Moon light question

[Orion]

Hey all,

 

Quick question regarding moon lights -

What does everyone do regarding duration? Leave on 24/7? Only specific hours of the night?

 

Thx!

[Coral Hind]

How bright are your moon lights? I have a small 3 watt light I leave on all night while the main lights are off. I have the actinic lights setup to extend for an hour before and hour after the daylights are on.

 

 

[surf&turf]

Moon lights on for an hour after main lights, after that total darkness.

[Orion]

How bright are your moon lights? I have a small 3 watt light I leave on all night while the main lights are off. I have the actinic lights setup to extend for an hour before and hour after the daylights are on.

 

 

 

This is what I have for lighting -

http://innovative-marine.com/skkye-light/clamp-8-watt-black.html

 

Spec sheet says 4 x 1/2Watt LED Moon lights

This is on a small nano Fluval Spec 2 gallon. They are bright that's for sure.

[Coral Hind]

It also depends on what fish you have. Some fish never really fully sleep but always swim all night and some come out at night to hunt.

[Orion]

It also depends on what fish you have. Some fish never really fully sleep but always swim all night and some come out at night to hunt.

 

 

No fish. Just a small frag of green star polyps, and 4 hermit crabs. Tank is still fairly new.

[Coral Hind]

Really no need for the moon lights then, IMO

[Ryan S]

i think moon lights are bad. fish and corals need the darkness.

 

if i was going to use them, i would run them for an hour after the main lights go out, like Frank does, then let the tank go totally dark.

[Orion]

Thanks for all your input. I'll just put them on for an hour after the lights go out.

Would it hurt, or help to have them on at the same time as the 14K LEDs during the day?

[Guest]

I keep my LED moon light on all night. My drivers are tuned all the way down so the light is very very soft. Corals love it and its nice to look at as well.

[Ryan S]

I keep my LED moon light on all night. My drivers are tuned all the way down so the light is very very soft. Corals love it and its nice to look at as well.

how can you tell that your corals "love it"? do they look differently when you don't have the LED moon lights on?

[Coral Hind]

i think moon lights are bad. fish and corals need the darkness.

How can you tell that it's bad for them?

[Coral Hind]

I'm not talking about the bright actinic supplemental lighting but a very low light source. I have fish that constantly swim at night, they are not deep sleepers like wrasses or other fish. Some light keeps them from hitting into things when it is pitch black. A lot of stuff happens in our tanks at night and it is also nice to have a low light to view that.

 

http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/reproduction-10/coral-cryptochromes

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=41

[Ryan S]

How can you tell that it's bad for them?

For starters, I have never seen a study that moonlights did anything positive. Never been shown to promote spawning. And natural reefs don't have a full moon every single night to the sand bed.

 

I have seen sources that call moonlights "bogus" and Eric Borneman said they don't do anything either. Melev also supports a dark night time period for our reefs. Both Eric and Melev are a lot smarter than I am.

 

I have also seen sources that suggest fish like/need/prefer/are happier/less stressed with darkness at night to rest/sleep. Seems like common sense to me.

 

I have seen other sources that said SPS colors and growth were better with a longer total blackout period in the evenings versus a moonlight running 24/7.

 

I have never seen any coral pictured during a period when moonlights were run 24/7 that looked better than the same period without them being run. I HAVE seen SPS look better after being under 24/7 moonlights that were turned off. (My own).

[Ryan S]

I'm not talking about the bright actinic supplemental lighting but a very low light source. I have fish that constantly swim at night, they are not deep sleepers like wrasses or other fish. Some light keeps them from hitting into things when it is pitch black. A lot of stuff happens in our tanks at night and it is also nice to have a low light to view that.

 

I don't disagree that cool stuff happens at night. All sorts of cool stuff. I enjoy watching things happen at night. However, our enjoyment versus what is natural and in the best interest of the coral and fish... might not be the same...

[zygote2k]

Really no need for the moon lights then, IMO

 

This is one of those classic debates- the need or necessity for artificial moonlight.

One side of the story is pure marketing at it's best. They want to sell you another product that they think your tank needs. The off the shelf product is usually way too bright.

The other side is that if you're trying to replicate moonlight, why not do it right? Put them on a controller and simulate the intensity and tracking. I believe Tunze has a system like this.

 

On a full moon over a reef, it's very dark. You can't see the coral.