Do blue LEDs narrow our reefkeeping choice?

Reef Builders · Jan 1, 2023

I’m lucky enough to be able to dive some of the best reefs the ocean gods have given us, but there is not a single dive that I pass a coral or a fish, and wonder why they are not more popular in reef aquariums. Inspecting coral farms around Indonesia, I always wonder why this…
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spsick · Jan 1, 2023

It is wild that naturally stunning coral and fish are passed on for stuff that looks cool only under blues, but blacklight posters were popular when I was young and they turned out to be a fad as well….

rtparty · Jan 1, 2023

Blue LEDs are one of the best and worst things that has happened. I’d say there is nothing in this hobby that has killed more animals than the switch to LEDs

beesnreefs · Jan 1, 2023

Reef Builders said:
I’m lucky enough to be able to dive some of the best reefs the ocean gods have given us, but there is not a single dive that I pass a coral or a fish, and wonder why they are not more popular in reef aquariums. Inspecting coral farms around Indonesia, I always wonder why this…
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The purple tort in this article is absolute

I’m running ATi Stratons and loving the daylight look. Where could I get a legit chunk of that kind of purple tort?

JetsIrish · Jan 1, 2023

When I was first looking to get into the hobby, I couldn’t understand the appeal of the blue/actinic look.

But now that I’ve gotten into it, I have come around. The corals (and even the sand) really pop under blues. My wife complains that the tank looks a bit like a desert under a more white spectrum.

Maybe I just need to pick better corals. To that end, what are some of your favorite non-sps corals under whiter/full spectrum?

Tamberav · Jan 2, 2023

He’s Mg

JetsIrish said:
When I was first looking to get into the hobby, I couldn’t understand the appeal of the blue/actinic look.

But now that I’ve gotten into it, I have come around. The corals (and even the sand) really pop under blues. My wife complains that the tank looks a bit like a desert under a more white spectrum.

Maybe I just need to pick better corals. To that end, what are some of your favorite non-sps corals under whiter/full spectrum?

Yellow Fiji leather, pink or yellow or white or so photosynthetic stereonepthea, purple/red/yellow gorgs and red Xenia off the top of my head. Lots of soft corals look great under whiter.

Lots of acros too.

LPS seem to favor blue though.

JetsIrish · Jan 2, 2023

Tamberav said:
He’s Mg

Yellow Fiji leather, pink or yellow or white or so photosynthetic stereonepthea, purple/red/yellow gorgs and red Xenia off the top of my head. Lots of soft corals look great under whiter.

Lots of acros too.

LPS seem to favor blue though.

Thanks. I’ll look into these.

open to other suggestions from anyone else as well.

gbru316 · Jan 2, 2023

I love coral "pop" as much as the next reefer but it's just so... unnatural. I've never been able to stomach my tank running a super blue spectrum. Even AB+ is a bit too blue for my taste. And my wife thinks it looks like something you'd find in a teenage boy's room.

I'm gradually going back to a more natural spectrum -- shooting for somewhere around the 14k range that was popular back in the metal halide days. A bit bluer than 10k, but not nearly 20k Radium blue. I can always set sunrise and sunset to be more blue.

GARRIGA · Jan 2, 2023

Prefer a white spectrum that leans blue. The black light look has never appealed to me. Had a relative that had a room with black light and I think they might have been doing real shrooms, too.

Anemone_Fanatic · Jan 2, 2023

I love glowing corals as much as anybody, but the naturalistic look of a tank with white lighting can't be denied. I have my LEDs set at 60% white, 40% blue. I don't have any corals yet, but it already looks better than with mainly blues.