Question on Daily Light Schedule?

So I've tried a couple different things when it comes to how much time I would keep my lights on. I've been told that too much light will equal to a ton more algae which is true but would cutting back on light due to algae take away from the natural day/night cycle?

I really want to mimic the day/night cycle better and know that sunrise is normally around 7/8ish am and then sundown is around 7/8ish pm.

With that being said, is it okay to have the blues on around 7/8am and the whites come on around 9am and then turn the whites off around 6/7pm around sundown and then leave the blues on for another hour or so?

What has worked for you?

I have coral and fish in my tank if that helps any. Elegance, mushrooms, zoas, greenstars, hammer, flowerpot, palmtree polyps, grogonian, a couple brains, golden teardrop clam, spiny oyster, and then my fish.

This is what the tank looks like as of today/now. ;D

 

Your corals will need 8 to 12 hours of light on a regular basis, but other than that it's really up to you. You can of course run the blues some extra to give that sunrise sunset feel, and cutting down the light will help to fight algae. Your fish and corals will adjust to when you want the light cycle to be. They have no sense of time other than what you give them.
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Thanks! Good to know

 

Yea, what he said cause I know my Sohal cannot read my watch. he is constantly thinking it is dinner time!

anyways, for me, I run my actinics from noon to 10 pm and the halides from 1 to 9pm. I do this so i can have as much enjoyment of the tank as I can with my work schedule.

my old tank with VHO, I ran it from 11am to 9:30pm.

 

+1 on above posts

T5s for me
I have my daylight lamps on for 10 hours each day
and my actinic lamps on for 12 hours each day, starting these 1 hour earlier and turning them off 1 hour later than the daylights

Steve