moonlight question, kinda technical.

[MexicanFish]

This question is actually two in one.

First, i'm going to make me a moonlight for this 80 gallonn I'm working on, and the first question is, cold cathode or LED?

Second, if I go with LED, what light spectrum (NM) should I use? at RadioShack they have like tree different one, the most common are 470 NM and 430 NM.

Opinions, criticisms or rants welcome.

[jeebus]

I have a follow question: Do fish benefit or suffer from an LED moon light on all night, or do they need complete darkness for at least a minimum amount of time each night?

[MexicanFish]

I have a follow question: Do fish benefit or suffer from an LED moon light on all night, or do they need complete darkness for at least a minimum amount of time each night?

my fish spend the whole night in complete darkness and always seem fine, they after all, need some sleep.

and the moonlight will be on for maybe two hours every night while I watch tv.

[Cesar]

Maybe we need Navarro to chime in, he and I got into a long conversation regarding light spectrum one night and from what I got from him it really doesnt matter to the fish one way or another. Lighting is more for us to enjoy our pets, he mentioned something about different colors penetrating more than others(like rainbow colors), I was drinking that night and really cant recollect the whole conversation, sorry for rambling on, maybe he'll chime in.

[Mzungu]

Maybe we need Navarro to chime in, he and I got into a long conversation regarding light spectrum one night and from what I got from him it really doesnt matter to the fish one way or another. Lighting is more for us to enjoy our pets, he mentioned something about different colors penetrating more than others(like rainbow colors), I was drinking that night and really cant recollect the whole conversation, sorry for rambling on, maybe he'll chime in.

I'll have to agree. For such a small difference between 430nm and 470nm, it really comes down to your personal preference. If you can even really tell a difference, lol. I do know that sometimes fish behavior can be affected by differing light spectrums, but for moonlights, and for a 40nm difference, it shouldn't matter. :) It's all up to you.

[Zulaab]

I am going to have to agree.. Moon lights are cool, but its only in salt water where I have seen moon lights mean something. In Freshwater, the only time I would install moon lights would be if there are nocturnal fish I wanna see run around like Frontosa or something alike :)

[FuzzyDragon09]

I have a follow question: Do fish benefit or suffer from an LED moon light on all night, or do they need complete darkness for at least a minimum amount of time each night?

I've always wanted to ask this question! Dark period or no dark period? That is the question. )

My first ever fish was a P. senegalus and he lived in a 12 gallon Nano Cube DX that had a built in moonlight. I kept the moonlight on all the time and at night he loved it. I've also heard of people that turn their tank lights off around 9:00pm and turn their moonlights on from 9:00- midnight. Then they'll have a dark period from 12:00am to whenever their lights come on in the morning. I've been doing some searching online and I have gotten mixed answers to whether fish can see the blue LEDs and if they need some full darkness. Some say that the fish can't see it because they don't react to it but others have fish that play in the light like it's a game.

While I don't know if fish need a dark period, I know that plants need a dark period. They create a vital chemical during the day and then they turn it into another vital chemical at night. I can't remember the names of the chemicals or their important purpose but a plant can't have 24 hours of sunlight nor can it have 24 hours of dark. It needs a little of both. Now the next question would be: Can plants detect the blue LED lights? Who knows? Just do whatever you feel like.

[jeebus]

I've also heard of people that turn their tank lights off around 9:00pm and turn their moonlights on from 9:00- midnight. Then they'll have a dark period from 12:00am to whenever their lights come on in the morning. I've been doing some searching online and I have gotten mixed answers to whether fish can see the blue LEDs and if they need some full darkness. Some say that the fish can't see it because they don't react to it but others have fish that play in the light like it's a game.

This is EXACTLY what we do. We would leave the LED's on all night, but the few times we did, at four o'clock in the morning when I got up, all the fish were active and seemed to have never slept!

[dustin]

here is the link to the thred where i made my own moon lite's and put them in a factory hood. I am a manager for radioshack in kingwood. use the blue led#276-0316 its 3.7 volt 20ma. 2600mcd verry bright and gives of the perfect ammount of light for larger tank. also use the led wizzard to help you figgure out how mutch of a resistor you need . Its pretty slick. just get a small power suply from the shack and enter the voltage and the specs off of your led and blam your done haha.

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=27935

[FuzzyDragon09]

This is EXACTLY what we do. We would leave the LED's on all night, but the few times we did, at four o'clock in the morning when I got up, all the fish were active and seemed to have never slept!

Yeah. Some other people have said that when they leave them on the fish don't seem to sleep. I don't know how you would do it but some recommend having the moonlights come on right after the tank lights go off at night AND right before the tank lights come on in the morning. So that the transition is more normal. So if you're tank lights went off at 9:00pm and they came back on at let's say 9:00am then your moonlights would run from 9:00pm to midnight and then from 6:00am to 9:00am or something. I think that they feel that fish would prefer to not be rudely awakened by going from pitch black to the blinding bright light. But how would you set the timer to do this?

[Zulaab]

I turn on my tank lights on at noon.. by then outside lighting has been lighting the tank up so the fish are awake. Yes the fish still dont like it when the lights click on at noon. After a second or two they are back to themselves again.
I keep them active until Midnight when the lights go off again.
I dont keep moon lights on any of my tanks except one, but I normally have them turned off any ways. I turn them on in the middle of the night to see how my fish are.. and for the most part they are asleep.

[MexicanFish]

Thanks Dustin! that wizard is really helpful, I already have the power supply, so I'll be picking the other stuff today from the local shack

[dustin]

if you realy want to be slick add a 10k Ohm ptoentiometer to the main power line feeding the led's and you will be able to dim them down a bit to get that "just right" lighting.

Part #271-1715

[MexicanFish]

if you realy want to be slick add a 10k Ohm ptoentiometer to the main power line feeding the led's and you will be able to dim them down a bit to get that "just right" lighting.

Part #271-1715

I already have one, with an on/off switch already inside and a blue knob

[Navarro]

After reading what you are trying to do I say use what is more convenient since the light will not serve any other propose than illuminate the tank.
The reason why there is such large variety of light temperature is due to the fact that most are design to either benefit photosynthetic life such as plants and or corals but for fish is a matter of your liking.
I suggest you choose based upon Kelvin temperature more than anything else this way you can select the spectrum that will bring the best color out of your fish. Warm light brings out certain colors better than white-blue which penetrates the water deeper so I say combine them for a more natural look.
Cheers,
Navarro