Photoperiod

Question
Hey Bill, there has been many talks about different ways to run the "photoperiod".  Ive been reading shorter photoperiod=growth in corals.  Just wondering how are you running your lights.  Actinic, MH(daylight), and LEDs (Moonlights) hours?  Since ive personally seen your tank and saw you have great results.

thanks
Joseph

Answer
REVISED ANSWER:


You can look at my aquacontroller graphs and see the time schedule over the course of a day or a week or a year...  (there is a blank / flat line spot inthe middle of hte graph, where i had computer/website problems).   But over all, if you check box the mh lights, you can see how and when and how long they stayed on..

you can do the same for the temperature... if you notice, if you look at the graph over the course oa year, you can see the 'average temp' go up in the summer, and down over the winter...

(the up and downs on temperature could be day to night temperature swings, or they could be the heater coming on or going off or the chiller...)

http://66.147.240.164/~thelitu5/TLO/graphs.php?period=hour24&from=&to=&Temperatu...




Hello Joseph,

Where are you reading about the shorter light cycles, equals more growth..??  I would like to read it too.

My lighting system is the Hamilton technologies protostar, (I think thats the name).  it is 72"  3x 250W MH  with 2 VHO Actinic bulbs

I also have two very brite home made led moon lights..

They are controlled by the Aquacontroller3 by Neptune Systems..And they are timed to a custom season table for lighting.  So they come on and go off each day at different times.  (Longer periods inthe summer and shorter inthe winter.)

Currently they come on around 11AM, and go off around 9:30ish PM,the moon lights come one per the custom table also but for the 28 day moon cycle.  

I am not totally sure if the moon lighting makes the difference or not, but, my clownfish seem to get into the 'mood' often.  and they stay that way for months on end...

(unfortunately, i have reaquascaped several times inthe last two months, and have disrupted thier cycle.  they had been laying eggs for almost six months straight)

I kind of think my coral growth is a bit slow, compared to what i see in other folks tanks... (I have seen them grow out frags into good sized colonies, buy yet, my frags just grow a littl bit, maybe doubling in year or so..)

Also, as you know, i give away a lot of stuff, so it is kind of hard to guage the growth rate when I keep on snapping stuff off, hehehehe


But, i love this hobby so much, and believe that if it did grow on me, it is like FREE stuff, and for me to share it, makes me believe that the coral will thrive, no matter what i do to it...

Anyways, I hope this helps...

Bill