Night lights What's good. What's not so good?

[new reef retard]

I am wondering what makes for a good night light.
Is there a color temp I want to have?
Is there a recomended brightness?
What about the photo period?

Come on nerds fill me in!

[tico mike]

Originally Posted by new reef retard

I am wondering what makes for a good night light.
Is there a color temp I want to have?
Is there a recomended brightness?
What about the photo period?

Come on nerds fill me in!

Well for a night light we use the glowing green plug-ins for the kids room. In the hall way we have another plug-in variety so they can find the bathroom. Is this what you're wondering?


Seriously, go to Menard's and buy the outdoor blue rope light. It comes with clips to mount in your canopy, gives a nice spread and spectrum and the corals really react well to it. It costs about $5 or less. In fact if you're going to the Grimreefer's I can bring my extra along and you can have it for $4 as I bought it on sale. I just can't see spending the extra money on Moonlights as I've yet to see anything showing they are any better. Just more money.

[new reef retard]

Is the Grimreefer's the aquascape thing on the 24th?
I could be there I think. I would pick those up from you. That would be great

I guess what i wanted to know is What is known about night lights and how important are the peramiters with them?

I am assuming that just haveing about 10 watts total of light is really enough. just enough to illuminate the tank.
Or am i wrong on this?

[tico mike]

Originally Posted by new reef retard

Is the Grimreefer's the aquascape thing on the 24th?
I could be there I think. I would pick those up from you. That would be great

I guess what i wanted to know is What is known about night lights and how important are the peramiters with them?

I am assuming that just haveing about 10 watts total of light is really enough. just enough to illuminate the tank.
Or am i wrong on this?

I've heard and read mixed reviews. It can aid in coral spawning if you research the moon phases and it seems to help with them opening up to feed at night, it's one more step to having a less drastic "lights on, lights off" tank. It's nice when your lights go off and you still can see your tank so it adds to viewing time, especially if you work long hours. I think the time they stay on isn't crucial. I haven't heard anything negative...

[David Grigor]

I did the LED blue lights for a while on the 300g. IME: Moon lighting is just a toy and going to have very little if any impact in your success. Rarely will it cause a spawning event and even if it happens not too sure it's actually related to your moonlight setup. So in the end, if it makes you happy then great.

[Amand]

Is it better to use the blue or red rope lights. From what I remember reading it seems like people have used both.

[tico mike]

Originally Posted by Amand

Is it better to use the blue or red rope lights. From what I remember reading it seems like people have used both.

They are used for two different reasons. The red is for "night viewing" and the blue is used for both viewing and coral reaction. It's personal choice and debatable whether either does anything besides allow you to view your tank without adding to the daylight photo period...

[new reef retard]

So wing it and hope for the best. LOL
It sounds like go blue to me..

Thanks

[the_colonel]

I originally started with three sets of two White LED moonlights over my 90. It was way too bright, so I cut that down to one set of two, right in the middle. This left the two sides fairly dark, which I noticed my fish moved to the dark areas for the night.

[new reef retard]

Yeah I'm playing around with 2 L.E.D.'s in my tanks. I can spot light a few things and just creat a few cool lighting affects with them. I think with all that has been said i am just going to stay with that.

Thanks for the advise

[Fish'InMN]

Despite only having a small FW at the moment, 15g High, I can relate!

I made a small circuit of LEDs that runs off of a 9V battery. Four total LEDs provide just enough glow to see everything in a completely dark room, which is exactly how I like it. I've been told its too dim by guests, but its all a matter of personal preference. Of course, nothing fluoresces in FW, but you can stilll see fish movement.

Then again, I'm pretty handy with small electronics and DIY, so it was very easy for me to put it all together. Total cost was probably about $5, with most of that being the 9V battery.

[Scott 3560]

anybody try one of those underwater blue lights, I was going to get one they looked pretty cool.

[new reef retard]

I had a friend that made Neon that made a cool blue tube to go around the inside on bottom of a tank it looked kinda cool as well. I just would hate to have the tube break and Murcury poison my whole tank.

I Picked up 4 led book reading lights at ax man for $6 I think and i am going to wire them to run on a transformer on a dimmer so i can adjust the brightness as i see fit.

Ok.... I am into eletronics repair as well that makes me a big nerd.

So who want a computer built for them? LOL