Apples to apples

[fishRus]

There are many LED light strips on the market is 6500k what you want for you tank? If you put 2 - 6500k strips do you then have 13000k? What about the colored lights is blue really the blue you want for your Reef tank? The fancy Reef lights are way over priced compared to LED light strips you can buy! If you put red green blue purple orange white together do you then have sun light?

 

[PbMan26]

6500k refers to the Kelvin color temperature so adding more is still 6500k.

True sunlight does have all the colors of the light spectrum, just like a rainbow.

I prefer the fancy LED lights so I have full control over each color in the spectrum. But you can definitely make a DIY version that will work well.

 

[Bpb]

As mentioned above, the K rating of a light is not additive. While it is alot more complicated than this, the simple explanation is the K number of a light just refers to what shade of white a light is. The higher the number, the bluer the light is. 6500k + 6500k equaling 13000k would be akin to saying yellow + yellow equals blue. Just doesnt work that way.

As far as non-reef specific blue lighting being the correct shade? Can't really answer that. It just depends on the spread, intensity, and specific wavelength of blue. Just about any shade of blue is usable by corals to varying degrees. Most reef specific blue lights are just using off the shelf hardware pieced together by a larger manufacturer anyway.

Fancy reef lights are expensive due to economies of scale. The numbers they move just arent large enough to drive down costs to commercial lighting levels. That and small scale software writing on reef light levels are also very expensive. You have a handful of people working this out for these lights to sell thousands of units, rather than thousands of people working on selling millions of units. It drives the prices up on individual units when production levels are so small, relatively speaking.

If you combine red green blue purple orange white together you just get white, not sunlight. Sunlight contains wavelengths down in the UVC range all the way well past the infrared range. There is no product available to general consumers in the world of LEDs that fully mimics sunlight (most reefers wouldn't like how that looks anyway, everyone is blue obsessed). Closest you can get is LEP (plasma), which is used sparingly by very few people with mixed results.

 

[Tonycass12]

There are many LED light strips on the market is 6500k what you want for you tank? If you put 2 - 6500k strips do you then have 13000k? What about the colored lights is blue really the blue you want for your Reef tank? The fancy Reef lights are way over priced compared to LED light strips you can buy! If you put red green blue purple orange white together do you then have sun light?

I am curious what strip lights your referring to. If its anything for residential or commercial lighting you are probably going to find it lacking.

 

[Bpb]

I am curious what strip lights your referring to. If its anything for residential or commercial lighting you are probably going to find it lacking.

That touches on another point I was going to make. It’s unlikely you will find a commercial or residential product at an attractive price that has slipped past everyone’s radar.

 

[fishRus]

6500k refers to the Kelvin color temperature so adding more is still 6500k.

True sunlight does have all the colors of the light spectrum, just like a rainbow.

I prefer the fancy LED lights so I have full control over each color in the spectrum. But you can definitely make a DIY version that will work well.

As mentioned above, the K rating of a light is not additive. While it is alot more complicated than this, the simple explanation is the K number of a light just refers to what shade of white a light is. The higher the number, the bluer the light is. 6500k + 6500k equaling 13000k would be akin to saying yellow + yellow equals blue. Just doesnt work that way.

As far as non-reef specific blue lighting being the correct shade? Can't really answer that. It just depends on the spread, intensity, and specific wavelength of blue. Just about any shade of blue is usable by corals to varying degrees. Most reef specific blue lights are just using off the shelf hardware pieced together by a larger manufacturer anyway.

Fancy reef lights are expensive due to economies of scale. The numbers they move just arent large enough to drive down costs to commercial lighting levels. That and small scale software writing on reef light levels are also very expensive. You have a handful of people working this out for these lights to sell thousands of units, rather than thousands of people working on selling millions of units. It drives the prices up on individual units when production levels are so small, relatively speaking.

If you combine red green blue purple orange white together you just get white, not sunlight. Sunlight contains wavelengths down in the UVC range all the way well past the infrared range. There is no product available to general consumers in the world of LEDs that fully mimics sunlight (most reefers wouldn't like how that looks anyway, everyone is blue obsessed). Closest you can get is LEP (plasma), which is used sparingly by very few people with mixed results.

