Timing of the white and blue light

[ivanlaw]

Hi fellow reefer.

After reading a few articles, I still dun really sure the following issue told by LFS.

1. The lights can be on any time of the day (even at night) as long as it is around 8hours.

2.The blue is on together with the white light.

I thought blue light is to simulate moon light?

Can somebody tell me if the 2 points are right

[Bernard]

was told that the blue light on 1 hour before and after the white.

[typrobin]

i think the blue light is to simulate the moonlight, by switchin on or off your lights suddenly will shock your LS, and they will become stressed...

[damsel-in-distress]

As far as I know, blue actinics photoperiod shld be abt 10-14 hrs. In betw this the main white daylight can come on - abt 6-12 hrs depending on yr tank habitant requirements. Blue actinics come on first bcos it suggests the simulation of dawn (on at least 1 hr b4 main MH/PL/ etc). It shld remain ON at least 1 hr AFTER white lights timed OFF, simulating dusk. The use of different light settings can be made to corect problems associated with say for eg. too much bad algae growth, etc

Hope this helps somewhat.

[jc85]

Normally, Actinic (blue) lights are not only used as moonlight. They are crucial to corals health and growth due to its blue spectrum peaking at about 420 nm.

My experience is that fishes will not go to sleep when actinic is still on. Only when lights is off will my fishes go to their hide out to rest. I do however on my actinic ard 1 hour before the white lights to minimise shock.

If you are looking for moonlight, it will be better to look for some bright blue LEDs.

Just my 2 cts

JC

[xiggie]

Normally, Actinic (blue) lights are not only used as moonlight. They are crucial to corals health and growth due to its blue spectrum peaking at about 420 nm.

sure or not !!!

[jc85]

Hi,

Whether if having actinic is really crucial to corals does depends on a few other factos, 1) number of white lights avail, 2) number of total watt, 3) exposure timing, 4) Type of lights (FL/PL/T5/MH).

For Ivanlaw case, I'm assuming the proportion of actinic to his white light are nt more than 1:2. Thus having the actinic on for the same period as the white light will definitely helps the corals.

However, if another reefer already has 400watt of MH for a 3ft tank. A single tube of 30watt PL actinic light will not really cause any differences.

All these are my personal opinion. Anyone in this field may want to jump in to comment whether my assumptions are right or wrong (I'll like to know for sure also).

Cheers

JC