Describe Your Light Cycle

[jrnannery]

Title says it all. What do you keep, primarily, and how do you light it?

[redwingrob40]

Mixed reef with SPS, LPS, some rics and a nem. Run a 4 x 54 w T5 fixture over my tank. Actinics come on at 9:30 am and go off at 9:30 pm. The daylights come on at 11:30 and go off at 7:30. Then the moonlights come on form 9:30 until midnight.

[Europhyllia]

reef tank (since I am assuming you are interested in corals):
AI SOL LEDs. There is a 3000k GE T5 bulb in the shadowbox.
Shadowbox comes on at 8:30. AI powers up 15 minutes later but it is set to do it gradually over a 30 minute period so it's not really noticable.
By 9:15 AM my morning and afternoon intensity has been reached.
In the time period between 1pm and 5pm the AI gears up to the day's top intensity. Then after 5 back down to regular.
By 9:30 it starts to reduce (same 30 minute transition).
The shadowbox goes off at 10:30 I believe.
The AI stays on to provide the moonlight. It is moonphase enabled so the night time lighting intensity changes depending on the lunar cycle
I keep LPS and softies -mostly gorgonians

[jrnannery]

Thanks, you two. Love the SOLs, Karin. I'd really like to incorporate a pair of the nano units. They'd go great with an Apex controller...in fact, kinda recommended by Neptune.

Keep em, coming folks. I'm trying to build a profile, and so far it looks like my old cycle was more the norm.

[txg8gxp]

AI SOL blues when the tank was all SPS lighting would start at 11am ramp up too 30% white and 80% blue over 30 minutes then from 2-2:30 ramp up to 100% all for mid day then dim down to 30/80% from 8-8:30pm and dim down to moonlights from 11-11:30pm followed by lunar cycle. With new macro setup I will keep the same times but run lower blue %

[Europhyllia]

They'd go great with an Apex controller...in fact, kinda recommended by Neptune.

why bother with hooking them up to an Apex controller? what does the apex controller do that the SOL AI controller not already does?

[Europhyllia]

With new macro setup I will keep the same times but run lower blue %

Awww... you kids make me proud lol

[Texreefer]

I have an extremely long light cycle... 6:45 am the white/magenta stunners come on.. then at 7:15 the blues come on.. then at 10 am the whites, so Im all on at 10 am. in the evening the whites go off at 6:30, then the blues at 9ish, then the Magenta/whites stunners at 10pm.. sooo, 14 hours total.. with 8 hours of full lighting

[jroescher]

I guess I'm really old fashioned, or behind the times, or cheap, or simple minded. However you want to look at it.

My two metal halides are on from 3:30p to 11:30p. The two T-5 actinics are on from 3:00p to midnight. I run the late hours because that's when I at home and up.

Only have a various softies.

[kkiel02]

This will take awhile-
7:30 am the frag tank t5s go off
8 am actinics on t5 come on
8:30 am the daylights on the t5 come on along with the 2 halides
2:15 pm the turf scrubber cfl go off
7:30 pm the daylights on the t5 go off along with the halides
8 pm actinics go off
8:15 pm the turf scrubber cfl come on
8:30 pm the frag tank t5 come on

Pretty much there is always some light on the tank helping keeping my ph real stable :)
I think I got them all when I get my two ai units to replace my center t5 I will play with this alot more. And depending on growth from those they might replace my frag tank t5 as well.

[jrnannery]

This is great, guys. I appreciate seeing how I can improve the tank's schedule. Post-boiling incident (stupid heater), all the replacement corals are doing GREAT! I've never seen such great polyp extension in my tank. Blues are staying blue, reds are looking good. Now, if I can get that Pink Lemonade in this thing, I'll be looking really good, not to mention Rob's Tri-color.

I adjusted my light cycle to match y'alls more closely, which are of course simulating, to the best of our abilities, the natural lighting they would receive.

Karin, I read up on the SOLs. Looks like they will be running independently of the Apex. This is going to be fun.

[kkiel02]

If you run them with the apex you can adjust the lights online! At least thats what I read today. Now I just need the lights... and the cord from apex. Forgot to order that.

[Europhyllia]

If you run them with the apex you can adjust the lights online!

Sounds very useful ;)
I actually kind of like to stand in front of my tank and *see* the lights...

[kkiel02]

Lol yes of course but remote use, plus the failsafes the apex incorporates, and all the regular features the ai controller comes with- I guess it seems worth the $40 to me. Then again I have a couple big trips setup and I can have something else to play around with while gone! I have to say, at first I was weary of controllers, but have grown quite fond of them now if you cant tell. :) Oh and you could even have them on battery backup with either controller, if you really wanted to. I need to get these lights...

[jrnannery]

Battery backups will be incorporated. Can't go all out and NOT have em!!

[alton]

Summer for my 300
12pm 160w actinic on
1:30 center 250MH on
2:00 outside 2x250MH on
9:30 outside 2x250MH off
10:00 center 250MH off
10:20pm 160w actinic off

Winter
11pm 160w actinic on
12:00 center 250MH on
1:00 outside 2x250MH on
9:30 outside 2x250MH off
10:00 center 250MH off
10:20pm 160w actinic off

[CoryDude]

120 gallon sps dominant with 440w of vho actinics and 2x250 phoenix 14k de halides:

vho's on from 1030am-1030pm for 12hrs total
halides on from 12pm-545pm for 5.75hrs