Two light periods per day?

[Stu]

Hi all,

Are there any problems with running two separate light periods per
day? (MH) For example, 7am-12pm and 4pm-9pm, instead of one 10 hr
period say from 10am to 8pm.


Cheers,
Stu

[Todd Nicholson]

Not at all. Actually it's advantageous. You can set up your lighting
system to mimic early morning sun, afternoon sun and evening sun.

-Todd

"Stu" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi all,
>
> Are there any problems with running two separate light periods per
> day? (MH) For example, 7am-12pm and 4pm-9pm, instead of one 10 hr
> period say from 10am to 8pm.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Stu

[CapFusion]

> >
> > Are there any problems with running two separate light periods per
> > day? (MH) For example, 7am-12pm and 4pm-9pm, instead of one 10 hr
> > period say from 10am to 8pm.


7am - 12pm = Morning
?? - ?? = Noon or Midday? Cloud overhead everyday maybe? [LOL]
4pm - 9pm = After Noon

CapFusion,...

[Dragon Slayer]

I run a 6 on/off photo period which gives 2 periods of light and dark in a
24 hr period. I get a bit better growth out of my softies and I don't get
as many sheds from the leathers (after all they are under 1000w MH).

I can honestly say that IME the fish tend to not like the duel photo periods
as well as everything else does. they seam more stressed but so far no
problems. I cant really tell about the clams they don't grow fast enough to
really notice a difference.

the one thing that I did notice that made the most difference when I swapped
to the 6 on/off from a 14 hr photo daily was the coralline algae. its
calcification has become much quicker and the growth is a darkening red now
rather then that baby pink (which I hate the pink myself, to "girly" looking
to me).

I cant say if your suggested 5 on, 4 off, 5 on, 10 off will give the same
results. I had been doing a lot of reading on the growths of corals and the
relationship to when they grow in relation to time elapsed after sun up
(lights on) and when they slowed. the articles I read, and they were many,
all said corals tend to do most of their growth between the hours after
lights on of 3 to 5 and then drastically drop off after 5 hrs of photo. so
the 6 on/off gives the inclination that you will get two max growths out of
your corals in a single day. so you get bigger coral in half the time.

BTW with my work schedule I run my photo as:

3am lights on
9am lights off
3pm lights on
9pm lights off

this gives the fish a daily feeding of twice minimum which they like.

with the timer I have I can set up different photos for every day of the
week with up to 8 different on/off settings in each day. I was/am
considering having the weekends (when i'm home during the day) have a lights
on at 7am and off at 7pm. but I cant find any info on if this would make a
drastic difference to the corals and cause shock/stress, as well as the
fish. anyone have any info on this? any links? tia.


HTH
kc