Blue vs. White moonlight LEDs?
 

does the color make a difference? is it natural to have blue in a reef than white? Also, how do the fish react to white vs blue moon lights?

planning on ordering some lunar pods for the controller where it follows the moon cycle

I don't think it matters. To the best of my knowledge there isn't any data indicating that moonlighting even does anything other than make us humans happy.

Which is pretty important since we're the ones shelling out the cash- not the fish ;) Blue is prettier :)

Blue is nice, especially if it is a true blue LED (not just a blue filter), it will make the coral colors pop at night.

so regardless of the color, whether you have them or not wont cause the inhabitants to spawn?

Ive been thinking that a combo of blue and white leds would make a nice moonlight. Leaning more towards the pop of blue with a little white for a more natural look.

I had white originally and just switched to blue. The blue makes the colors POP! The white just casts a glow in the aquarium.

Ruben,

Since some aquatic animals spawn on a lunar cycle, it was mistakenly assumed that it was the moon light that caused this, when actually it is the tidal forces associated with the lunar cycle. Light or lack of light has nothing to do with it - what would happen to these spawning creatures if it was a cloudy night? So as lordofthereef and others said, just go with what color works for you.

Jay

It's very unlikely for multiple reasons.

Corals aren't ready to spawn at the drop of a hat. They only develop functional gonads for part of the year, and that development has to be triggered by cues several months prior to the final spawning cues. We aren't sure what it is that triggers that development in corals, but in lots of inverts it's related to changes in water temperature and day length. Most reefers don't let these signals occur in their tanks, so most corals probably aren't even in spawning condition.

Most hobbyists also feed very poorly, which again will have a negative effect on the spawning condition of our animals.

Also, while spawning events are often tied to lunar cycles, there's very little evidence that moonlight is the actual cue. Corals are sensitive to the actual light of the moon, but as a signal it's fairly unreliable since things like cloud cover or rough water can have as big an effect on intensity of the light hitting the corals as the lunar cycle does. Also, corals of the same species on different reefs spawn at different points in the lunar cycle, which suggests that they're not hard-wired to go off at a given intensity. It's generally believed that it's actually variations in tidal strength that are the final trigger.

Even if we were to assume that the corals are in spawning condition and moonlight is the actual spawning cue, aquarium moonlights are unlikely to get the job done. Most of them are orders of magnitude too bright. As a general rule, if you can read by the lights they're too bright to simulate moonlight. Even if you put them on one of the moonlight controllers, most nights will be as bright or brighter than a full moon, which really muddies up the cue.

Interestingly, several scientists disagree with you:

"Although several environmental factors such as temperature, tidal periodicity, and day length have been suggested to influence larvae release in corals (Harrison et al. 1984; Babcock et al. 1986, 1994), this process appears to be triggered by the level of lunar irradiance (Harrison et al. 1984; Jokiel et al. 1985; Babcock et al. 1994)."

from

Gorbunov and Falkowski. Photoreceptors in the Cnidarian Hosts Allow Symbiotic Corals to Sense Blue Moonlight. Limnology and oceanography (2002)

Actually, taking a cursory look at literature, it seems that different corals species have very different cues for spawning or larvae release and the same species might display different behavior in different localities.

I think it is still worthwhile to simulate lunar cycles. Of course some products on market that are simply blue lights and do not alter the intensity according to moon phases are completely useless in this regard ;)

I like the look of the blues but whites are closer to the natural look of the moon. If you were to go scuba diving at night it wouldnt be blue. Maybe try to go with a blend of some sort. I got the Current USA LEDs for cheap and look great. Went with blues...

does having white moon lights make the fish think there still might be some daylight?

blue looks cooler

If that's the case, then having the room lights on after the tank lights go out must confuse the heck out of them. Unless you use a thick birdcage-style black cover, outside light will get in. It's not enough for corals to grow properly, but it might be enough to make the fish think the sun has gone crazy.

Oddly enough, that's my favorite punk band!

:lol:

Has anbody experimented with red moonlights? I think digital aquatics sells them, or will be soon. I plan on buying a lunar light module for my controller soon.

I would think the white would cancel out the "pop" of the blues....
I would love feedback on the reds.... is it true the critters dont notice the reds and come out of hiding?

Many animals have difficulty picking up red spectrums at night.

They typically have to see other colors mixed with the red in order to see it properly.

I agree. I've had both and the white light doesn't seem to add anything and detracts from the phosphoresence effect of the blue light - imo.

Exactly why it might be a good idea to try red ones. You get to see them just as they would behave at night.
I'm very curious about the red lights, sounds cool.

Always a blue moon is better than once in a blue moon��

The schedule of moonlight triggers spawning in most corals. the color is unimportant, what matters is the timing. Lunar cycles are out of phase with day/night cycles; so the "moonlights" hobbyists use that come on right after "sunset" are not at all appropriate for simulating moonlight. Also, all the lights hobbyists use are *way* too bright if you're looking to actually simulate moonlight. Full moon at 30' deep is nearly pitch black.

All that said, yes, you can trigger reproduction in an aquarium by properly simulating lunar cycles. Its been observed by many for planulating brooders like Pocillopora damicornis and more recently even for Acropora.

But its very unlikely to happen in a home hobbyist tank for a variety of reasons.

Just stuck these under my fixture to give the corals more pop. The Royal Blue LED's really make the coral's color vibrant. I have them come on a couple of hours before the main lights shut off and the stay on for a couple of hours after for my viewing pleasure.

https://www.rapidled.com/4-led-solde...moonlight-kit/

what does white moon lighting even look like?? I turn on just white lights on my radions and it just looks like the light is on without the blues