Lights on or off? for New Year's party

[cgh38]

What would you guys do? my house will be packed with people and little people on New Year's eve and my lights go off at 10PM. Should I leave the actinics on? usually the room is dark when the lights go off.
Thanks for your advice.
Happy New Year.

[hamdogg08]

Will people be drinking, and if so, would they be able to dump anything in the tank? Keep in mind that kids are essentially drunk adults in small bodies. If you don't want to draw attention to your tank, shut the lights off, but if you want to show off the tank without risking a crash, leave them on.

[swimmer]

yellow police tape and crowd control barricades :D

[cgh38]

The tank is in-wall and there's no opening on the viewing side the tank and all the equipment is inside a closet with a keyed lock I'm just concerned that with the tank being dark and all the noise and lights and people moving around might scare and stress out some of the fish that don't go into hiding, I guess I worry too much.

[Dino]

:) What's in the tank? No moonlight setup I assume? More that likely it'll be fine to leave the actinics on for a couple extra hours if you're wanting people to look at the tank (only time I'd be worried is if you were to have certain things which are really picky about any change. Spawning clownfish being an example). I'd be more worried about people banging on the glass (kids especially like doing this), really loud music, or other loud disturbances, also, if you happen to have an algae magnet where people can get to it...hide it, people can't resist playing with them and can easily scratch the heck out of a tank. :)

[acro_reef77084]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11484723#post11484723 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cgh38
What would you guys do? my house will be packed with people and little people on New Year's eve and my lights go off at 10PM. Should I leave the actinics on? usually the room is dark when the lights go off.
Thanks for your advice.
Happy New Year.

I also have a new year's party and I usually leave the lights on...the guests love to sit close to the tank and check things out. by the way, I have a 300/g reef tank.

[JamesJR]

Whenever I throw parties I just keep all of the lights on until it is over.
I think it is lame to have an awesome tank no one can see because the lights are out. Just my 2 cents. A few extra hours of light once in blue moon shouldn't hurt anything (unless you are trying to get some fish to spawn).

[mfp4073]

+1....show off the tank. The extra hours of light will not hurt anything.

[charlie h]

I agree with leaving the lights on, whats the point of spending all that money and not getting to show it off...... Just make sure it's looking spik and span......... oh ya, have a good one...

[cgh38]

Thanks guys I will leave the actinics on until everyone leaves and thanks Dinoman about the magnet.

[gordie72]

I have a party several times a year, and people love the tank. The fish never seem to mind. Leave them on, if you ask me.

[steve1963]

If all the room light are on it's not normal conditions for the fish anyways.

I'd leave them on,or at least some of them.

[DaveG99]

Id leave them all on.

[mfp4073]

SHOW THAT BEAUTIFUL TANK OFF!!!!!

let the people see and go forth and become reefers too!

[MikeCentore]

it won't hurt once in a while

[Zestay]

the average saltwater reef gets only 90 days of sun a year and for only approx 4 - 6 hours ( sun light reflects off the water ) .
weve already messed up thier schedule by giving them about 7 - 9 hours a day. adding a few more cant hurt.

or plan to have the lights come on later in the afternoon the day of the party so they will still get a X hour light cycle with out giving them more light. than just adjust back the next day

[DaveG99]

the average saltwater reef gets only 90 days of sun a year and for only approx 4 - 6 hours ( sun light reflects off the water ) .

I know thats not the case in the Florida Keys. When I lived in south Florida I used to go out on the water all the time. The sun would come up at about 7am and go down at 9pm. Thats about 14 hours of light per day. You might take off about 3-4 hours for dawn and dusk but that still leaves 10-11 hours of light during the summer. In the winter its probably about 7-8 hours a day. And the reef in the keys gets a lot more than 90 days of sunlight a year. Its more like 300 days a year. And the same goes for puerto rico and the surrounding carribbean islands when I lived there.