Cut 1 Hr of Photoperiod and...

[invincible569]

Recently my chiller stopped working and I cut down the photoperiod an hr less daily. Its about 8 or so hrs now. I wanted to keep the time down just to see what would happen. Sure enough, I have been noticing that the colors of my corals are outstanding. Its been a while since i have seen the color of these corals pop out like they do now. Maybe all this time I have been oversaturating my lighting especially since I only have a 100g display tank. WHo knows.. maybe all of this is just a coincedence, but thought I would share my experience.

[fkadir]

Edward, it seems that with the brilliant lights we have nowadays and coupled with the ultra low nutrient water we have, the average lighting duration with high-powered lights have come down from a typical average of 10 hrs a few years ago. I find that most of us now are running the main lights between 6-7 hours especially if we are using high PAR lights.

[wasp]

6-7 hours? Somewhere I must have missed that one I'm running mine for 10.
So if I reduce to 8 or less I should get better colors?

[Orion76]

Corals don't get much more than 6 to 7 hours of direct sunlight in nature with only 3 or 4 hours being very intense. A full blown 10 or more hour photo period is quite unnatural.

[invincible569]

Thats good to know.

Another local of mine has reduced his a lot too and his corals are really light. I have never seen his colors that light before.

[Erik Kreeger]

I personally feel light corals is a sign of poor conditions. I look for nice deep rich colors as a sign of proper health and growth
IMO
Erik

[G.Alexander]

Erik, do you think wild corals on natural reef flats, they generally have light tissue (less zoox), are less healthy than captive kept corals with darker tissue or corals coming from shadowed natural reef environments (increased zoox density) ?

G.Alexander

[Orion76]

I have scuba dived in quite a few places and in nature there are plenty of reefs with very lightly colored Acropora, usually the more healthier reefs.

IME reefs that have less sedimentation and short rainy seasons (small remote islands) have lighter and more variably colored Acropora (light yellow, baby blue and pink) while areas with strong sedimenation and longer rainy seasons (near main land and human activity) the corals tend to be darker and typically be either green or tan colored.

Well that's on the reefs I have personally seen anyway, I dive in the latter reefs more often because they are easier to get to for a weekend trip

[nyfireman3097]

I have mine on for 4 hours for about 6 months now and have no problem keeping there colors

[gqjeff]

I run 7 hrs now but am going to cut back to 6 while I am on vaction for 10 days.. I want to see if I can tell a difference in that time frame at all... Also want to make sure the chiller does not have ot run while I am out of the country... Damn I get nervous leaving for extended periods of time.. Good thing my brother lives across the street and his son always takes care of my setup...

Jeff

[mshur]

jeff,
i also get very nervous...good luck, but, ia m sure nothing will happened. u have great set up..no worrys and have fun!!!!

[DMK]

i started my tank out w/ my MH on 10hrs/day and VHO's 12/day. i left VHO's at 12 and cut MH to 8, w/ improved color. then to 7. now at 6 and some sps even more colorful. i think 6 is perfect. in wild reefs only get about 6hrs of blazing sun a day.

[invincible569]

Wow.. 6! Thats really low! Im extremely happy with my 8 right now. Colors are popping and not lightness at all. They are deep in color and look very healthy. I should of done this a long time ago

[nyfireman3097]

The 4 hours I run mine have the same effect as for when I ran them 6 hours I also use 400w's so that might make a diffrence

[Brad Villeggiante]

I just reduced my MH to 6 hrs a day from 10. I left my actinics at 12 hrs. I just left home for the weekend so when I return I hope to see a difference in coral color. My colors with 10 hrs a day were really washed out.