Running lights at night instead of day: Problems?

[Zalick]

I was thinking about switching my light cycle from during the day, to during the night. This would allow me to enjoy the tank more when I'm home in the evening and also to feed the fish 3x/day instead of 2x.

The tank is in the great room of the house with decent daylight. So during the day, the tank would not be fully dark. Also, during the weekend the lights in the kitchen would be on so the tank would get that light. When those lights are on now, my sleeping corals start to perk up.

Question: Would it be harmful to the corals if the don't get a full dark "night"? I know the moon is out over the reefs, but the reefs are still dark in the wild. I'm an avid diver and night diver and can tell anyone who wonders: its dark even 10' down with the moon out!

[Half Vaped]

I work from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. so I have my actinics on from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. so I can feed my fish before and after work. No negative effects noticed.

I've read that for optimum growth, corals need four to six hours of darkness. As long as you shut off the lights before maybe 3 or 4 in the morning, I think you'll be fine.

[jstack]

I run my lights 5pm to 3am no prob as stated corals do need the dark. I would make sure the tank is not getting any direct light as you may run into issues but other than that kinda hmm how do I say this nicely rude nooo I'm tired ur fish enjoy rest aswell hmmkay


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[Kevin Guthrie]

Same, lights on in afternoon and off in the wee hours for years, no problem.

[Zalick]

Originally Posted by jstack

I run my lights 5pm to 3am no prob as stated corals do need the dark. I would make sure the tank is not getting any direct light as you may run into issues but other than that kinda hmm how do I say this nicely rude nooo I'm tired ur fish enjoy rest aswell hmmkay


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Thats kinda what I was thinking. Unfortunately the room gets enough ambient light that I don't think running a pure night schedule will work for the fish. The corals would "probably" be ok, but the fish would be "awake".

[Zalick]

Originally Posted by Half Vaped

I work from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. so I have my actinics on from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. so I can feed my fish before and after work. No negative effects noticed.

I've read that for optimum growth, corals need four to six hours of darkness. As long as you shut off the lights before maybe 3 or 4 in the morning, I think you'll be fine.

I'm going to give the actinic extension a try and see how that works. Run them from 5am to 9pm.

[xanthurum]

I've always done this and it's never been an issue. When I say always I mean for about the last 20 years.