question about "moon lights"

[thefatman]

hey there. for you light experts, i have a question about moon lights.

a friend of mine has a 125 reef setup. he's got lots of corals, inverts, fish , the whole 9 yards. he's running the fancy lights, blues etc.. . but he has heard, and i think i read on ehre somewhere, that "moon lights" help improve or increase spawning.

the question is. where can you get them. none of the LFS's have them here. he saw one person with them, but they bought them in michigan. he said the ones he saw were, small litle 2 or 3 inches long bulbs.

any idea where these can be found online?

thanks for any help!

[coralkeeper]

You really dont need one unless you have a reef tank

[coralkeeper]

The spawning in corals, that being said i guess you could use one for a nice blue look to the tank at night.

I just used a nightlight with a blue bulb..... K-Mart

Good luck

[coralkeeper]

Sorry to post again, but I don't know it the nightlight really helps, but on my new tank I plan on putting a 13w PC Atinic in the middle of the canopy, I think that some of the Aquaspacelights have them built in, Marine depot carries those.

[thefatman]

yeah they aren't for me, as i'm not doing a reef "yet" but my buddy was wondering about them because he wants them for his tank. i told him i thoguht folks just used acticnics, but he said he saw someone with "moon lights" that they got in michigan, and wanted to get some, but he cant seem to find them.

i'll have him check marine depot.

of course he could jsut use the blue nightlight from k-mart.. i had actually thoguht baout getting something liek that myself for my fowlr, jsut for the blue look :-)

[coralkeeper]

I think Marine Depot has pretty good prices

[Geoff]

on my 125 i use a 7.5 watt blue party bulb from Lowe's. i feel this gives a good look. i tend to think people overpower their moonlights.

i use an aquacontroller II for the control of it though. if spawning is what your friend is after than a controller like the acII is needed. if just to be able to see the critters at night then any old timer on the moombulb would be fine.

G~

[thefatman]

thanks geoff. yeah i think his goal is to go for spawning.

i don't think he's running al ight controller. i think he turns them on by hand, but i'll let him know what's been said here.

thanks again everyone.

and to quote cali kid " i love this site!! "

[Jeremy1973]

Agreed...just get a LOW watt blue bulb. I also agree that some use to high a watt for their moon lighting. So, basically..I agree with what has been said.... go to a store and buy what you need. I also believe I have heard, that not all corals use the moon for timing of when to spawn. Although, I don't recall where I read that. So, no one quote me! heh heh

I don't use a moon light, and my brown leather coral spawned last Christmas. It was way cool! heh heh

[nvrmore]

Here is an excelent lil moon light that I have seen working they are low watt (1 to be exact) and 2 would prolly be plenty for a 4-5 foot tank. I have 1 (was a gift) an it is pretty impressive how much light that 1 watt lil bulb puts out. They look really great at night just enough to observe the tank.

here's the link

http://www.harboraquatics.com/Mercha...egory_Code=NEW

[PaintGuru]

I just built my own blue LED moonlight this weekend (will post a pic later). Here is a link to a bunch of info.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...light=LED+moon

Pretty expensive for a led bulb in plastic.

[PaintGuru]

Originally posted by Acoustic
Pretty expensive for a led bulb in plastic.

What is? You can get LEDs for pretty cheap now adays, especailly if you order online.

[thefatman]

i think acoustic may have been referring to the "moon shine" light at harbor aquatics 70 bucks! for ONE led!! in a case!!

pretty expensive for an led in plastic was my initial thought too lol

[SAT]

Before you invest in a "moon light" you might want to consider why you're doing it. If the purpose is for night viewing, the nature of the bulb doesn't matter much as long as it doesn't interfere with the sleep patterns of your fish or night-time activities of your inverts. For that purpose, a low-intensity red bulb, such as a dark-room light, is probably best because the animals probably can't see it.

A lot of animals use the moon to keep track of time and help them synchronize spawning. A "moon light" only helps in this regard if the light is a reasonable approximation of the moon. Note that true moonlight varies considerably in intensity, duration, and time of visibility during the month -- which is the reason it's useful for keeping time. If that's your purpose, you should at least get one of the timers on the market that simulate moon cycles. For example, Champion Lighting sells a VHO controller that has a "moon light" port.

The intensity of true moonlight is quite low. A full moon delivers about 1-2 Lux, which is about 1/50,000 the intensity of full sunlight. Average moonlight would be much less. Assuming your main lights are intended to simulate sunlight, you want your moonlight to be about 1/50,000 that intensity. By that measure, a 13W flourescent lamp is probably 1000X too bright. I would expect such a bulb to interfere with normal night-time activities.

Moonlight is quite blue, so an actinic bulb (or blue LED) is about the right color.

Personally I have no need for a "moon light" because my tanks are lit by skylights. I highly recommend that approach if it's available to you.