** Raffle ** How many of us use moon lights? ** Raffle **

Do you have moonlights on your tank? (natural or artificial)

  • Yes

    Votes: 40 69.0%
  • No

    Votes: 18 31.0%

  • Total voters
    58
I tried voting but uncertain if it went thru....will try again.

1) How old is the tank?
×××× tank is about 9 months old
2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all?
×××× i keep them on during normal light hrs plus maybe two hours by themselves either before or after light hrs. Yet, they are still rather bright to observe nightime behavior
3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank?
×××× between 78 & 80 F
4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank?
×××× yes, in the back chambers
5) Do you spot feed your corals?
×××× some...plate coral, trumpets, & duncan
6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily?
×××× yes somewhat. My fish are too cute to resist.
7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at?
×××× phosphate is a .25 according to API tests & my nitrates are currently 60ish...been fighting them for 6 months! But they are slowly coming down..originally was reading a 120+

I have included a moonlight photo of a zoa frag ive got.

P.S. I just saw this thread under Tap-a-talk unread section so i apologize if this is exclusive to a certain club. I cant find where it originated from.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
 

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Thank you! :)

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I was asked in-store (in-home? :) ) today about my theory, so here it is:

Pods are attracted to light -- shine a small flashlight on the glass of your tank, and you'll see a crap load of pods getting attracted to that spot.

On land, trees + plants have flowers in different colors, shapes and sizes to attract bees + food. Is it possible that maybe, corals have their florescence to attract the pods etc in the water during night time? From my experience and research, I know corals do not normally have their feeder tentacles out during the day; they come out at night. We also know that corals look much better (florescent / glowy) under bluer light (normally around sunset / night time in the oceans). So my theory is that corals have their beautiful florescence to attract the pods towards them, and then munch them down (lets face it, they're not getting hand fed in the wild and they have to work for their food :) ). I have noticed in my tanks, that almost all corals (photosynthetic as well as non-photosynthetic) start opening their feeders during the sunset schedule (as the overall brightness starts going down and tank starts turning more and more blue). Also "some" of these corals retract their feeder tentacles when its completely dark.

So my experiment is going to be:

- Have 4 tanks on the same system, with similar lights, and similar flow -- 2 with moonlights, 2 without moonlights.
- 2 tanks will get supplemental pods and phyto every night (1 with moonlight and 1 without)
- Have frags of corals from same colony under 4 conditions, and monitor them for 2-4 months, and compare the results (we will only be comparing looks, and not the growth, for the sake of testing our theory).

This theory is much apart from the general radiation = glow in corals that we have all come to accept. I'm not denying radiation plays a role, but I'm just wondering if moonlight can help instill somewhat same florescence looks as well...

Please feel free to share your thoughts and please keep it civilized. We love a friendly discussion atmosphere! :)

- Archit
 
That's a clever theory...
Let's play around with it.
Would that indicate a coral that doesn't fluoresce as well at night is receiving enough nutrition during the day from it's light source?
If two of the same heads of candy cane were separated from the colony. One was given a better light source than the other one. Would this mean that the candy cane head more dependent on an additional method of feeding would fluoresce brighter (than the one receiving adequate lighting) at night to attract the copepods towards it and not some other coral getting what it needs.
What if you added a tank with a not-so-good light source w/ the same moonlights as the other two tanks?
I'm just shooting around ideas :)
 
Voted,
1) How old is the tank? 3+ years
2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all? 24/7 for the last year+
3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank? Less then.5 steady 78.1-78.6
4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank? Yes
5) Do you spot feed your corals? Occasionally
6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily? Fairly
7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at? Not sure po4, nitrate roughly 20
Crappy iPad photo
image_zpsccb9d4fb.jpg
 
That's a clever theory...
Let's play around with it.
Would that indicate a coral that doesn't fluoresce as well at night is receiving enough nutrition during the day from it's light source?
If two of the same heads of candy cane were separated from the colony. One was given a better light source than the other one. Would this mean that the candy cane head more dependent on an additional method of feeding would fluoresce brighter (than the one receiving adequate lighting) at night to attract the copepods towards it and not some other coral getting what it needs.
What if you added a tank with a not-so-good light source w/ the same moonlights as the other two tanks?
I'm just shooting around ideas :)

And that is why you are the scientist Adam! ;)

Those are some good points and a different way of thinking. My theory was: corals will have better florescence if there are lots of pods around to try to attract them during night. When you asked:

Would that indicate a coral that doesn't fluoresce as well at night is receiving enough nutrition during the day from it's light source?

That did make me question my theory because our gorgonian (non-photosynthetic) does not have any fluoresce what-so-ever ... and it obviously HIGHLY depends on "floating food".

Regarding having the candy cane in better lighting and not as good lighting, again, for this particular theory, day-time lighting is irrelevant -- it's purely designed around night-time activities and nature of the corals.

