LPS opening at night?....

Discussion in 'LPS Corals' started by Todd_Sails, Feb 25, 2012.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2011
    Messages:
    4,732
    Location:
    A Texan in S.E. Wisconsin
    With my old lights, the tank was dark for many hours every night, and in the dark I would often use my Iphone's LED to look at my corals at night. My LPS, especially my Candy Canes would have all their tentacles out and feeding on the water column, etc.

    Fast forward to this last week and my newer lights have a row of blue LED's for the moon light look, and I leave them on 24/7, to supplement the colors when my blues and daylights (PC's) are on.
    These Blue LED's are fairly bright, and I"m not sure my candy canes are opeing at night anymore. They look fine hwever, it's only been about 3 or 4 days though.
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. Mr. Bill

    Mr. Bill Native Floridian

    Joined:
    May 28, 2011
    Messages:
    4,874
    Location:
    USA
    I have read that any ambient light may inhibit normal nighttime activity; I've also noticed a few here that claim they only run lunar lights for the first couple of hours after daylights/actinics have shut off.
     
  4. inwall75

    inwall75 Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2003
    Messages:
    7,172
    Location:
    America
    They can get accustomed to it over time. I have tinnitus (ringing in the ears). I have my TV on all night long so I can sleep. (Silence means nothing but constant ringing. If I turn on the radio, because I'm so into music, I get involved singing in my head and won't sleep). My TV causes more light in the room than the moonlights in my tanks do (with the exception of one). As far as moonlights are concerned, some manufacturers go overboard and others don't. My LPS don't have any issues opening up under JBJ nanocube nor Oceanic Biocube moonlights. However, this is not something that happened overnight.
     
  5. NanaReefer

    NanaReefer Fu Manchu Lion Fish

    Joined:
    Jul 26, 2011
    Messages:
    1,911
    I personally only run the lunars (moon leds) for a couple of hours a night...more natural to me :)
     
  6. SushiGirl

    SushiGirl Barracuda

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2010
    Messages:
    2,457
    Hey! Me too!
     
  7. HollyG

    HollyG Teardrop Maxima Clam

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2011
    Messages:
    824
    Location:
    Canada
    Coral can actually sense if there is any moonlight if it's bright enough, so your candycane may not send out any feeders because the moonlights are too strong. I have strong blue accent lighting and I have to turn the blue leds off when I go to bed because my fish won't sleep because they can actually still see with the blue leds on. If they are pretty bright like mine are then turning off the blues before you go to bed will let your candycanes send out feeders later on. I suggest doing this.
     
  8. Click Here!

  9. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2011
    Messages:
    4,732
    Location:
    A Texan in S.E. Wisconsin
    My fish see fine with my moonlight LED's on.

    I think I may start to turn off off more at night.
     
  10. Ashevillian

    Ashevillian Pajama Cardinal

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2011
    Messages:
    1,437
    Location:
    Asheville, NC
    my tank is right next to the kitchen and my room mates come home and leave them on all the time. my tiger cowrie snail and trochus are completely nocturnal but do not seem to be bothered by the light being on unless i take a flash light on them hehe.

    candy cane corals are a totally different looking creature at night IMO. mine is only a one head frag(recently split into two mouths yayy) but at night the tenticles come out like crazy. i just dont feed at night so to trick the candy cane, i add a few drops of marine snow 5 min before i target feed. this seems to get his fingers ready for dinner :)
     
  11. bucksfan1976

    bucksfan1976 Banned

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2012
    Messages:
    82
    I have a huge head 130 heads of candycane. I went through the same thing. I ended up making sure the moonlights went off about a hour after everthing else shuts off.
     
  12. inwall75

    inwall75 Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2003
    Messages:
    7,172
    Location:
    America
    I had a talk with a customer yesterday who had some comments on this subject. He said his roommate is an idiot who comes in late and then doesn't turn the kitchen light off. Once he started putting a black-out cloth around the tank at night, it really helped his corals take off. He, like me, doesn't turn off his moonlights however he only has 2 LED's in a 92g. My moonlights on my tanks really don't put off any light to speak of either and my corals are ready to feed whenever.