night lighting question

[SkyShark]

Is there a benefit to having blues on all night (at 1%)? I have my Apex set to shut my Maxspect Razor R420R completely off from 2am-5am (this fixture is my only light for the tank). Before it shuts off it ramps down to 0% white/1% blue and it ramps up from 0% white/1% blue in the morning. I figure that even though the LED would use a minuscule amount of energy to run the 1% blue for those 3 hours each night it is probably good to give the light time completely shut off. Is there merit to this logic, or is there a reason I should be giving the coral the 1% blue all night?

 

[zombie]

The low light level wont do anything to help coral growth. Most people use moonlighting simply to extend the viewing hours of the tank without exceeding natural daylight hours.

 

[CRW Reef]

interesting read on natural moon light and its relationship to coral and fish spawning

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/7/lighting

 

[ayaws]

Interesting article. I purchased a Neptune LSM to do night duty as I switch back to MH from LED. Reasonably cost effective and has the all-important APEX control.

 

[zombie]

interesting read on natural moon light and its relationship to coral and fish spawning

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/7/lighting

I have read that, however I have read from other sources that lighting alone without flow triggers can induce spawning events in fish, but rarely in corals. It seems corals require a certain match of tide timing along with the right lighting to trigger a spawn. The apex code to do that is tremendously complex and I gave up trying to find a way for them to line up.

 

[SkyShark]

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing. So I guess I shouldn't be too worried either way about the light being on or off from a physiological standpoint, but what about from a technical standpoint? Will it make a difference either way for the LED fixture to be on all the time, or off for a few hours?

 

[SynDen]

Nothing to back this up, but I would assume that since most bulbs, LEDs included, have a certain number of hours they will live for, that any hours you let them be off would extend their overall lifespan.

 

[zombie]

Nothing to back this up, but I would assume that since most bulbs, LEDs included, have a certain number of hours they will live for, that any hours you let them be off would extend their overall lifespan.

True. Although the MTBF at 1% is very different than 100%. If the light is run for 12 hours a day at 100% and its MTBF is 25,000 hours, it would likely last 6 years if run at 100% and off for 12 hours, vs around 5 years and 11 months for 12 hours at 100% and 12 hours at 1%

 

[SkyShark]

True. Although the MTBF at 1% is very different than 100%. If the light is run for 12 hours a day at 100% and its MTBF is 25,000 hours, it would likely last 6 years if run at 100% and off for 12 hours, vs around 5 years and 11 months for 12 hours at 100% and 12 hours at 1%

Cool, so not much of a difference there. Does turning the lights on and off each day create a higher chance of something failing within the unit vs leaving it on all the time at some power level?

 

[zombie]

Not much of a difference when it turns on or off at 1%. That only makes a real difference on things like non-dimmable lights that are only "full on" or off. In that case, there is arcing that can prematurely wear out internal components when it switches on or off. At 1% intensity, that wear is incredibly low since the change in current from off to on is very small.

 

[SkyShark]

Not much of a difference when it turns on or off at 1%. That only makes a real difference on things like non-dimmable lights that are only "full on" or off. In that case, there is arcing that can prematurely wear out internal components when it switches on or off. At 1% intensity, that wear is incredibly low since the change in current from off to on is very small.

cool. thanks