Dumb question about blues

[seanarino]

Tank is in repair stage but you get the idea

That isn't too bad.... the sand is really hard to look at but I think the actual colors in the water aren't horrible...?

 

[steveschuerger]

For you, perhaps. I'm autistic and I have severe sensory issues, and looking at the "brilliant blues" is like sticking needles in my eyes. It's physically painful and I feel like everything looks darker after I've looked at the blue lights for a few seconds.

I’d say bump the whites , red, green so there’s more mixing. During the middle of the day I prefer a more daylight type look, even though my blues are at 50% at the peak part of the day. And a few of my fish will only come out with a brighter look. You could leave whites on til they shut down for the day . But if you want coral, some blues are necessary.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

That isn't too bad.... the sand is really hard to look at but I think the actual colors in the water aren't horrible...?

The viparspectra allows you to change your intensity to what ever you want. That's set 70 blue 6o white. Turn it to 60 40

 

[Cichlid Dad]

That isn't too bad.... the sand is really hard to look at but I think the actual colors in the water aren't horrible...?

And it's not that bright in person

 

[seanarino]

The viparspectra allows you to change your intensity to what ever you want. That's set 70 blue 6o white. Turn it to 60 40

How many viparspectra lights would be suitable for a 75 gallon? I imagine two would do the job.

 

[steveschuerger]

Here’s my tank in the middle of the day. I do use an orange filter but the general look is the same to my naked eye

 

[Cichlid Dad]

How many viparspectra lights would be suitable for a 75 gallon? I imagine two would do the job.

Two for a mixed reef, one for a softy 3 for a sps tank

 

[marinesnow]

With my current nicrew, during the day (the 6 hours I have the whites on) is fine, but the 1 hour of blue wind down is really hard to look at.

Those would break my bank. I can't see radions from google's shopping preview less than $500 - the AIs aren't... horrific... I guess... and Kessils for me have the same issue as the radions. I'm pretty limited in the money department (especially since I don't have control of my own money).

I buy most of my reef equipment second hand from other reefers on local reef forums, reef2reef, or Facebook and it saves a pretty penny.

The latest and newest reef lights are over engineered, as reef lighting tech has reached a saturation point (no pun intended). You can grow all coral with older lights as you can with todays. You might want to check out the older generations of radions—the gen 2 and gen 3 versions. There are also more cost effective LEDs like reef breeders and reef uno.

Also you don’t need the blue ramp down. Just dim the whites til lights out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For you, perhaps. I'm autistic and I have severe sensory issues, and looking at the "brilliant blues" is like sticking needles in my eyes. It's physically painful and I feel like everything looks darker after I've looked at the blue lights for a few seconds.

I understand.

 

[seanarino]

Here’s my tank in the middle of the day. I do use an orange filter but the general look is the same to my naked eye

I wouldn't say that looks bad - I don't know what the light is but this image looks decent. Though, you did say it's with an orange filter.

I buy most of my reef equipment second hand from other reefers on local reef forums, reef2reef, or Facebook and it saves a pretty penny.

The latest and newest reef equipment is over engineered, as reef lighting tech has reached a saturation point (no pun intended). You can grow all coral with older lights as you can with todays. You might want to check out the older generations of radions—the gen 2 and gen 3 versions. There are also more cost effective LEDs like reef breeders and reef uno.

Also you don’t need the blue ramp down. Just dim the whites til lights out.

Unfortunately, with the used equipment: I'm in an area where people aren't doing a lot of reef stuff, and anybody who does have reef stuff and is selling cheap equipment doesn't want to ship. I can't do pickup, and I can't do drop-off (the people I live with are very 'stranger-danger' to "random people from the internet"), and I don't have much money (or any control of my money) so I'm a sitting duck six ways from Sunday. I'm allowed to do one "big" order a month and it's gotta be less than the cost of a single Radion light.
The other stuff you mentioned is just as expensive, unfortunately, and I already put in my big order (~$290) for the month... Also, the light I'm using is a Nicrew, its timers are built like that already and it's non-programmable save for the time the lights come on and the time they go off. There's a white channel and a blue channel.

 

[marinesnow]

I wouldn't say that looks bad - I don't know what the light is but this image looks decent. Though, you did say it's with an orange filter.


