Blue lights on all night?

Hans-Werner

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Blue lights at night on and blue moon lights are the worst idea that has ever come to the users and manufacturers of aquarium lighting. Moonlight isn´t blue, in fact it is much less blue than daylight, look here. In fact you can see it with your bare eye: Look at the moon, is it blue? Is it maybe only bluish? No, it is yellow and so is its light. The impression that the landscape is bluish under moonlight is caused by human seeing which looses the ability of color seeing at this low light levels and creates the impression that the moonlight is blue.
Blue light is the light that regulates circadian rhythms (day-night-rhythms), mainly through the cytochromes, receptor pigments of nearly all life forms, from bacteria and yeasts to humans. When blue light is on the signal is that there is no dark period which can disturb corals severely and will not make fish lucky.

The bright (nearly) full moon shines only for a few days a month not all month long and in fact it shines really bright only around midnight, at moonrise and moonset it is much less bright. If you want to use some light to watch your tank at night use a warm white light or even better use a torch for the moment you want to look into the tank. Also for visual seeing of fish a white light might be more adequate than blue light.
 

srpsycho11

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I currently run 4 tanks, 2 of which I leave actinic lighting on 24/7 without issue. Corals and fish grow,clean up crew members ( snails, hermit crabs, star fish) are unaffected. In fact my frag tank has 24/7 actinic lighting and my corals seem to grow better in there than any of my other tanks, go figure since so many are saying darkness is an absolute.
 

hart24601

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I currently run 4 tanks, 2 of which I leave actinic lighting on 24/7 without issue. Corals and fish grow,clean up crew members ( snails, hermit crabs, star fish) are unaffected. In fact my frag tank has 24/7 actinic lighting and my corals seem to grow better in there than any of my other tanks, go figure since so many are saying darkness is an absolute.

Yep! Like I said before you don't need darkness. Lots of ppl say you need darkness, but they have not tired any other way. It's mostly seems based on the idea of "well it's dark outside" so they must need it. Of course in nature they don't live in glass boxes 1000 miles away from the ocean either!

The dark reactions in photosynthesis do not require absence of light, they can occur the same time as the light reactions. "Dark Reactions" are a bit of a misnomer.

Now I will not say some sort of light constant light is better, but really it's fine. Below is my tank that ran moonlights 24/7. Now tell me how much healthier it would be without running moonlights? lol

2r_zpsxlyemhee.jpg
 

Be102

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Okay so I have a question.. I basically run my light cycle which is this.. http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticL...quaticLife-AK01035-FILTFIT56U-AK01036-vi.html

I just use the natural setting for the timers and all that fun stuff... My fish are fine and whatnot but I came home to my lights off (timer wasn't on hit it off by accident) and basically my tank was very dead looking... to the point where I was worried what had happened and if I missed something. My midas blenny literally looked like he was shriveling up and dying.. he was on the sand bed (which he never is..) motionless and when I turned the lights on he still didn't move.. I went to get him with a net, and he ended up going down under the rock work with my yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp (they aren't very friendly neighbors either). I thought he was done for.. but soon enough after the lights were on and I spent 20 minutes watching the hole, I decided to leave and come back and later on I saw him in his little cave on the rocks. My clownfish were also really strange looking.. like one was at the top of the tank whilst the other was basically lying on his side on a rock.. Like nothing chemically changed. Only the lights were off for a few minutes too! Any ideas how I can get my fish to be okay with a dark cycle? My tank is next to my bed and basically my room has been lit up by lunar leds since I have had my tank.

IMG_0684.JPG


IMG_0685.JPG


IMG_0686.JPG
 

Sassifrass7

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Maybe that night when the blues didn't come on was the first real SLEEP your fish have ever gotten. Remember they can't close their eyes. So I'm sure that they sleep better in darkness. Especially since nothing is ever really totally dark.
 

