Just look at your plants, you have spent enough time around them, after you do your cropping method, give the plants a little time to rebound from the stress, then flip the light.
What I did, I changed my water, cleaned tank, then cropped, watched plants, then switched to 12/12 for transition. Took about 4-5 days from when I changed my water, but then again my plants have a lot of vigor and were strong enough for the change.