Moon lighting, lunar phase, night viewing

jporter · 02/05/2014, 09:51 PM

Do fish need dark tanks during the night?
I used to have a MH fixture on my old nano that had 2 blue LEDs as moon lights. I missed that nice effect and now have the capability with some new LEDs I installed this past weekend. I just watched my tank for a while with blue LEDs on at 5%. A very dim nice light and makes the tank glow. What I noticed was my blue chromis still swimming in the tank. They used to go in the rocks just before lights out on the MH. I also noticed my royal gramma swim out from the rocks. Should I either enable the lunar mode, or have the lights off completely for most of the night. I didn't have many fish with the nano and it never donged on me that it might be either unnatural, or disturb their rest time.
As much as I like the evening time viewing, I want to make sure my fish have the best and most natural environment. What do most people do and what has been the experience wrapped around this. Will they eventually go back to their sleep routine, or will the moon lights disrupt them going forward? It would be very easy to shut all lights out for 6-7 hours and that is what I plan to change tomorrow. JP

nlgill13 · 02/05/2014, 11:53 PM

What type of LEDs do you have? Some come with moon lights.

As for your fish...I find that my fish will sometimes sleep in the morning for an hour or two after the main lights come on.

To mimic the natural environment you would need some sort of moon lights that follows the lunar cycle (ie a controller).

jporter · 02/06/2014, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nlgill13

What type of LEDs do you have? Some come with moon lights.

As for your fish...I find that my fish will sometimes sleep in the morning for an hour or two after the main lights come on.

To mimic the natural environment you would need some sort of moon lights that follows the lunar cycle (ie a controller).

I have 2 Radion gen3 pro's. I can do a lunar cycle as well as force them on at a low power. This is all part of their programming capabilities.

Blown 346 · 02/06/2014, 12:32 AM

My LED moonlights dont affect my fish. They will still swim after they come on, but settle in after a hour or so of them being on. They say moonlights are to simulate the moon, but its mainly for us to still see in the tank without disturbing the fish etc.

Its also ok to let the tank go completely dark as well.

r-balljunkie · 02/06/2014, 12:51 AM

have to tell you, frigging pitch black when you do night dives most of the time, moon out or not. its always surreal to turn your light and swim in total darkness. i always wonder whats juuuust past the throw of my torch light

i just keep reminding myself, you only have to out-swim one person.

Molly1414 · 02/06/2014, 01:12 AM

Second the pitch black conditions at night on the reef. You get some moon light up to about 20ft then darkness. There is no "blue" light from the moon on the reef.

02/05/2014, 09:51 PM	#1
jporter Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 1,411	Moon lighting, lunar phase, night viewing Do fish need dark tanks during the night? I used to have a MH fixture on my old nano that had 2 blue LEDs as moon lights. I missed that nice effect and now have the capability with some new LEDs I installed this past weekend. I just watched my tank for a while with blue LEDs on at 5%. A very dim nice light and makes the tank glow. What I noticed was my blue chromis still swimming in the tank. They used to go in the rocks just before lights out on the MH. I also noticed my royal gramma swim out from the rocks. Should I either enable the lunar mode, or have the lights off completely for most of the night. I didn't have many fish with the nano and it never donged on me that it might be either unnatural, or disturb their rest time. As much as I like the evening time viewing, I want to make sure my fish have the best and most natural environment. What do most people do and what has been the experience wrapped around this. Will they eventually go back to their sleep routine, or will the moon lights disrupt them going forward? It would be very easy to shut all lights out for 6-7 hours and that is what I plan to change tomorrow. JP

02/05/2014, 11:53 PM	#2
nlgill13 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Boulder,CO Posts: 1,291	What type of LEDs do you have? Some come with moon lights. As for your fish...I find that my fish will sometimes sleep in the morning for an hour or two after the main lights come on. To mimic the natural environment you would need some sort of moon lights that follows the lunar cycle (ie a controller). __________________ 90G DT w/ 30G sump, 2 Apollo SolarBlast Dimmable LEDs, 160 Reef Octopus Extreme, Neptune Apex, Mag 7, MP10 & MP40

02/06/2014, 12:51 AM	#5
r-balljunkie Registered Reefer Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Doha, Qatar Posts: 2,059	have to tell you, frigging pitch black when you do night dives most of the time, moon out or not. its always surreal to turn your light and swim in total darkness. i always wonder whats juuuust past the throw of my torch light i just keep reminding myself, you only have to out-swim one person. __________________ ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀ 58G Oceanic Illuminata rimless with GH overflow , Mazarra LED x 3, Tunze 6095 x 2, Eheim 1260, BM-180 skimmer, TLF reactors, Apex LT .

02/06/2014, 12:32 AM	#4
Blown 346 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Rockford, Illinois Posts: 6,596	My LED moonlights dont affect my fish. They will still swim after they come on, but settle in after a hour or so of them being on. They say moonlights are to simulate the moon, but its mainly for us to still see in the tank without disturbing the fish etc. Its also ok to let the tank go completely dark as well.

02/06/2014, 01:12 AM	#6
Molly1414 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 130	Second the pitch black conditions at night on the reef. You get some moon light up to about 20ft then darkness. There is no "blue" light from the moon on the reef.