Moonphase LED Lighting Duration

[Antony®]

Ninong, thanks so much for the in depth response to my question. Without the meter, I suppose the natural brightness isn't too much, since the fixture is a good foot above the surface. I'll look up the moon rises/sets for a little more info on duration(I should have known that!). I'll look up some of the earlier posts that you mentioned too.

Thanks again.

[Antony®]

I guess the big decision I would need to make about moonlighting is how serious to take it. If I really want to have it as natural as possible, then the main lighting would have to correctly mimic sunrise/set too. That would mean having a dim tank in the early evening when I would want to enjoy spending time in front of it. Doesn't make sense worrying about on/off times of LEDs if the main lamp is on hours after the natural sun has gone down, does it?

[Ninong]

Doesn't make sense worrying about on/off times of LEDs if the main lamp is on hours after the natural sun has gone down, does it?

No, your supposition is wrong because the sun has no effect on natural reproduction cycles, which are in synch with the moon, the tides and seasonal warming of the ocean's water. That's what cues the mass spawning on the Great Barrier Reef.

Besides, the sun does not have seasonal variations at the equator. Days and nights are 12 hours each. The sun is quite intense within 60-90 minutes after sunrise because of the position of the sun above the equator compared to the more northerly or southerly lattitudes. In effect, there are no seasons at the equator.

Another point, it is quite easy to replicate natural sunlight conditions over your aquarium. In fact, most hobbyists do exactly that. They use supplemental actinic lamps to replicate dawn and dusk. Typically the actinics come on 60 minutes before the main lights and go off 60 minutes after the main lights. You might run the actinics 12 hours per day and the metal halides 10 hours per day. That matches natural conditions quite nicely.

Remember, you're not trying to match sunrise and sunset where you live, you're trying to match sunrise and sunset on the equator (Indonesian seas).

Some people choose to have the sun rise over their reef aquarium at times that suit their personal viewing preferences. Instead of it rising every morning at 7 a.m., it might rise at 11 a.m. and set at 11 p.m.

If you don't feel like resetting a timer every day for your moonlights, just set them to come on just before your main lights go off and then remain on for four or five hours. You would still be varying the moonlight intensity with your controller, which is a lot better than having a "full moon" over your tank every night, all night.

[Carissa]

When the moon is full, it's out all night. When the moon is new, it's not out at night at all but out all day. When it's first quarter, it's out for half of the night (and half of the day), and last quarter, it's out for the other half of the night (and other half of the day). If that makes sense. Just a rough idea. And then everything in between just follows that pattern.

[Antony®]

Thanks Carissa, that actually helps. I should know that kind of stuff already, but one forgets those sort of things, especially if it's obvious. Since I'm not planning on enhancing the likelihood of spawning, I think a happy medium of providing something a little more natural for them, while being able to see some things going on that I wouldn't see without it is enough for me.
Now I just have to wonder why the Percula that I just got would rather hang out in the top right corner of the tank all day instead of in the welcome arms of my bubble tip anemone or corals.

[Ninong]

BTA's are not natural hosts for Percula clowns and are usually rejected by this species of clownfish as a surrogate host in captivity. They are sometimes accepted but usually they are not. Ocellaris clowns, on the other hand, usually will accept a BTA as a surrogate host.