blue lighting and moon lighting and duration

[surfingdude]

is there a difference?

I have 2 mars aqua coming today. Is the blue considered moon lighting. I hear people mention they go blue then to moon. Just confused...thought blue was moon.

and also, what % would you recommend for white and blue and duration. No corals yet and 3 weeks in, no problems with algae yet.

My plan was, blue on at noon till 2...then all on from 2-9...then blue on from 9-12. I want to look at the tank in the evening, so I start later, tho the room has daylight starting at 6, no direct sunlight, should this be a factor in my lighting?

Thanks!

 

[flooddc]

Blue channel is not moonlight. Moonlight should only have a few led lid up at night and very dim. Personally, there is no reason for moonlight. Fish need to rest and sleep like we do.

Lighting cycle is really based on your preferences (you want it to be on when you are home) and intensity (%) is depending on brand and what type of corals you have.
Normally, people like to have more blue than white as the corals look better in more blue. I personally like 50/50 and on for 10 hours and off the rest. Some like to ramp their light (slowly up and then down toward the evening). Some have blue turn on for a few hours and the white, etc.
So, it really up to you. When you have corals, you can play with the intensity based on their need and more blue/less blue based on your taste.

 

[scooter31707]

Tanks will vary on this subject matter. I have the same fixtures. As the hobbyist said above, they like 50/50. Myself, I do about 60/40 (blue/white). It's really going to be more trial and error more than anything.

 

[Ron Reefman]

No corals, any combo of colors is OK. But corals do much better photosynthesis with blue than it does with white. Algae does better with white than it does with blue. A small amount of white will wash out (to your eyes, NO TO THE CORAL) a lot of blue. Many reefers go twice as much blue and some even more. My reef is mostly sps and some lps corals and my power settings are 90% blue and 40% white, but all the white leds are 5w and only half the blues are. So in reality I'm closer to a 2:1 ratio. You won't have that concern as all your leds are 3w leds run at 1.87 watts. I'd recommend you go close to a 2:1 ratio of blue to white. In the tank it just looks like a cool white light rather than a warm white light.

 

[surfingdude]

thank you all! Hope to have them it up tomorrow. Gotta figure how Iam gonna put them in the canopy.