Reef fish and moon lights.

REEFKEEPER10 · Mar 30, 2012

This maybe a thread already if so here we go again. So does reef tanks need some dark time or is it ok to have some light going into it 24/7. The reasons I ask is because someone is always up so my dining room light were my tank is stay on for what ever reason. I also have my moon lights on a reverse cycle with my T5's. Is this a bad for my tank or what. I'm interested in everyones thoughts. Positive or negative.

REEFKEEPER10 · Mar 30, 2012

I know one thing come 11:00 here reef2reef goes to bed. Lol

reeffirstaid · Mar 30, 2012

Hi Jeremy ... Fish do not require moon lights nor do corals. Moon lights are known to encourage spawning activity in some fish and corals. As for your reef being exposed to light 24/7 you don't want to run the aquarium lighting 24/7. Too much lighting can cause damage to coral tissues and stress in fish. Ambient light trickling in from the surrounding room is questionable in what effect it may have. As long as the fish and corals can get used to that I don't see a major problem unless it's quite a lot of ambient light. Reverse cycles aren't a real problem once the fish and corals get used to the change. You may notice some stress in both during the onset of the reverse. I used to do this in the summer months as it would be 80+ during the day and cool down at night and the lighting was adding to the heat.