Hans-Werner

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When you surprise your fish at night it is normal that they are sleeping. Some time ago I sometimes used this to catch fish at night. Before they get completely awoke you can already have caught them with a torch, and a net of course. ;) This is completely normal.

We had several aquarists bleaching their corals with too bright moonlight LEDs. If your timer is broken and electronic timers usually give up in the "on" modus, you will notice after a few days that your corals start to bleach and die if you don't find the reason soon.
 

EMeyer

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Some are claiming it's ok to leave the light on all night. That it has no effect.

Where is the evidence for this? Have you run two identical tanks for years, one lit 24 7 and one following a natural cycle?

Many sub optimal things can be tolerated in an aquarium without killing the inhabitants. Like 24 7 light. But if the question is what should I do, surely imitating nature is a better goal than just avoiding what kills the animals, right?
 

jeffrey holloway

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I lived in Alaska for four yrs. 24 hrs sun/daylight in the summer. 24 hrs darkness in the winter. The effects of two much sunlight brought on more health issues than the darkness. Certain life on earth needs a healthy dose of both. I lived in a place were we used black out blinds in the widows to be able to rest. Life in Alaska can't & will not rest till winter. I could never make any of my pets endure 24hrs of light for any reason.
 

fishgirljockey

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Okay so I have a question.. I basically run my light cycle which is this.. http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaticL...quaticLife-AK01035-FILTFIT56U-AK01036-vi.html

I just use the natural setting for the timers and all that fun stuff... My fish are fine and whatnot but I came home to my lights off (timer wasn't on hit it off by accident) and basically my tank was very dead looking... to the point where I was worried what had happened and if I missed something. My midas blenny literally looked like he was shriveling up and dying.. he was on the sand bed (which he never is..) motionless and when I turned the lights on he still didn't move.. I went to get him with a net, and he ended up going down under the rock work with my yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp (they aren't very friendly neighbors either). I thought he was done for.. but soon enough after the lights were on and I spent 20 minutes watching the hole, I decided to leave and come back and later on I saw him in his little cave on the rocks. My clownfish were also really strange looking.. like one was at the top of the tank whilst the other was basically lying on his side on a rock.. Like nothing chemically changed. Only the lights were off for a few minutes too! Any ideas how I can get my fish to be okay with a dark cycle? My tank is next to my bed and basically my room has been lit up by lunar leds since I have had my tank.

IMG_0684.JPG


IMG_0685.JPG


IMG_0686.JPG
They were doing that because they were sleeping. There is nothing more natural than to just shut off the lights. Fish don’t have eyelids. If you had no eyelids and wanted to rest/sleep would you want bluelights in your eyes? It’s not natural no matter what it’s trying to mimic. The only natural is to just shut off the lights. I don’t get the fish over it in this hobby. Just turn off and that’s it. Turn back on when you wake up. I do this EVERYDAY. When I turn the lights back on, everyone is laying down in a spot. It’s the cutest thing. Some are still asleep and motionless. So, as it goes for any animal, the more natural the better!!
 

fishgirljockey

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There is nothing more natural than to just shut the lights off. I don't understand how the blue lights even became a thing. The moon is yellow/whitish and it doesn't give off any blue especially at night. The ocean is pretty deep so fish and coral are in very subtle lighting to begin with all day and especially at night. I notice a huge difference shutting down the lights because when I turn the on, everyone is asleep! the fish are motionless and my anemone is closed up in a cave sleeping. If you were in a room, would you want blue lights on while you rested? Probably not. Fish don't have eyelids! So I can only imagine how much of a nuisance it is to have lights on 24 hours. I don't understand why people can't just turn them off. Its simple press of a button or switch. I turn mine off at 10pm and they're back on around 1030am. My tanks thrive!! I have a freshwater tank and I just started a salt tank. Everyone is doing wonderful. So, just turn the lights off :smiling-face-with-halo:The more natural you can go, the better for the well-being of the fish and coral.
 
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