More Activity Because of No Fake Lighting?

[Mirrorakay]

When I upgraded to my 55 gallon tank, I got a Ultratherm to heat my tank, doing away with using heat lamps. I did keep the lighting from the lamps for viewing purposes, but positioned them away from the tank far enough and dimmed the pad enough to get the tank's temps just right. As was normal for my crabbies, I had an average of 4 sleeping around on the surface during the day and huge crabby parties at night (I was using lights for viewing at both times).

Anyways, I was able to fix up a different lighting set up so I was using LED strips during the day for viewing and LEDs for night that I switched on and off for viewing specifically; the day ones ran all day and the night one were only on for me to watch the crabbies, so maybe 30 minutes to an hour a night. My clan didn't seem to mind. The usual 4 slept in their spots during the day and a full blow party happened at night.

Then I went on vacation for two weeks. I turned off all of their lighting since there was no need to waste the electricity. I left my blinds open (I use the light from my window for my crestie) and left. Anyways, when I got back, I spent a lot of time busy and never plugged in my lighting. It was after a few days that I noticed a HUGE increase in activity. An average of 7-8 crabs are on the surface during the day. While they take their naps, they spend a good portion of the day making a big old mess of the tank. At night things are pretty much the same with the big parties. It just amazes me that for an entire month and a half now I have seen so many more crabs during the day and all of them are actually out doing things. Just so you guys know, almost all of these crabs have been with me for two years now so they all settled in a while back. I really think that the lack of artificial lighting is what made the big change.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

[Nate the great]

Strangely, I've seen the opposite. My smaller hermies definitely started getting more active when I added a UVB light. I cannot say the same for my larger hermies, though.

[gpw9167]

I often wondered this also... everyone's insight would be greatly appreciated!

[Mirrorakay]

I haven't tried a UVB light on my tank since it would be difficult to mount inside the lid with my current set up. I wonder if you only had a UVB light and no other lighting if that would get an even bigger increase in activity? When I rearrange their tank I might try and add the UVB light in and see what kind of activity levels I get.