Moon Lights On All Night?

[merredeth]

I leave my moonlights on most of the night. Keep in mind, I get up at 4AM and then they go off. The 50/50's come on at 10:00 AM, then an hour later the 10000 whites come on with the 50/50's.
At 6:30, the 10000K go off and just the 50/50's are on for an hour. At 7:30 PM, the moonlights come on and stay on until 4AM.
I haven't noticed any problems with my tanks on this schedule.
Denise M.

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by NM reef
I have run across a couple of hobbyists that initially kept the "moon lights" on 24/7....but they eventually devloped a algae bloom and evenually reduced the "moon light" schedule as a preventative measure. I know moon lights are much of a light source but I'd be very cautious about leaving any type of lighting on 24/7.......

I agree. Since adding the LEDs (runnung all night) I've noticed a couple areas of green slime. After reading this thread I checked the tank and behold, my slime was directly in the line-of-fire. I turned them off and won't run them for a couple weeks to see if the growth subsides. I added a surface skimmer and am feeding less to try to curtail the outbreak. It will be interesting to see if removing the "moonlight" cures it.

 

[stone]

Originally Posted by socal57che
I agree. Since adding the LEDs (runnung all night) I've noticed a couple areas of green slime. After reading this thread I checked the tank and behold, my slime was directly in the line-of-fire. I turned them off and won't run them for a couple weeks to see if the growth subsides. I added a surface skimmer and am feeding less to try to curtail the outbreak. It will be interesting to see if removing the "moonlight" cures it.

If it does cure it, It will be interesting to know what DID cure it. You changed three things the 1 watt lights, skimmer and feeding.
Stone

 

[socal57che]

Originally Posted by Stone
If it does cure it, It will be interesting to know what DID cure it. You changed three things the 1 watt lights, skimmer and feeding.
Stone
Surface skimmer was added at the same time as the LEDs. Reduced feeding was to reduce proteins and phosphates...the algea continued to grow after I reduced food to ethiopian standards. That leaves the added light as the most probable cause at this time. Since the spectrum is not advertised I suspect that it emits a range that promotes growth of certain organisms regardless of wattage, amps, lumens, etc., etc., etc.

 

[stone]

>> I reduced food to ethiopian standards<<
LOL Thats to funny!!

 

[socal57che]

Green stuff gone. One small spot the size of a quarter took about 5 days to go away. The last of the larger growth washed off today when I added water. You can draw your own conclusions, but I feel that the extra light in an unknown spectrum contributed to the outbreak.

 

[team2jndd]

Another thing you need to take into account is the brightness of your moonlights. I use a very bright strip of moonlights that makes my entire tank glow and is very nice. However i only run them for 2 and a half hours a night because they are so bright that the corals do not close when they are on and the fish that do not sleep in caves and in the rockwork seem to hide behind things to avoid the light. ( no eyelids) Finally many creatures that live in the tank that you might not even know you have only come out at night. If the tank is too well lit at night they will not come out to feed.