Should you add actinic light for night viewing?

[BlueCorn]

Yes. Yes you should.

We added 10 435nm LEDs from TruLumen. 6 on the bottom of the HQI light and 4 actually inside the tank under the upper frame. When the halide goes out you damn near need welding goggles things are glowing so much. Believe or not, these pictures don't even do it justice:

Cheers

 

[organism]

Those look awesome! Do you leave them on all night? I always wanted to have something a bit stronger than moonlights, but don't know how much light corals can take before they start stressing out...

 

[BlueCorn]

We've been leaving them on all night and the corals don't seem to be minding at all.

This is what I have mounted under the tank trim:

http://www.current-usa.com/lighting/truelumen-led-strips

 

[IridescentLily]

Someone above mentioned that they were curious if zoas and other corals could stand the led lights on all night. I was wondering the same thing. We thought we would try it one night to see what the zoas (and other lps corals) response was. Here's what we've found thusfar;
1. The zoas stayed open ALL night. They usually close up at night.
2. These zoas were really healthy before, and they're even more good looking after the one night open under the LEDs.
3. They responded really well. And they've remained open all day as well as all night last night.
Were gonna keep this routine everynight and we'll keep an eye out for any negative zoa response or decline from too much light, or any positive things from the light.

Here are two videos I took of our tank which shows the glow of the zoas under the led.
The first video is with the 14k Phoenix, 2 truelumen moonlights, and 1 truelumen four led strip in the front, all turned on.
The second video is after the halide turned off with just the 2 led moonlights, and the 1 ten inch four led strip
http://youtu.be/Ss7LBpZ7LbA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtriBzHyI94&sns=em

 

[BlueCorn]

 

[Jarred1]

I would say that leaving them on all night isn't the best idea because the blue LEDs are what makes the par so high in the LED fixtures if I'm not mistaken.

 

[BlueCorn]

I would say that leaving them on all night isn't the best idea because the blue LEDs are what makes the par so high in the LED fixtures if I'm not mistaken.

In this case I believe you are mistaken.

All of the moonlights on the tank are powered from a single 12V 1W power supply that is nowhere near it's rated capacity. On my 180 gallon I had 3 watts of blue LED moonlights. This configuration is .49 watts. I don't think I'm going to get too worried about stressing any animals.

As we've April mentioned, we're paying close attention to the corals and no one seems to mind.

Cheers

 

[i2as kass]

Have you tried feeding them at night while there open? With certain morphs I was able to achieve a high feeding response with a home made coral food.

The ingredient list is posted somewhere in here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1896006

Great photos! I have yet to install strip LED lights on my upgrade something I will certainly have to do.

 

[i2as kass]

Okay here are some photos of the feeding process, I picked up a bar of Cyclop-eeze to mix it up a little.

The food being thawed, added 5ml of selcon to the mix.





Before adding:


Results:














If you look closely you can see slime all over the polyps, over the span of a couple hours the slime (Now loaded with AA, Proteins and larger particles is brought into the oral cavity to be digested). My moon lights go off at around 4:00 so the coral has a few hours of darkness to digest.

If you try it out I would love to hear your experience.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

I have moonlights on my fixture that came with it and I don't leave them on all night. I'd be interested to hear how this goes for you and I may leave mine on longer. They usually turn off at midnight and the tank is dark until morning. and my actual lights don't turn on until noon, but I do get ambient light from my front 2 windows. zoas look absolutely beautiful in moonlights though LOVE it! I think I may have an addiction to zoas now lol

 

[Jarred1]

In this case I believe you are mistaken.

All of the moonlights on the tank are powered from a single 12V 1W power supply that is nowhere near it's rated capacity. On my 180 gallon I had 3 watts of blue LED moonlights. This configuration is .49 watts. I don't think I'm going to get too worried about stressing any animals.

As we've April mentioned, we're paying close attention to the corals and no one seems to mind.

Cheers

Oh you were just talking about the moon lights that came with the fixture. I though you guys were leaving the 10 LEDs you added to the fixture.

 

[BlueCorn]

Oh you were just talking about the moon lights that came with the fixture. I though you guys were leaving the 10 LEDs you added to the fixture.

We are talking about the 10 we added. They total .49 watts.

 

[Tenor]

Is it regular 5mm blue led at 20mA or high power 1, 3W led? Anyway, look awesome