Lighting Schedule

[discretekarma]

I have my lights set up now from 11am to 10 pm. I leave for work well before the lights come on and soon after I get home the lights go off. Would it effect my fish if I had the lights go on from like 6am to 8am and then on again from like 4pm to midnight? I don't want to throw off their cycles just to see them in the morning. Thanks.

[flowerseller]

I have the lights set up for "MY" viewing pleasure.

 

If 4pm to midnight works for you, by default, it works for them.

[discretekarma]

Would it hurt anything to also have it on from 6am to 8am in the morning?

 

I have the lights set up for "MY" viewing pleasure.

 

If 4pm to midnight works for you, by default, it works for them.

[tygger]

I personally wouldn't set it so that the lights come on twice in one day. Instead, I have mine set like Chip described... Have it turn on later in the day so that you can view it longer when you get home from work.

[fry_school101]

Mine are on till 11:30. . . otherwise I'd never be able to see them. Twice a day would probably mess with them.

[flowerseller]

Would it hurt anything to also have it on from 6am to 8am in the morning?

What's up with this?

 

[davelin315]

I wouldn't do it.

 

I asked Ed Noga at the symposium about lighting schedules and stress and his take was that even the act of adjusting the light cycle to accomodate our own schedules might be a stress to the fish. I would think that interrupting their sleep schedule to view them in the morning would result in unhappy fish. I would liken it to when my daughter comes in in the middle of the night because she wants me to take her to the potty... I wake up feeling pretty tired in the morning. I imagine that the fish will feel the same way and the corals won't have the proper downtime to properly make their food.