Very good thank you

 

[fishRus]

That touches on another point I was going to make. It’s unlikely you will find a commercial or residential product at an attractive price that has slipped past everyone’s radar.

Thank you that’s what I was wondering which LED lights are the best for growing coral and why don’t they sell them in a simple light strip?

 

[fishRus]

There are some manufacturers making grow lights for plants they sell light strips for less then $20 they are mostly Red with some green and blue. Some experiments show its more the intensity of the light then color that make the plants grow.
some people use these light in their refugium
So why cant we buy a light strip with 3 watt or 5 watt LEDs in them?

 

[fishRus]

Reef Brite has some 50 50 light strips 2 - 4 ft strips $ 418
1 - 4 ft actinic $209 so for $650 I can retro-fit my custom dyi hood that’s ridiculous!

 

[Bpb]

Thank you that’s what I was wondering which LED lights are the best for growing coral and why don’t they sell them in a simple light strip?

There are options out there. Here’s one of the less expensive ones.

ReefBar Pro

ReefBar Pro

21ledusa.com

 

[Jedi1199]

In all honesty, I have never found any LED strip lights that work well. I have tried a few, even the same ones the LFS uses on their own tanks. Problem there is they rotate their stock quickly, you never actually see how well they work long term.

The idea of a couple cheap strip lights is great, but the reality is, it's just not there...

I finally bit the bullet and got Kessil lights for my tank. They cost a bit, yes, but in my opinion, they are worth every penny.

 

[Tonycass12]

Reef Brite has some 50 50 light strips 2 - 4 ft strips $ 418
1 - 4 ft actinic $209 so for $650 I can retro-fit my custom dyi hood that’s ridiculous!

In the grand scheme of things 650$ for lighting isint that bad at all for a 4'tank. Ive got 2 xr15s over my 40ish gal tank that 24x24x16 and a reefbreeders photon over a 40breeder. You can see the difference in the light quality between the leds pretty easily.

The reef breeder fixture is half the cost of the xr15s and throws a ton more light over a bigger area but it also does not blend nearly as well and the corals under the xr15s have way better color.

 

[fishRus]

There are options out there. Here’s one of the less expensive ones.

ReefBar Pro

ReefBar Pro

21ledusa.com

Thank you

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Reef Brite has some 50 50 light strips 2 - 4 ft strips $ 418
1 - 4 ft actinic $209 so for $650 I can retro-fit my custom dyi hood that’s ridiculous!

Unfortunately, lighting is expensive. You could look at some black box LED lighting options, but light is the food source for your coral. If you don't put the money into good lighting, you will be putting it into constantly purchasing coral frags because the other have died.

 

[fishRus]

There are many LED light strips on the market is 6500k what you want for you tank? If you put 2 - 6500k strips do you then have 13000k? What about the colored lights is blue really the blue you want for your Reef tank? The fancy Reef lights are way over priced compared to LED light strips you can buy! If you put red green blue purple orange white together do you then have sun light?

 

[fishRus]

13000K seems to be working lol

 

[FishTruck]

If you stick with low light corals (softies, certain LPS, etc...) in an tank that is not too deep... you can probably get by just fine with those reef bar lights.

 

[Jedi1199]

There are many LED light strips on the market is 6500k what you want for you tank? If you put 2 - 6500k strips do you then have 13000k? What about the colored lights is blue really the blue you want for your Reef tank? The fancy Reef lights are way over priced compared to LED light strips you can buy! If you put red green blue purple orange white together do you then have sun light?

13000K seems to be working lol

First off, the visible spectrum of light is Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Your very first premise is wrong from the gate.

Second, as mentioned above, actual sunlight ranges FAR beyond what we can see, from ultraviolet to infrared.

Your last comment seems a bit dismissive. If you know best, why are you asking us?

Are you asking us a question, or seeking reinforcement of your own idea?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

13000K seems to be working lol

As was stated earlier, 13000K is the temperature, or color of the light. That has nothing to do with the intensity.

How long have you been running these lights?

What lights are these?

 

[Tonycass12]

13000K seems to be working lol

Unless your using a orange filter that is not 13000k light. It would be way more towards the blue end of the spectrum. Your photos look to be much closer to 5000k or 6000k thats one of the reasons your corals look a bit pale and brown.