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"DIY" LED moonlight - How bright is too bright?


LCDRDATA

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I decided to experiment with adding moonlighting to my 75-gallon reef setup. To minimize the cost I bought a $15 blue LED rope light (package states 9 watts) at Wal-Mart and just laid it around the inside perimeter of the glass top on my tank. There is a lot of wasted light (since the lights aren't directional), and the LEDs aren't optimized for this use, but with LEDs every inch and a half I figured quantity would make up the difference. I certainly seems to have; definitely lots of POP! from my corals. :clap:

 

However, my wife pointed out that this might be too bright, especially if I left it on all night. :sad: I know a number of the corals/zoas were significantly more open under this lighting than they were in the dark (I periodically watch my tank at night with a dim red light to not disturb nocturnal activity). While it looked cool, I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. So, can anyone help me out on this? How bright is too bright? :unsure: If I were to put this and my 'fuge light on a separate timer opposite my main unit (right now my 'fuge is on the same cycle), would this be a good idea or a bad one? Thanks!

 

P.S. - I put this same question out on Reef Central earlier this morning; nothing back so far.

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I have noticed better growth from my SPS corals when the tank has total darkness at night. Not sure how bright is to bright but I don't imagine moonlight penetrates very far into the ocean.

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I have always heard that corals and fish do need a total darkenss period. Now this is just what I have heard. But it does make sense. Most of the corals and livestock react to light, so like most things they need a rest. I currently have a frag tank lit by only 12 3w royal blue leds and I am growing sps with it. So even though it gives a moonlight effect(but bright) the corals still grow. My orange monti digi grows like it did in my main tank, maybe even faster.

 

So, while good for us to view our tanks I would still think that some total darkness would be healthy for the livestock.

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"moonlights" are a gimmick made by mass marketers to sell you more lights for your tank. If you go out on the reef at night, it's too dark to see unless you bring a light. If the moon happens to be out, you might see the waves and your hands, but not much else. If you want to simulate moonlight, I'd recommend that you use a single 1/2 watt LED positioned up high that only turns on a few nights a week.

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