Going away for a day... Should I keep the lights on my nano reef?

**EmmanuelJB** · 07-17-2010, 03:55 AM

In the morning I am going away and will be back Sunday night. With my freshwater tanks I am just going to keep the lights off the entire time, but Im not sure how well the corals would do in the reef for that length of time... I would assume normally they would be ok with the lights off for that long, but my white pom pom xenia, hasn't been doing well latley and I think it was because of lack of light. The last couple of days I have the left the lights on longer and the xenia seems to be doing much better. Now I am scared that if I leave the lights off for about 2 days that it wont be good when I come back.... What do you think? Should I leave the lights on or off in the reef tank?

**Brhino** · 07-17-2010, 04:03 AM

why not get a timer?

**EmmanuelJB** · 07-17-2010, 04:18 AM

Its only going to be used this one time so I really dont want to spend the money on a timer... Plus there would be no way to get a timer before I leave anyway.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

**Northernguy** · 07-17-2010, 04:29 AM

The timer is always the best way to go.They give the tank a more constant daytime. I know my tanks that do not have timers get turned on at a different time every day!
I wouldn't think one day will hurt anything.

**EmmanuelJB** · 07-17-2010, 06:16 AM

Originally Posted by Northernguy

I wouldn't think one day will hurt anything.

Of leaving the light on or off?

**kaybee** · 07-17-2010, 11:34 AM

A two-day lights out period should not be a problem for corals, particularly soft corals such as xenia.

Some reef enthusiasts regularly or irregularly employ light-out periods to simulate overcast or stormy days which do occur in nature (while 48hr of continuous sun light over tropical reefs, however, does not).

I implement 2 or 3 day black out periods on a random basis (I keep SPS, LPS and soft corals including lots of xenia), and on occasions have even experimented with 4 and 5 day black outs (I'm actually scheduling a 4-day 'black out' while I'm out of town next week).

If you turn of your lights for 2 days, run actinics-only during your first day back, on day 2 all lights (with daylights half of what they normally are) then return to your normal photo-period schedule on day three.

At the 3 or 4 day mark with lights out, xenia may slump a bit and decelerate their pulsating interval but they'll recover within the first day of light resumption. They should be unaffected by a 2 day black out period.

What type of lights do you have?