Moonlight??

[Esra]

Hi,

I just bought some new lights for my tank and one of them is a blue kind of one.
I think it says Actinic or something.
Anyway it brings out the colours of the fish great when used with a white light too.

Anyway i noticed that when i turn off the white lights and just have the actinic running it looks just like some of the moonlights i have seen people using here.

Can i use this as a moonlight?
It's a 36" 30W Actinic light.

Thanks

[dapellegrini]

I dunno. Typical moonlights are 1 watt LEDs, which don't have much of any effect on the aquarium in a FW setup. Actinic bulbs may be a different story... They are nothing like LEDs...

[supermazz9]

I'm not positive on the science of this, but I would say no, it's not appropiate to use for moonlighting. It's providing a usable spectrum and output, and I don't believe it will simulate "night".

I do hope that someone with some knowledge on this chimes in, I would be interested to hear it!

[Esra]

I had a look last night and it looks a bit bright in the tank still.

I will probably just use it as a sort or dusk.

So at night go from all lights, to actinic to none and then reverse in the morning.

[supermazz9]

that sounds cool, but if you don't think you're going to watch "sunrise" and "sunset" frequently, you might save yourself the expense of another timer. Also, keep in mind that even though the actinic lighting doesn't look like much, it is providing a usable spectrum for your tank, which means that:

a) you have to count it in your daylight hours. if you have a half hour "sunrise", a ten hour "day", and a half hour "dusk", this gives you eleven hours of light.

b) the time that you are only running your actinic you are depriving your tank of your "regular" spectrum lighting.

I'm not trying to dissuade you from this, because I think it would look really cool, just giving you a couple of thoughts to chew on. There's something else bugging me about this, but my mind can't quite grab onto it right now...maybe I'll edit later.

[Esra]

Mine give out about as much light as the one in the pic below.
I found this by googling 'Moonlight Aquarium'

Actually it's a little less than that, plus it's a 3 foot light in a 4 foot 120G.

[dapellegrini]

Here are my moonlights on full blast (they are on a dimmer). Usually I have them turned all the way down. I will say that I have much more moonlight than typical setups (8 lights across 4ft light, where the typical is 4 lights for 4ft). Of course, by moonlight I mean a light that stays on all night:



Nothing like those actnic blues! I had to overexpose the photo to see anything! Of course with the naked eye they have a cool look, but the fish are just shadows, for example. You can not see detail like that.


HTH

[Esra]

Ah ok.
Might get a proper set up of moonlights and put them on an alternating timer.

Thanks guys.

[coldmachineUK]

Hrmm, it does sound like a moonlight tbh. Not all moonlights are LEDs. I really don't know where that idea came from.
I use the Hagen LED system for moonlight in two tanks, but I use the T5 compact Blue Moon light in a puffer fish tank and this is also a valid moonlight. It's an actinic bulb, at 36W. So Esra, I think you're fine using the one you have: it sounds more like the 36W bulb I have.
If you use it in conjunction with a white tube, then you have what Interpet calls a 'Daylight Blue' effect. Google 'interpet + blue moon + daylight blue' and you will see what I mean

[O ALX O]

Here are some tidbits I found concerning actinic bulbs:

"Wavelength: This is another term that is important to understand, especially in the context of lamp descriptions such as full spectrum or peak wavelength. These terms refer to the wavelength output of the lamp or bulb. Actinic lights, for example, produce only light at a specific wavelength--420 nm. This peak wavelength value, which produces a very blue light, was chosen because during photosynthesis chlorophyll a absorbs light near this wavelength. To promote photosynthesis in reef coral, actinic lamps are used. Some lamps have two, or even three, peak wavelengths.
Plant tanks require the correct lighting to be successful. The number one reason for lack of success in growing plants in an aquarium has to be the use of the wrong lamp. Plants have two types of chlorophyll, a and b. Chlorophyll a absorbs light at 405 and 640 nm. Chlorophyll b has a peak absorption at 440 and 620 nm. Plant lamps are designed to emit light at the red wavelengths to duplicate the job of the sun. But too much red color can cause aquatic plants to grow tall and thin. For best results, use a daylight (5,000 ¡K) lamp such as an Aquasun, Ultralume 50 or Chroma 50 in combination with an actinic white or actinic day lamp. The actinic day or white lamp is a mixture of 50% actinic (blue light) and 50% daylight. In large or deep aquaria consider using HO or VHO lamps." --Dr. Timothy A. Hovanec