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Light duration for corals
- Thread starter Zippy69
- Start date
Depending on how you are ramping your leds up that might be a bit long. The other thing is how are your corals handling the light? Do you see bleaching? Are the polyps retracted at all? LEDs are kind of a new ballgame for everyone and each fixture is so different depending on the LED that is being used, the wattage is running at, and the lens that is on the LED. Adding in the dimmability and how long you are running them at what strength also makes it complicated. Figure 13 hours is probably to short if you are running them at 1% vs 100% at 4 hours. It really comes down to how your corals react to the light. As you go for more SPS you will probably be able to ramp it up a bit more providing the LPS and softies are down low or in the shade.
The best I can do is 50% on power. Any more and I see bleaching. As you said I have watched and place all in places that seem to...make them happy. The sps have good polyp extension and are encrusting. The softies are at the bottom and with any more power need beach umbrellas. My reason for the question is most reef systems globaly are at or near the equator. Day lenght does not vary as much with the seasonal tilt of the earths axis. Thus light in these areas could be 13-14 hours long. Is it best to mimic this or by trial and error see what works?
The tank is a 55 gal. With a 20 long refugium reef octopus skimmer rated for 120 gal. Grow macro algae (cheato, and various reds). Lighting for the refugium is opposite the reef tank. The lights are 120 watt LEDs. Brand is epistar. They rest @ 18 inches from the water surface. Tank is clean no algae, lots of copopods above and below. Fish are minimal with 2 clowns and a lawn mower Blenny. Sunny, the frags I got from you are doing fine, polyp extension is all over each frag and at night polyps are extended even further. My reef is still young compared to others and I have not had any issues with water parameters. I know your tank is sps dominant what is your day length for you reef? As I find myself liking more sps...my lps may not do as well and I guess that is where tank # 2 comes in...
