Pitch Black Nighttime Cycle?

[demariners]

Hey all. I am running my Radeon for about 7 hours daily and the rest I used to run a moonlight setting. I notice I still get a decent amount of algae build up. I was told by a few people to delete the moonlight completely. I am wondering if this is "safe" or OK to run 0 light for the rest of the night. My tank would be pitch black due to the room it is in. Just wasn't sure this was safe for the corals/fish etc. Thank you.

 

[ncaldwell]

I run a moon cycle for the same reason but when I black the tank out every now and then for cyanobacteria for a few days there are no ill effects. Pitch black for 3-4 full days

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[demariners]

Ok I was going to do this for now on. You only do it for about 3-4 days? What do you run your moonlights at? I was going to do 1%. I had them set for 3%. Should I run all blue only for the moonlights then?

 

[ncaldwell]

For moonlights normally I just run the blue till I get 1 watt. Otherwise they will just shut off completely. Honestly I didn't think the moonlight was strong enough to encourage algea growth but I can't see any harm in you trying it for a week. It should be easy for you to notice results fairly quickly.

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[demariners]

I am in agreement with you. But at 3% on a Radeon at 20K perhaps could give it some growth. Only time will tell! I will try 1% all blue only after a week or so and see what happens. I am getting a lot of growth in the sand mainly. I have checked all parameters and I am at 0 phos/0 nitrates.

 

[ncaldwell]

Do you have anything cleaning the sand?

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[demariners]

I have a bunch of Nass Snails, Hermit crabs, a few turbo snails and asstra.

 

[ncaldwell]

I got a fighting conch to help clean the sand, keep it stirred up. You should try something like that in conjunction with less moonlight. Research different conches or cucumbers, most people are going to have dirty looking sand after a while. You just have to vacuum it out and have something that cleans the sand. Love my conch and black cucumber

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[demariners]

Now that you mention it I do have 3 fighting Conch

 

[jacksonpt]

I'm confused... there's "concern" about running 0 light overnight? I assumed that was pretty much the norm for most people pre-LEDs. I've had T5s over my tanks for the last several years and have never run any supplemental moonlights. I guess there might be the smallest bit of ambient light on full moon nights, but that's minimal, an infrequent.

I've never had any problems running lightless over night.

 

[ncaldwell]

There's no bad questions, better safe than sorry.

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[ca1ore]

Well, I ran my reef tanks with no moonlight for over a decade. Then I ran them with a cool white LED night light. Now I run mine with the Apex LSM module. My current tank is the best looking tank I have ever. Must be the moonlights.

FWIW, I'd think that even at 1%, most main light fixtures would be way too bright for a moonlight.

 

[demariners]

I'm I. Agreement. I have had the "moonlights" off for a few days now. Algae is still growin like weeds. May have to reduce brightness of the lights or something

 

[homer1475]

Ever dive on a reef at night? It's pretty much pitch black. What did we do pre LED's? Pitch black when the T5's/MH's went off.

While I do run moonlights, I have 6 hours of complete darkness in my tank.

 

[Bpb]

Yeah I know the only dumb question is the one that doesn't get asked...and I know ALOT of new hobbyists weren't around for anything before the latest generation of automated LEDs...but you all do realize that people kept spectacular tanks long before any LEDs were put over reef tanks. Lunar lights are a very new thing. Moonlight in the wild reef doesn't penetrate deep enough to come even close to the brightness of even the weakest lunar lights used on our tanks. Pitch black at night is way more natural than illuminating the tank with narrow 450 nm royal blue LEDs 24/7/365. I for one even to this day have never used overnight moonlights. Most photosensitive inverts will not even come out if you use moonlights. All the nocturnal inverts are extremely blue sensitive and won't come out unless it's dark


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[demariners]

Sounds good to me. I have had lights completely off for the last week or so for about 17 hours per day. Hopefully this will be fine.

 

[wildman926]

Algae grows due to excess nutrients.

Short term - Use API's Algaefix marine. HERE is a thread about on it's success on RC.

Long term - Go back to an ATS, and let it pull the excess nutrients.

I have followed my own advice, and have not seen an outbreak of algae in 3 years.

 

[demariners]

Go back to a ATS? I use NoPX on a poser to control nutrients. I also have checked my Phosphate and Nitrate and they are at 0. So I am not sure where the excess is coming from I can try the API though and see if it helps. Thank you.