Do moon lights help?

I have a 300 watt halide system over my 55 gallon Hard coral reef tank. They are 15k bulbs. But also in the fixture are 24 one watt moon lights. I have them on all night to help in coral spawning and also because they look so awesome during the night. I dont have them on during the day when the halides are. But if i did have them on with the halides do you think it would change the scale enough to change the color in my coral.

 

No, not at all. I keep mine on 24/7. They are overwhelmed by the brightness of the other bulbs.

 

There has been some debate over whether they do or not. Some studies have shown that it does help with certain fish and coral spawning.
But I would say they are just a "cool" factor. I leave mine on 24/7 as well, one less plug/timer to worry about. And no, you wont even notice them while the other lights are on.

 

There have been studies that moonlight helps corals spawn in nature; but the jury is out as to whether artificial moonlight has an effect in the home aquarium.

One of the theories is that it is not the light that triggers the spawning, but rather that high tides coincide with full moons and it may be the tidal action that is actually the trigger.

In any case they are cool

 

We have our moons on a cycle to go with the full moon. They are brighter at full moon and non-existant during the new moon. They also come on with cycle which means it's about an hour later each night. We do have them set so they don't come on when the main lights are on since you can't see them. (like when the moon and sun is out at same time). It's fun to watch that when the main lights go out and the moonlight is on our sailfin patrols the tank for a while. The other fish tuck in and get ready to sleep , but for 30 minutes or so she will swim back and forth in the tank watching everything closely before she goes to sleepy hole.

 

I keep my moonlights on all night, but that's more because I keep anemones, and it helps keep shrimp or fish from bumping into them at night and becoming a snack.

 

Thanks for the input

 

Most are good for helping you see at night.

If you want them to help create spawning events, they need to vary in intensity just like the moon does. Haveing them on 24/7 will not trigger much for spawning events unless there was something else to start the process.

Running the m 24/7 is fine though.
Kim