Is 2 days and nights a day O.K.?

[aeroreefs]

Hello, everyone.
To avoid raising at high temp in my 90 gal reef tank on hot summer day.
I just started to turn off MH for 3 - 4 hrs during the day of all lighting duration of 12 hrs.
Let me know if any problems in reef-keeping such as SPS,LPS,inverts,and etc.
TIA

 

[something fishy]

I'm not too sure about your day night cycle problems, but I found that simply keeing a couple of plastic bottles full of water frozen, and then placing them in the tank (or sump) on days when the forecast concerned me worked pretty well. I would also have a couple of space bottles, and when I took the first lot out of the freezer, put the next ones in straight away.

 

[Mouse]

I would imagine that the corals wont have time to do their Photosynthetic thing as they would spend the majority of their time opening and closing.

 

[aeroreefs]

any other comment?

 

[Anonymous]

I just built a hood for a 250w MH over a 55 gallon. I purposefuly did not enclose the top but rather re-enforced the bracing where the light sits above the hood. A fellow reefer had this type hood and with the light 10" of the water he ad no nticable incrse in temp. I have not seen a raise either. With the top of the hood open the heat escapes.

I do not know if this helps just an observation, I run no fans. I regulate temp with central air and keep it at 78 degrees for all my tanks. My reef stays at 81 degrees.

 

[JoshF]

As for the biology of the corals, they will probably be fine. Corals, like humans, do have some sort of built-in day/night rythm. However, due to the scientific observations that corals grow the fastest right at sunrise, some people are doing research on having multiple "sunrises" a day. Doing this in the summer should be okay. Just keep an eye on your tank. It would be a better idea in the long run to use a chiller or frozen water bottle...

Josh

 

[DaktariEd]

I don't know about the coral response to light cycling, but I imagine it might be a bit unsettling on fish. Much as humans have a diurnal variation of hormones (ie, changes in hormone levels throughout the day), I would expect other vertibrates to have variations as well. I'm not a vet, just applying human physiology to fish.

It might be worth investigating before stressing out the fish unintentionally.

HTH,

Ed

 

[Anonymous]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JoshF:
<STRONG>It would be a better idea in the long run to use a chiller or frozen water bottle...Josh</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


I'm just a country bumpkin but... it seems to me that a couple of frozen water bottles wouldn't have much of an impact on 100 gallons of water. Has anyone done the math on this?

 

[fudge1]

Guy,

It actually doesnt make that big of difference to use frozen bottles...maybe a degree or two max.
I used to do that during the summer months,and temp fluctuated too much for me,and too much work!....tank got hot,i put frozen bottle in,two hours later it melted and if i didnt stick another in,temp would start to rise again,eventually my wife got sick of 2-litre frozen coke bottles taking up her freezer.

The biggest difference for me was a 5 degree drop when using an 18" fan across the sump during heavily lit hours.
Marc.