AA article on lighting spectrum and coral growth

[hart24601]

Anyone seen this? Pretty interesting.

Effects of Different Spectra Generated by LEDs on Growth of the Stony Coral Porites lobata ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[mcarroll]

Interesting indeed.

What did you get out of this?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yup. I hand it out like candy on halloween.

 

[McMullen]

What did I get out of this? Not much, other than we probably place too much emphasis on lighting options. What question did this article answer? Many spectrums grow coral?

 

[hart24601]

I was presenting this just for a FYI.

My personal take away is that the PAR was too low. 128 is pretty low for SPS, although the flow seemed good in my opinion.

Although I wouldn't expect to see a huge difference in growth with spectrums (which this shows), there is plenty of research that shows feeding is far more important.

 

[McMullen]

Yeah, PAR seems low for what we strive for in the hobby. There is a lot of debate and sometimes argument on spectrum that extends into light source. Perhaps the article puts that to rest? Idk? Again though, I think it shows the spectrum we choose has more to do with personal preference than healthy coral, but I honestly don't know enough about study design to know how to truly interpret these results.
I know PAR has been "studied." Can anyone provide a head to head prospective trial where a species was grown over time at the same spectrum but the only variable was PAR? Like 100 vs 150 vs 200, etc.