Lets see your moon lights!

[renato120]

Hey guys I'm very tempted to buy some moon lights for my tank. Lets see some pics! Doesn't the moon lights give a neon color to some corals as well?

[slief]

Properly setup moons lights should put off very little light. It should be a very subtle glow, even under full moon intensity. As such, it is very difficult to photograph. At least for me with an iPhone doing the work. I get very luminescence from my corals at night because most of the close up. My hammers or star polyps may glow a bit but that's it. I see it more as a means of duplication the natural environment and adding lunar lighting to match the moons magnetic pull and intensity may help stimulate spawning of coral, fish and inverts. My moon lighting is set to follow my local lunar cycle and intensity/moon phase.

I have two 5 LED sim modules over my 480 display but I don't have any pictures of it under the moon lights. Here is my display refugium under a 2 LED Neptune Lunar Sim at 94% full moon. I did some color adjustments to try to get the color close to reality as the camera didn't do a good job.

[renato120]

I like it sooo much!
I was thinking about on buying this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Current-USA-...item3a9b6ce815

[slief]

Originally Posted by renato120

I like it sooo much!
I was thinking about on buying this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Current-USA-...item3a9b6ce815

Looks OK if you want a night light for your fish. I'd much prefer something that follows the natural lunar cycle and may even have a benefit to the tanks inhabitants because of that. Of course if you don't have a controller, that is much more difficult but if you have an Apex or plan on getting one, I'd encourage you not to skimp and instead give serious consideration to the Lunar Sim.

Here is a good read on the value of lunar lighting on a reef and the lunar phases.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/7/lighting

[renato120]

Originally Posted by slief

Looks OK if you want a night light for your fish. I'd much prefer something that follows the natural lunar cycle and may even have a benefit to the tanks inhabitants because of that. Of course if you don't have a controller, that is much more difficult but if you have an Apex or plan on getting one, I'd encourage you not to skimp and instead give serious consideration to the Lunar Sim.

Unfortunately I don't have an Apex controller yet. Do you know anything else that might look like a moon light?

[slief]

Originally Posted by renato120

Unfortunately I don't have an Apex controller yet. Do you know anything else that might look like a moon light?

The Tunze 7095 pump controller has a single LED lunar simulator that follows the moons cycle as does the 7096 but that is something you would only invest in if you have Tunze pumps. My suggestion would be to save for an Apex. It's probably the most important and sound investment I ever made in my tank. I know it can be a huge expense but there is so much it can do for your system and so much piece of mind it can add just by virtue of being able to monitor your investment and control it from anywhere not to mention that it's always keeping an eye on things for you and will notify you if something goes wrong. For me it's proven priceless over the last 5 years as did the original first generation Neptune Aqua Controller that I ran for nearly 15 years prior.

[renato120]

Originally Posted by slief

The Tunze 7095 pump controller has a single LED lunar simulator that follows the moons cycle as does the 7096 but that is something you would only invest in if you have Tunze pumps. My suggestion would be to save for an Apex. It's probably the most important and sound investment I ever made in my tank.

I think next month I will be buying an Apex.

[slief]

Originally Posted by renato120

I think next month I will be buying an Apex.

Then DON'T waste your money on those other lights. Trust me, once you get the Apex, you will want the lunar sim. Heck, you can probably find a deal on a used on in the classified section here. Given that it follows the natural moon phases in both local time and intensity. It's really worth it. There isn't another stand alone device that does that and emulates the local moon phase with realtime accuracy. It's pretty damn cool. I've been running Neptune lunar sims for over 10 years now and they work great and are as reliable as can be. In fact, the two 5 string sims over my main tank are my original ones from my first generation aqua controller and even after nearly 10 years, they still work perfect.