Moonlight?

[Ticeman]

Moonlighting? I have a 12 gallon nano cube and I keep reading that many people run lights to simulate the moon. What are the beneifs of this? Should I be running a secondary lighting that runs at night? Does this lighting need to be a special lighting or can I just add a small soft glow night light that is blue near or over my tank?

I know the main purpose is to simulate a natural environment, so does this mean that not running one could could be stressing my fish and corals?

Today I saw at Home Depot a plug in night light that is not very bright and gives of a soft blue glow. Is this something that might be used?

Thanks,
Tice

 

[JD'sReef]

Tice, I have 2 CSL moon lights over my 46 and it is more cool then benificial. I like it cause I can see what is going on untill like 3am, kind of cool to come home to after the bar. Most of my fish are sleeping but things are always doing something.
J.

 

[Ticeman]

Yeah, it is nice to enjoy the tank 24/7. Does it make a difference in the type of spectrum that you use? Or can you pretty much just use anything that is not bright?

Thanks,
Tice

 

[reefann]

My moonlight is simply a flashlight. Man now I feel like a big nerd. I bet I'm the only 16 year old kid who will go in his basement at 3am and watch worms crawl around, totally fascinated.
For an upcomming nano, I have in the works, I think I may try to have an LED moonlight. If you can make them it is a very cool and inexpensive feature to have.
_________________
NCIS Forum

 

[reefann]

To answer your question. I think anything would really work as long as it is not bright. I think people use blue light because it is easier to light a large area without getting to bright.
_________________
Spyder MR2

 

[JD'sReef]

yehh, my cls are not blue at all they really look like the moon, but I think 2 of them is to much.
Just use a nice soft light, you fish are going to do it with whatever light they have. LOL

 

[cain]

In my nano I've been using a small battery operated blue LED that was a Bud Light promo necklace. I'm wanting to convert to something that uses electricity but gives off the same amount of light. I'm going through a ton of batteries.

 

[brandon4291]

Hey Tice,

Using or not using the moon light from any of the above-mentioned sources will not have any measurable effects (pro or con) on your fish or corals. It is more for the aesthetics of the tank and viewer. We know that many life cycles are actuated and or affected by moon phases, and I'm sure coral professionals such as Eric Borneman can relate these events to activites such as coral/fish spawning etc, but for the balances in our home aquaria the moonlights just add a nice effect and an ability to view the system at night like JJ mentioned.

There are several alternatives to using the CSL or retail moonlights (often rather pricey but work just fine). First stop is Radioshack, for standard blue-emission LED's. The young man at the counter will tell you the correct resistor and power supplies/circuit boards to buy for the job. About $40 total, but here you can wire in several blue LED's and alter the resistance to get a multi-unit setup for the price of a single CSL or Marc Weiss unit.

Next there are the lumilux LED's, costing upwards of $40 apiece, minus the resistors and circuiting. They are the brightest LED's currently available, do a search on this forum for LED's and they will come up.

Then there is blue-filtered lighting, like the night-lights you've mentioned. They won't bring out the flourescence in your corals like the other types of light, but they are cheap and accessible and they will light the tank dimly at night--for the purposes you've mentioned these would do just fine as well.

BMason

 

[brandon4291]

And Reefann,

Don't let anyone hassle you about watching worms at night! Those critters are just as much a part of the reef as the corals and fish, and I'm sure Dr. Shimek would agree they are just as interesting from a biological standpoint. I like them too, its neat to ponder the job they do both in the wild and in our home tanks, can't live without them IMO.

B

 

[budahsacman]

Hey everyone, I'm still new to RDO but I just wanted to throw in some pics for my newly setup LED moonlighting. I used a set of LEDS from Wal-Mart that were designed for an automobile windshield wiper nozzle replacement. I found them on clearance for 4.99. Anyway check out the pictures below or

Check out this thread

Frontal Shot

LED package

Blurry Pic of LEDs

LED mounted inside HOOD

More Pics Here

 

[brandon4291]

That is a savvy retrofit! Very cost effective and looks just like many of the pricier retail units. You will also like how these LED's cause your zoanthids to flouresce, they emit a spectrum almost identical to any actinic lighting out there (~420nM) just not as potent unless you arrange them in large arrays.