Light color and time of day

[brad]

In reef tanks, people tend to run blue lights the longest, with more white in the middle of the day. Moon/night lights tend to be either blue too or red (not trying to be realistic).

I was wondering how this compares to real diving on real reefs. I don't have enough experience diving, so I thought I'd ask on this forum.

 

[r-balljunkie]

its not realistic. what we do on reef tanks tends to suit or schedules, not really the actual lighting. case in point, i dove two days ago. i got up at 0640 in the morning, left the marina by 0730, in the water by 0800. did two dives, left for home at 1200. there was plenty of light/visibility @ 0800, perhaps 80% intensity. around 1000 to 1500 is full intensity. i doubtanyone has there lights ramped up at 8 in the morning....i dont.


when youre on a nite dive, you need a dive light. its not the blue hue you see typical, especially if its a full moon. you usually cannot see past your beam, especially past 20'

im sure if youre really wanting to duplicate the natural sunrise/set intensity you could, but the truth is aquariums are for our enjoyment