Lights on 24-7

[JeepersReefers]

This weekend was a busy one, and i was out of the house for most of the weekend. Without a timer my Zoo tank's lights stayed on for more than 48 hrs. This morning all the zoos and richordias looked the best i have seen them in quite a while. Every thing had all its color and was fully extened/open. Basicaly every thing looked aswome after 2+ days of "daylight".

Any thoughts-

1 Has any one ever tried this on a prop tank or any tank for that matter?
2 With the 24-7 lights dose that accelerate growth?
3 Does it have ill effects on the corals and other creatures?

Thanks
Dane

 

[Woodstock]

Good question... I'll tag along

 

[zy112]

i would think that you would have unbelievable algae blooms after awhile. i have accidently left my lights for a day and a half and my corals looked horrible. It just seems unnatural to me. jmo

 

[nigle]

Oi!

I would think that they 'look good' only because they 'needed the light' at that time, but I would not leave the lights on all the time. Corals like all animials need the 'down time' as night just like all other animals. Remember that even at the equator it's about 18 hours of 'light' and the 'light' in our tanks [even MH lights] is never the same as 'sun light'. You might try leaving your lights on longer, but I would still give them 'night'.

Cheers!
nigle
!~!

 

[Dingo]

Actually, at the equator, you get 12 hours of day, and 12 hours of night. As you move closer to the poles, you get more and more seasonal variation in daylight until at the poles you get 24 hours of day or night at the equinoxes.

Anyway, to answer the question, the going consensus is that photosynthesis becomes markedly less efficient after a certain photoperiod. Just like you, growth and healing works in cycles. Have you ever noticed that you heal much faster when you sleep? That's because your body can devote it's full attention to repair while you are not busy trying to kill antelopes and running from bears.

Plants work on the same sort of cycle, and that includes the algae that powers your corals. So although they will not die, over the long term, they will not grow as well as they would if you gave them sufficient dark time.

 

[JeepersReefers]

Originally posted by Dingo


Anyway, to answer the question, the going consensus is that photosynthesis becomes markedly less efficient after a certain photoperiod.

Makes senes Dingo. After 2 days the zoos look good, but zooanthids are very very hardy corals. If i have an extra frag lying around some day i might give the 24-7 a try. I dont think that i would intentanly try it with any othe type of coral.

Thanks

 

[mps9506]

I've done this before with halides on my tank when I first got into SPS about a year ago.
All my SPS hated me for a long time. A few RTN'ed shortly after the 24 hour incident, a few looked severly bleached. When you bleach a monti, you know you really screwed up
My zoo's and shrooms didn't seem to care. In fact when I broke my tank down in Oct. I kept all my rock in bins, the ones that had shrooms on them were kept in a tub that had a single flo. light over them that stayed on for weeks. All the shrooms were quite happy and more stunning than they ever were in my sps tank.
Just my experince, take it for whatever it is worth.
Mike

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Very interesting!