Justin_Toronto
Aquarium Advice Activist
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2008
- Messages
- 172
Well it's 3:15am now, I've been tinkering, adjusting, and experimenting with different moon lighting on my 90g FOWLR. Now from what I understand, red lighting is better for night as it will not scare off the night-critters, but 99% of the lights out there seem to be blue, or white.
I did some experimenting (and waited a while to see the effects). What I do know is:
white lighting - clown fish wake up and love it, they hover at the top of the aquarium beneath it and wiggle there for hours. My tang on the other hand hides in the rocks with only his eye peeking out. Didn't see any night critters.
deep red - offers a lot of shadows, overall a cool effect to the tank, but very difficult to see anything in there, hard on the eyes. Fish don't seem to act any differently, saw some night critters roaming about / peeking out of the sand.
light red (pinkish), though not very bright (early sunrise/sunset). Everyone comes out of hiding and roams about, night creatures stay active. Not many shadows, a very even color.
deep blue - this seems to the norm. I find it offers too much illumination, unless I add some filters in there... (likely the types of LED's I'm testing with). The fish don't seem to notice, the snails are attracted to the light, and two hermit crabs were drawn to the light. Very even illumination, not very 'shadowy'.
light blue (again, not very bright). This looks the most natural as 'moon lighting', for anyone who's been to a creek/campfire around a shallow river/creek at night. It offers a lot of shadows, the clowns are drawn to the light, the tang comes out from hiding, the snails ignore it, the hermits ignore it, didn't see anyone peeking out of the sand.
So, that's what I've discovered so far... the very very dim light blue looks the best by far, but I don't know if this is harmful to the fish, especially if it takes the tang/clown out from their slumber. Also, it seems to hide the night-life in there.
What colors have you guys been using, how bright, and how many LED's / gallons is your aquarium?
The other thing I was considering is putting a spot-moon on one side of the aquarim and let the light travel to the other side... that way anyone who wants complete darkness can get it, and those who like more light can swim over to the 'moon'....
again, experiences?
Oh, and for those who made their own setups... did you use photo sensors so they will automatically turn on when the day-light turns off, or keep them running all the time...?
I did some experimenting (and waited a while to see the effects). What I do know is:
white lighting - clown fish wake up and love it, they hover at the top of the aquarium beneath it and wiggle there for hours. My tang on the other hand hides in the rocks with only his eye peeking out. Didn't see any night critters.
deep red - offers a lot of shadows, overall a cool effect to the tank, but very difficult to see anything in there, hard on the eyes. Fish don't seem to act any differently, saw some night critters roaming about / peeking out of the sand.
light red (pinkish), though not very bright (early sunrise/sunset). Everyone comes out of hiding and roams about, night creatures stay active. Not many shadows, a very even color.
deep blue - this seems to the norm. I find it offers too much illumination, unless I add some filters in there... (likely the types of LED's I'm testing with). The fish don't seem to notice, the snails are attracted to the light, and two hermit crabs were drawn to the light. Very even illumination, not very 'shadowy'.
light blue (again, not very bright). This looks the most natural as 'moon lighting', for anyone who's been to a creek/campfire around a shallow river/creek at night. It offers a lot of shadows, the clowns are drawn to the light, the tang comes out from hiding, the snails ignore it, the hermits ignore it, didn't see anyone peeking out of the sand.
So, that's what I've discovered so far... the very very dim light blue looks the best by far, but I don't know if this is harmful to the fish, especially if it takes the tang/clown out from their slumber. Also, it seems to hide the night-life in there.
What colors have you guys been using, how bright, and how many LED's / gallons is your aquarium?
The other thing I was considering is putting a spot-moon on one side of the aquarim and let the light travel to the other side... that way anyone who wants complete darkness can get it, and those who like more light can swim over to the 'moon'....
again, experiences?
Oh, and for those who made their own setups... did you use photo sensors so they will automatically turn on when the day-light turns off, or keep them running all the time...?