Now you have me thinking ... and it's not even 8:00am! :p
 
1) How old is the tank? 9month total, has been upgraded twice, 14bc to 40b to 75RR (about 3 months in each setup)
2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all? no moonlights, some light spill from the "algae light" in the sump, quite signiphicant
3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank? 78, probably about 1 swing, assuming thermometers are accurate
4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank? no, never introduced any.
5) Do you spot feed your corals? from time to time
6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily? twice a day, whatever gets consumed in about 10min
7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at? 0 nitrate according to API test kit, phosphate is under .25, definitely not zero but not far from it
 

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Some of the questions I'd like to get answers about:
1) How old is the tank? 1 YEAR

2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all? SINCE DAY 1 4-8 HRS A NIGHT

3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank? 77-78.

4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank? YES

5) Do you spot feed your corals? NOT USUALLY

6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily? NO

7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at? BARELY DETECTABLE

THANKS
 
Voted,
1) How old is the tank? 1 year
2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all? 10:00pm - 11:00pm - so fish can find a place to rest.
3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank? Less then.5 steady 77.5 - 79.0
4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank? Yes
5) Do you spot feed your corals? Occasionally
6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily? No
7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at? 0
 
1) How old is the tank?

9 years old

2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all?

I start off with blues at 9PM, whites come on and off one at a time around midnight in phases over the tank to simulate moon light. Whites shut off around 3AM and blues shut
off at 5AM.

3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank?

76.8 to 78.2

4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank?

lots o pods
5) Do you spot feed your corals?

once every few months

6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily?

Flake food once every couple of days, so I would say no.

7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at?

Unknown, I don't test anything in my talk except PH and Salinity.
 
1) How old is the tank?
2 years
2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all?
I keep them on 24/7 but they are the only lights running from 9pm-11am
3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank?
78-79
4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank?
It is decent, my mandarin pretty much eats all of them haha
5) Do you spot feed your corals?
Yes,about once per week
6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily?
Every other day
7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at?
On vacation so don't have exacts but my phosphates are always perfect and my nitrates a little on the higher side when I fall behind on water changes.
 
1) How old is the tank? 10 months
2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all? Not much...maybe for an hour a couple of times a week.
3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank? 77-79 in the colder months, 79-81 in the warmer months
4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank? Not since I killed a lot of them off when I didn't rinse the Bayer off of my sps good enough. My mandarin and hogfish eat them as fast as I add them.
5) Do you spot feed your corals? not very often, maybe once every couple of months.
6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily? yes
7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at? API tests phos 0, nitrate 15

Pic with just the blue led moon lights. It's actually darker in person, so I took a short video of what it really looks like.



[video=youtube_share;4gJ5JkYTxX8]http://youtu.be/4gJ5JkYTxX8[/video]
 
Voted!

1) How old is the tank? 1 1/2 years on one take and 3 months on another
2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all? N/a
3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank? 76.2 - 76.8
4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank? Yes
5) Do you spot feed your corals? Couple times a week
6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily? Pretty heavy for small livestock load
7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at? Not sure po4, nitrate 5

Only downside to my kessil 360 is that it doesn't get dim enough to have a true lunar effect. They go down to about 12% on spectrum and intensity, but then straight off after that.
 
No moonlights for me!

1) How old is the tank? 125 gal, setup for 6 months
2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all? N/A
3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank? 77°F, swings of +/- .4°F during winter, +2°F summer
4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank? Yes, even with 7 wrasses!
5) Do you spot feed your corals? Some LPS, once per week
6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily? No (moderate)
7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at? 0 phoshate (Hanna Checker) nitrates < 5 (need to check again with Red Sea test)

I will try and get a pic or two up shortly!
 
I don't use moon light.

1) How old is the tank?
3+ yes

2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all?
N/A

3) What is the temperature /temperature swing in your tank?
88 swing 1 degree

4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank?
Yes even with a healthy dragonet

5) Do you spot feed your corals?
Sure.

6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily?
Yes. 3 times daily auto pellet. frozen food daily. Red sea energy once a week. Reef chilli on demand.

7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at?
5 ppm nitrate, phosphate 0.06-0.13


Night picture = Just dark black tank.



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1) How old is the tank?
-Almost 2 years now

2) How long / often do you use the moon lights, if at all?
They're on for 1 hour from 12am to 1am and then again for 2 hours from 3am to 5am

3) What is the temperature / temperature swing in your tank?
From 80-81.5

4) Do you see a healthy rotifers/pod population in your tank?
I've seen then mostly after 3am

5) Do you spot feed your corals?
I do once every 2-3 weeks before a water change

6) Do you feed your fish/tank heavily?
Nope, very lightly with "Love The Reef" food! ;)

7) What are your phosphate + nitrate levels at?
Phosphates have been at .010 with a phosphate checker and nitrates have been almost undetected.


 
1) 8 months (system is 2 years)
2) every night
3) 79-80.5
4) yes lots, they're all over the glass everywhere, all in the rocks, and tons of little rotifers swimming in the little corners and crevices.
5) Yes but not very often
6) No
7) phos .1 / 0 nitrates. (i really need some new test kits.)

8C413E3F-7955-4D40-9876-C30F844387CC_zpskqfstvqf.jpg
 
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