Corals and LEDS

[chenzo9999]

Hey All,

I have a 48" 48 3W CREE LED Lights - 16 Clear/16 Actinic/16 Blue for my 90 Gallon Tank. It is 100% programable.

Just started some corals -

Toadstool Mushroom
Yellow Devil's Hand
Cauliflower Colt
Candy Cane
Red Mushroom
Green Metallic Mushroom

My questions are two fold:
Should the Blue Lights only be used for moon, or on during day light too for extra photosynthesizing lights?

Where in my tank should all of these guys be placed, and how quickly should I move them there? They are all currently on the substrate.

Thanks for all your help - Love this site.

 

[Animal-Chin]

Id leave the blue on all the time. Your soft stuff can stay low but i'd move the candy cane up. LPS like a lot of light.

 

[chenzo9999]

No dark time at all?

 

[Convict2161]

IMO you want a period of dark. And by blues d you mean actinic or moonlights? If actinic I HIGHLY advise against leaving those on all the time unless you want some really nice algae to battle.

And moonlights IMO do not need to be on all night long. My moonlights go off at 3am and at 7am my light cycle starts over again.

This of course is just my opinion.

 

[chenzo9999]

By Blue I mean Moonlight - I definitely agree with a dark period.

The question I really have is can you run your moons during the day as well? Does this help with photosynthesis?

My Actinic are on during the day cycle.

The Cool White are 10000K ~18000K
The Actinic are 427-460 nm
The Blue (Moons) are 453 nm

 

[Convict2161]

It won't hurt but IMO it's not gonna do much... If anything at all, moonlight is really just for you to view. Just my opinion though

 

[Ausfish]

It won't hurt but IMO it's not gonna do much... If anything at all, moonlight is really just for you to view. Just my opinion though

Moonlight is actually for the fish not to lose orientation. I have 4 small blue LEDs on all night. Should you walk into your room and scare your fish they are less likely to jump or nock things over

 

[Convict2161]

My point is. You "don't" need moonlights on your tank. The fish will be fine without them.

 

[JJ-MIK]

run your lights for 7-10 hours a day.. daylights and actinics.. actinics should run 1 hour before daylight lights. and one hour after daylights. moonlight is nice for the fish in the evening.even reports better (mood) setting for the fish if you know what i mean..... . keep an eye out tho. i have heard a few people have said that the moonlights create red slime algae.. our local fish store has moonlights on there reef tank. and they are noticing some red slime growing right under the lights..

 

[Dav3]

By Blue I mean Moonlight - I definitely agree with a dark period.

The question I really have is can you run your moons during the day as well? Does this help with photosynthesis?

My Actinic are on during the day cycle.

The Cool White are 10000K ~18000K
The Actinic are 427-460 nm
The Blue (Moons) are 453 nm

Yes run the blues during the day. I don't know why people keep calling them moons. You are really interested in the color spectrum they provide your corals and coral requirements. And it doesn't hurt to leave them on at night. You may want some period of darkness like 3am-7am as mentioned. But that's up to you.

Read up on coral color spectrum requirements. This will be most helpful for those using led. You'll see most coral requirements is in the 400-~500nm range. White light is wide color band. The other colors are narrow band for targeting more of what corals require.

 

[Dav3]

run your lights for 7-10 hours a day.. daylights and actinics.. actinics should run 1 hour before daylight lights. and one hour after daylights. moonlight is nice for the fish in the evening.even reports better (mood) setting for the fish if you know what i mean..... . keep an eye out tho. i have heard a few people have said that the moonlights create red slime algae.. our local fish store has moonlights on there reef tank. and they are noticing some red slime growing right under the lights..

I have blues on all night in half my tank and have no issues. But I over skim.