Moonlights and bleaching?

[taimur85]

Is it possible for LED moonlights that are left on 24hrs a day to cause bleaching in corals, or possibly cause them to not open up to their full potential? I have to two 24" strips of some LEDs I bought on ebay that are on at all times. They are pretty dim, to the point where I can barely see the areas that aren't directly illuminated by them. I can upload pics if need be.

Over the past few months, I've been having problems with my bubble coral not opening up all the way, a leather that bleached but is slowly recovering, green polyps that have pretty much completely melted, frogspawn that bleached, and some zoas that look about 1/4th of their previous size with loss in color or not opening at all.

Tank specs:

75 gallon tank
6 t-5s, 2 daylight, 2 actinic, 1 reef wave, 1 coral wave from wavepoint
1 maxi 1200, 1 maxi 900, 1 HK3
Overflow to sump with rubble, skimmer, and mag 3 return
temp - 76-77
no amm, 0-1 nitrite, 0 nitrate,
480 calc
8.3 ph
Alk was within range last two times i tested


Did several water changes over the past month or so and also replaced all bulbs over the course of the last two months. I saw the bleaching BEFORE I replaced the bulbs, which had been going for just under a year at that point. Some color has returned to the leather, but not all, and everything else is still stuck in this weird state of not completely melting but not recovering either. ANY ideas, help, or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Also, I'm in the buckhead area if anyone thinks a hands on approach would be best. Thanks again!

 

[rbredding]

Taimur85;669737 wrote: Is it possible for LED moonlights that are left on 24hrs a day to cause bleaching in corals

no...


Not sure about "opening to their full potential" but I seriously doubt it..

most people agree that moon lights (if constant and not set to mimic a lunar cycle) are strictly for aesthetic appeal, and serve no meaningful purpose in a tank..

there is a theory that setting moonlights to vary in intensity and timing to accurately mimic the lunar cycle, COULD trigger spawning in some breeds, but I'm not sure how much research has been done to prove/disprove the theory....

 

[mrflameangel]

I would have to say no also. My moonlights stay in 24hrs also. And no problems here

 

[taimur85]

Ok, thanks for the replies. Obviously, I'm at a loss for for what is causing my zoa's and polyps to deteriorate. I forgot to mention that I also have several of the asternia (sp?) stars, but I have never seen them on my actual zoas. They are always on the rock and walls. Any ideas on what else could be causing this?

 

[mph84]

i would definitely look hard at the asterinas. they can eat zoas in a big hurry. As far as the moonlights go, I have a home made setup and I noticed that if they were pointed at my acans they would not open all the way the next day. I let this go for about a week and then moved the lights and the next day they opened up. very weird if you ask me but thats what happened

 

[taimur85]

mph84;669799 wrote: i would definitely look hard at the asterinas. they can eat zoas in a big hurry. As far as the moonlights go, I have a home made setup and I noticed that if they were pointed at my acans they would not open all the way the next day. I let this go for about a week and then moved the lights and the next day they opened up. very weird if you ask me but thats what happened

Interesting. Yeah the only reason I asked this is because I read this on post #9 on this website. http://indmas.org/main/index.php?showtopic=5791">http://indmas.org/main/index.php?showtopic=5791</a>

Seeing if ya'll had any experiences with this.

 

[smallblock]

those moonlights are way to powerfull he is running, the 3 watts right? Mine on my nova fixture don't light up the tank at all I think they are the one watt. The little plastic looking bulb ones. I wouldnt consider what he did as moon lights more as acent lighting. Those 3 watts send out alot of light.