Biocube Light Schedule/ Flow

[Jma93]

Good afternoon, 

I have recently cycled a 32 gal Biocube and lightly stocked it. I will soon be at the point of adding easy to care for soft or lps corals. I was hoping for recommendations around a light schedule for the LEDs to support coral health/growth. I also wondered if others would recommend adding additional flow to the tank. I would appreciate any guidance or support y'all might have.

Thanks!!

[TheClark]

Congrats!

I think allot of people run 8-9 hour light cycles.  I used to run longer because it is disappointing to have the lights off!  However, it stressed everything out.  I am on a nine hour schedule now.

Dana Riddle has some cool articles on Daily Light Index and PAR.  In theory you could do longer light schedules with dimmer lights and hit the same DLI.  

However, I stopped trying to innovate and started going with the flow.  So 9 hours for me!  1 hour at the end is blues only.

 

[TheClark]

Congrats!

I think allot of people run 8-9 hour light cycles.  I used to run longer because it is disappointing to have the lights off!  However, it stressed everything out.  I am on a nine hour schedule now.

Dana Riddle has some cool articles on Daily Light Index and PAR.  In theory you could do longer light schedules with dimmer lights and hit the same DLI.  

However, I stopped trying to innovate and started going with the flow.  So 9 hours for me!  1 hour at the end is blues only.

Oh, and my best reefing lesson has been....  "Find someone very successful locally and just copy them".  I was having too much fun reading the internet and trying things.  Tank does the best when I don't do that   

 

[Jma93]

Thanks for your response, I will check out those articles. As it stands right now my lighting schedule with standard Biocube LED lighting is:

LC1 10am-6pm

LC2 9am- 7pm

LC3 8am - 8pm

Does this seem like a reasonable schedule for soft/lps corals?