Any real benefits to a Siesta (aka split photoperiod)

[magnosis]

I start to read more and more about planted tank folks setting up their timers for a "siesta" type of photoperiod.

In other words, they turn on the lights in the morning, turn off in the middle of the day, and turn back on in the afternoon.

What is your experience and opinions regarding this type of lighting schedule ?
Did you notice any benefits compared to simply implementing a shorter photoperiod ?

As far as I know this goes against the "natural order" of things but maybe there's some place on Earth I never heard of where there is two sunsets and two sunrises per 24h perdiod

[charlie]

Been there done it -no difference, when i first started i read that too in a article & asked the question here on this forum, if you search here you should find it, anyways decided to test it & found no benefits for me, yet others swear by it.
Regards

[HappyGuppy]

As far as I know this goes against the "natural order" of things but maybe there's some place on Earth I never heard of where there is two sunsets and two sunrises per 24h perdiod

Imagine a pond or lake next to a mountain, or something tall.  Imagine being a plant in that body of water.  In the morning you get light, but then the sun goes behind the mountain or something, for hours in shade, and then again getting sun later on in the day once the sun moves around the mountain.

I think that a tank with a siesta isn't in full darkness, but rather just ambient room light.  It isn't as dark as night.

I have done this, and am doing it with a saltwater macro tank.  I don't think it really makes a huge difference... but then again I've never run a scientific comparison between two plants grown with that light schedule as a variable.

[wolfiewill]

I start to read more and more about planted tank folks setting up their timers for a "siesta" type of photoperiod.

In other words, they turn on the lights in the morning, turn off in the middle of the day, and turn back on in the afternoon.

What is your experience and opinions regarding this type of lighting schedule ?
Did you notice any benefits compared to simply implementing a shorter photoperiod ?

As far as I know this goes against the "natural order" of things but maybe there's some place on Earth I never heard of where there is two sunsets and two sunrises per 24h perdiod

I do it for all my tanks. The theory is that even plants that need high bright light only get a few hours per day and the rest of the day is scattered daylight. I've been happy with the results but must admit that I made many adjustments to control algae and am not sure of the degree of improvement from the siesta only. I do 5 hrs on, 2 off, 5 on; and have regular room lighting on during the siesta. I am also trialing having a pin point spot light on for 4 hours per day only (a 70 watt MH clamp on) over a bunch of Bacopa caroliniana. They were leggy and have done well in other locations with higher light levels. Since I like the pink hue they have under high light conditions, I thought I'd try this idea. It hopefully won't upset the balance of the rest of the tank.