reef2Reef or our Facebook group askbrstv community is answered by multiple people within minutes. Many in the community are also willing to show their results from the exact light you are using and settings. From our experience, the best results are from emulating successful reefers before you.

It may look blended visually, but if you look closely in the tank you can often see the individual dots or lines of white, blue, green and red shooting around your sand bed or on the rock work. This is what hobbyists refer to as spectrum hotspots and is a direct result of a poorly blended spectrum. This is intensified by the ripples on the surface of the water catching the individual LED spectrums, magnifying and then shooting that light around the tank.

I think the jury is still out on how much this matters but when given the choice, LED manufacturers are solving this problem a few different ways. A diffuser is also an option which is a sheet of diffuser material over the LED layout for the purpose of blending the colors together. This will reduce the intensity to a certain degree but comes with performance advantages, specifically the reduction of spectrum hotspots. EcoTech Marine takes advantage of this technique with the optional Radion Diffuser.

We have a great video that shows you how to install it and how well it works. No one really knows definitively whether the effects are beneficial but we do know that changing spectrum is certainly not required for success.

Interesting, Looks like the electric company likes me better I have been running two w MH over my mixed for 12hrs and actinics come on 30 minutes before run the entire time and turn off 30 minutes after Sounds like I may be able to cut back.

Do the actinics help anyting grow or are they more for color? For me: T5's 11am-6pm MH 12pm-5pm no ill results! I used to run MH for around 9hrs Could have to do with the corals photosynthesis My MHs are on about 6. Cycle is from pmam.

Thread Tools. David A. Crandall, M. Fatherree, M. Ken Feldman Jon E. Shimek, Ph. All times are GMT The time now is AM. TapaTalk Enabled. Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement. User Name. Remember Me?