Moonlights in a reef

marcingo · #1 10-11-2006, 08:10 PM

Hey everyone. What do you guys think about a moonlight in a reef tank. Are they necessary. From what I have read they have both positives and negatives. Supposedly is you keep moonlights and your tank doesnt get any complete darkness your fish can go blind but people also say moon lights help with coral propagation. Just wanted to know everyones opinion on this.

Delphinus · #2 10-11-2006, 09:16 PM

I think it's a nice feature but not needed/essential to keeping a reef.

Personally I think if someone is going to put moonlight over the tank, it's more important to correctly simulate the moon phases (varying intensities over a 28 -29 day cycle) plus trying to get a close to accurate moonrise/moonset times, otherwise it's just a "night light."

I've never bothered with moonlights myself. I once came close to inheriting a cool little LED based moonlight but I declined on the basis that I wasn't sure how to control it.

Of course now I have a Tunze controller that does do some kind of moon simulation but I haven't looked into what it would involve to get something going.

Joe Reefer · #3 10-11-2006, 09:32 PM

I use a moonlight but its only for aesthetic purposes. It comes on when the other lights go off.

Jedi · #4 10-11-2006, 09:46 PM

I have been thinking of hooking up moon lights for a long time. Do you leave them on all night or just for a period? What intencity are the desired moon lights?

Quagmire · #5 10-11-2006, 11:40 PM

I have moonlights,but only use them on weekends when I'm up late.I think if you have them on all nite,that it stresses the corals under them.Sort of like never getting any sleep cause that damn light's on.

Dave C · #6 10-12-2006, 12:53 AM

I've always had some kind of a light on in my fishroom. Now I have tiny moonlights over my reef tank. It's never totally dark outdoors. My Discus used to be totally freaked out if there was no light at all.

kellehar · #7 10-12-2006, 01:42 AM

I have moon lights but its mainly for the fish as the clowns get a bit spooked if its completely dark out

kwirky · #8 10-12-2006, 01:57 AM

I have moonlights for night time viewing. I can see what's going on at night, and it makes after-dark direct feeding of my LPS much easier, I'd have to say. I actually found I could get my echinophylia to take a small piece of mysis with it's sweeper tentacles at night.

And it's for if friends are over late in the evening, and they want to see the tank, I don't have to turn the tank's lights on. I only have to turn the room's lights off.

My moonlights are VERY low. You have to give like 10 seconds for your eyes to adjust to the darkness see anything.

Oh and cold cathode moonlights are much nicer than LED moonlights, IMHO.

Dale · #9 10-12-2006, 05:04 AM

I've used different moonlights on my tanks. As stated, they are really just for night viewing and mine go out after an hour or so.
On one tank I had 3 lighting systems. A dawn and dusk light, the main lighting and a moonlight. The dawn and dusk light was low wattage and provided a transition from darkness to bright light and back again.

For moonlights lights I have used a 15 watt exit sign bulb, a dim IKEA cabinet accent light, kids nightlights and LED. They all give a different hue.
For a cheap LED set up how about buying a string of blue LED Christmas lights? Probably some electrically minded poster could explain how to shorten the string to just a few bulbs.
I'll try to post a shot of my lights tonight.

The LED's didn't even register but here's my IKEA solution

________
roor bong pictures