Balancing lighting with work schedules

[Coelli]

I'm wondering, in a mixed reef is it the intensity of the light as well as the duration of the lighting?

I currently have a minimum of 1:10 commuting each way, so I'm out of the house for extended hours. How do you balance being able to check on/feed the tank in the morning and enjoying it at night? It feels like if I do a normal 8 hour schedule the tank is going to be dark at one of the ends.

Can you lower the intensity of the lighting (I have dimmable LEDs and an Apex) at the ends of the cycle, with a peak in the middle, to have a longer cycle overall without ill effects? My lights are plenty bright enough for me to see at 10%, the minimum they'll go, so what if they ran at 10% for a couple of hours on either side of the 8 hours? That's what I've been doing for now, but I'm wondering about the long term.

[toomany]

I had a nice long reply typed out, but lost it when I went to switch windows.....stupid phone.

Because of my wife and I's different scheduals, I run my lights from noon-3am. Starting with a few hours of moon lighting and ending with a few hours of moon light. Peak is around 9pm. My moon lights are 10% on the blue channel. I haven't had any problems with this light schedual. Before I leave for work in the morning, I turn on the moon lights for a quick check of the tank.

From what I've read, low levels like that don't really effect the tank. They are mainly for our viewing pleasure.

[Coelli]

I had a nice long reply typed out, but lost it when I went to switch windows.....stupid phone.

Because of my wife and I's different scheduals, I run my lights from noon-3am. Starting with a few hours of moon lighting and ending with a few hours of moon light. Peak is around 9pm. My moon lights are 10% on the blue channel. I haven't had any problems with this light schedual. Before I leave for work in the morning, I turn on the moon lights for a quick check of the tank.

From what I've read, low levels like that don't really effect the tank. They are mainly for our viewing pleasure.

Ugh, I hate typing on my phone so I appreciate that you did and feel your pain. :D

I definitely want the lights on in the morning (my moon lights aren't bright and the tank is in a dark corner). I just set my lights up like this for now and I guess we'll see how it goes. 0% on the graph is actually 10% lighting, as that's the lowest my lights will go. Where there's nothing on the graph I have the outlets switched off.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3928/15508801946_2a68df01d1_b.jpg

[murdock84]

I work twelve hour days and switch from nights to days every other week too. I plan on running the same schedule all the time. Feeding for me is what will be screwed up time wise.

[Saltliquid]

8 hours?? The sun is over tropical parts of the oceans for far longer then that and we try to copy natural cycles as much as possible, I run my display lights from 7 am to 10 pm and algae area lights from 2pm to 10 am. At our summer solstice, the sun rises at roughly 4.30 am till setting at 7pm. My display tanks even have a night light so they are sort of illuminated 24 hours per day, photosynthetic lighting for 15 of those