Blue lighting?

leighla wolf · Nov 1, 2020

I think we can all agree that corals need light, (especially for husbandry and aquaculture). How much light and from what part of the spectrum we use is debatable and based on personal tank parameters. If you want to go all blue, go blue! If you want more whites, go whites. Albeit, many newer less seasoned reefers like myself who’s water quality may not be perfect and have fluctuations because I don’t have a dosed have move leniency for tank issues in blues because more whites grow algae if the tank is over fed or under staffed in cuc.... both of which I sheepishly admit to doing.

lemonade · Nov 1, 2020

(not my image) but this thriving acropora dominated reef, and it’s in maybe 10-15ft of water. I’m not sure why there’s this perception of natural reefs being heavy on the blue spectrum. There are corals that grow fine and probably even prefer heavy blue light, but not Acropora.

leighla wolf · Nov 1, 2020

lemonade said:
(not my image) but this thriving acropora dominated reef, and it’s in maybe 10-15ft of water. I’m not sure why there’s this perception of natural reefs being heavy on the blue spectrum. There are corals that grow fine and probably even prefer heavy blue light, but not Acropora.

I believe many like the blues because they cause certain less natural looking colors to pop almost flourescently and fare well with softer corals like zoas. However, even looking at the photo posted, the reef colors under a whiter spectrum look natural. I think lighting choice really depends on if you want a natural look or a almost “Alice in wonderland” aquashella feel.

Both are beautiful in my opinion

lemonade · Nov 1, 2020

leighla wolf said:
I believe many like the blues because they cause certain less natural looking colors to pop almost flourescently and fare well with softer corals like zoas. However, even looking at the photo posted, the reef colors under a whiter spectrum look natural. I think lighting choice really depends on if you want a natural look or a almost “Alice in wonderland” aquashella feel. Both are beautiful in my opinion

It’s not about the look as much as it is the health and what a full spectrum does for the corals. The acropora on that reef would fluoresce brighter than any tank grown coral or coral grown under blue light. If you want your corals to look the best under blues then having a balanced spectrum for the majority of your photoperiod is crucial. Healthy corals = colorful corals and IMO no acropora in a tank lit with heavy blues will reach its full potential.

JCOLE · Nov 2, 2020

lemonade said:
It’s not about the look as much as it is the health and what a full spectrum does for the corals. The acropora on that reef would fluoresce brighter than any tank grown coral or coral grown under blue light. If you want your corals to look the best under blues then having a balanced spectrum for the majority of your photoperiod is crucial. Healthy corals = colorful corals and IMO no acropora in a tank lit with heavy blues will reach its full potential.

Again, This!

I ran my tank off LEDs over a year before switching to T5s. After switching, 90% of my corals were brown turds. They popped under LEDs but that was just trick lighting. After just a week of a 50/50 mix of T5s I am seeing colors I never seen before. All of my pieces look a lot healthier than ever before. I put on some blue LEDs last night for the first time after the T5s were finished and the POP was insane.

I feel that over the last couple of years LEDs and flourescent Tenius have been the rage in this hobby. However, I think we are starting to see the shift back because I am noticing a lot of tanks that are stepping away from the disco club tanks.

Again, dont get me wrong. Not trying to start a debate of LEDS vs T5s and Halides. I know they all have their place. Just pointing out that when you give the user an option to change color settings then I think that could be detrimental to the health of the corals. Unless you know the exact spectrum/intensity given throughout the whole tank with your color choice.

jda · Nov 2, 2020

Too many people believing and parroting too much dumb stuff that they heard or have read. Red penetrates at least 30 meters - which is deeper than most will go to collect coral which are mostly collected on one breath with masks and snorkels. To get down to blue-only water, you need some James Cameron mini submarines and nobody goes that deep. The expensive equipment meant to go down a bit deeper is used to catch fish which command 10x-100x more than corals. Even IR and UV (true UV) penetrate to where nearly all of the coral in our tanks come from.

There is more to keeping coral than just chlorophyl reaction and charts. First, only a few strains are ever added just so that LED companies can convince the people in the paragraph above - there are many that work in different ranges that what people see. Every bit of spectrum from about 350-850 is important. Then, you also have straight reflection - you cannot reflect light that is not there. You also have sunscreen type of pigments that do not develop in limited range of lighting. You will see this a lot if you stick around and read - red is needed for deeper blues and also for reds. Green for other things, etc.

In the end, you pretty much need full spectrum to render all of the color in your corals. ...then "blue it up" to your tastes to illuminate them. Not all blue light is truly just blue - blue plus is a full spectrum light that looks blue to our eyes whereas a blue LED is just blue (usually). Blue alone in just "illumination mode" is not enough for the best looking and fastest growing coral.

The only place where heavy blues and blue-only works is when a reefer is not talented enough to get any color out of a coral - but this is usually short lived and you don't want to live here. Blue only can make some corals look very nice, but they have to have the color to begin with.