Thoughts on moonlighting?

Gold frame44 · Jun 30, 2022

Big Smelly fish said:
My opinion is LEDs even moon light give off to much light to leave on overnight. I use them as part of the ramp up and down then no lights over night.

I guess. But to have maybe some very dim LEDs as ambient light would be awesome.

Reefahholic · Jun 30, 2022

I don’t run mine. I feel like the corals appreciate zero light at night.

Jedi1199 · Jun 30, 2022

I run my Kessil A360x's for 2 hours at night on the lowest setting. all blue, 1% intensity. These come on about 3 hours after lights out and stay on for 2 hours.

The fish don't need the lights. I haven't noticed any explosion of growth from the corals either. I run it that way for the simple reason that I get home from work during this 2 hour period. The low level lights allows me to view the tank and make sure everything is ok.

MtnDewMan · Jun 30, 2022

Instead of moonlights, I run my XR15 G6 Pro at 55% Ultra Violet, 55% Violet, and 10% Royal to get a nice evening "pop" of fluorescing color.

vtecintegra · Jun 30, 2022

I'm probably the 1% that consider moonlight a part of the overall habitat. Not for looking at the fish at night. I use the Apex LSM, programmed to rise and set where I'm at, at the intensity of the given night. Not sure if any of the common fixtures can do exactly what the LSM does.

Shooter6 · Jun 30, 2022

Having spent many nights on long distance close circuit dives, it is always dark. Even on over the beach insertions it's dark until your at the surf zone. I personally believe it's the magnet pull from the moon which causes the currents, that effect the corals, and not the sun light reflecting off it .

bruno3047 · Jul 1, 2022

I run by moonlights only for an hour and a half from 9 PM when the blue lights shut off, till 10:30. When I tried keeping them on longer my animals became restless and started showing ill affects. Fish were swimming back-and-forth across the front of the tank and corals wouldn’t open all the way the next day.

Forty-Two · Jul 1, 2022

Orphek Atlantik Icon does the moon cycle very well. At first it turns off the light and then gradually brings it up. Because it has a .001% resolution (I believe - don’t quote me) it can light just a tiny bit and give a nice effect. My corals seem to have their polyps out more during these periods - but mostly I just enjoy it.