Planted tank lighting period question

[Ryanh92]

I have a 75 gallon established heavy(ish) planted tank with the fluval plant 3.0 light, root tabs, ferts, and co2. I also have a mix of tetras, Plecos, and rainbows. My light period runs on a 1 hour sunrise, 6 hours of daylight, then 1 hour sunset. I go to work, and only see my tank (somewhat) lit up for about 20 minutes. By the time I get home, my lights are out. I’ve been hearing about the 4 on 4 off method. Could I switch my lighting period with no negative consequences? Or could it cause and algae bloom or plant die off? I would really like to be able to come home to a lit up tank, just not at the cost of creating problems. Any advice would be appreciated! 

[lefty o]

if the plants you have are alive, and doing well, i see no reason to mess with success. i would just shift the time back, so that it is lit up when you are there.

[Streetwise]

Some of the lighting schedules in this thread use siestas:

We also discus siestas here:

 

[Jungle Fan]

I agree with lefty o. My tank's lights don't come on early in the morning but around 1p.m.and then run uninterrupted in their cycle for 8 hours, so I can enjoy my tank later in the evening. The 4 on 4 off method works for some, although I've also read some articles that claimed that a consecutive, uninterrupted photo period would be better for plant growth. I tend to agree with those articles as I don't think an abrupt on and off is beneficial, at least not for the fish (however that is opinion, since I haven't conducted studies to that effect)  and if you were to have two sunrises and sunsets in that same 8 hour photo period that would actually shorten the amount of your maximum intensity. So yes, just start the lights later in the day so you'll be able to enjoy your aquarium, and get to spend time watching your fish and being able to observe if things are o.k., or need fixing.

[Mmiller2001]

I have your exact same problem. So I run a 2 hour 4% intensity red only cycle before and after a 1 hour ramp up/down. Seems to be working well and no algae so far. But time will tell.