Unfortunately, with the used equipment: I'm in an area where people aren't doing a lot of reef stuff, and anybody who does have reef stuff and is selling cheap equipment doesn't want to ship. I can't do pickup, and I can't do drop-off (the people I live with are very 'stranger-danger' to "random people from the internet"), and I don't have much money (or any control of my money) so I'm a sitting duck six ways from Sunday. I'm allowed to do one "big" order a month and it's gotta be less than the cost of a single Radion light.
The other stuff you mentioned is just as expensive, unfortunately, and I already put in my big order (~$290) for the month... Also, the light I'm using is a Nicrew, its timers are built like that already and it's non-programmable save for the time the lights come on and the time they go off. There's a white channel and a blue channel.

Makes sense. This hobby is darn expensive haha. I saved up for a very long time before buying my recent setup.

 

[steveschuerger]

I wouldn't say that looks bad - I don't know what the light is but this image looks decent. Though, you did say it's with an orange filter.


Unfortunately, with the used equipment: I'm in an area where people aren't doing a lot of reef stuff, and anybody who does have reef stuff and is selling cheap equipment doesn't want to ship. I can't do pickup, and I can't do drop-off (the people I live with are very 'stranger-danger' to "random people from the internet"), and I don't have much money (or any control of my money) so I'm a sitting duck six ways from Sunday. I'm allowed to do one "big" order a month and it's gotta be less than the cost of a single Radion light.
The other stuff you mentioned is just as expensive, unfortunately, and I already put in my big order (~$290) for the month... Also, the light I'm using is a Nicrew, its timers are built like that already and it's non-programmable save for the time the lights come on and the time they go off. There's a white channel and a blue channel.

Yah , I hear you. Biggest thing is just make it white enough to tolerate. Also the tank gets hit with natural light from a nearby window so that helps too. My eyes can take blue, but for the most part I don‘t want my tank to look like a black light convention.

 

[marinesnow]

…black light convention.

Lol. Queue the rave music.

 

[seanarino]

Makes sense. This hobby is darn expensive haha. I saved up for a very long time before buying my recent setup.

Some of the stuff I had already, like my filter and the tank itself. The rest I had to slowly accumulate. Ironically this would have been easier if I just bought the 10g FOWLR kit from BRS, but it was sold out... until the day I ordered everything, in which it came back in stock literally right after I made the order... Sighs.

If anything, to vent for a moment, I'm just exhausted because I feel like I'm struggling in 20 feet of water with lead weights on my ankles while everybody else is standing in 3 inches of water; and I always see all these posts about everybody trading equipment or gifting equipment, and they all live so close by each other, and they're able to go pick it up and drop it off themselves and I can't do ANY of that because I'm not allowed or not able to... I dunno, it's frustrating.

It's a struggle for me and a breeze for everybody else, it seems. While everybody else is wondering how to set up their new $3,000 Apex kit and their CO2 scrubbers and calcium reactors and ozone machines, I'm wondering how to keep my eyes from hurting from the strong blue lights I don't even technically have yet because my 75g fish tank's still freshwater...

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Just remember the photos you see in pictures are brighter and bluer then in real real world. With light that have adjustable blue and white channels, and light intensity adjustment, you have full control of what you see. If you want lower light then plan on low light coral, you can still have a beautiful reef.

 

[seanarino]

Just remember the photos you see in pictures are brighter and bluer then in real real world. With light that have adjustable blue and white channels, and light intensity adjustment, you have full control of what you see. If you want lower light then plan on low light coral, you can still have a beautiful reef.

I'm now wondering, since the lights I bought were those cheap "lominie" brand on Amazon, if I could just run a normal, full-spectrum white light alongside them...

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I'm now wondering, since the lights I bought were those cheap "lominie" brand on Amazon, if I could just run a normal, full-spectrum white light alongside them...

Try that , It just might work

 

[seanarino]

Try that , It just might work

I do have a few random "fake fluorescent" ballasts to try it with. (For context: they look exactly like fluorescent ballasts but it's a lie, they're LEDs covered by a frosted plastic tube.)

 

[seanarino]

Try that , It just might work

If it wasn't for the fact that nothing tells you "what" LEDs to get to make a DIY LED light, I would just do that... But nothing tells you "what" LEDs you need, only "this is the spectrum you should be in, figure it out"... All the images are just pictures of the spectrum graphs but no numbers, color names, kelvin temperatures, nothing...

 

[PhishMonger84]

there is a reason every website is blue, Facebook, LinkedIn, ect. i used to sell a healthcare IT product that used that scheme too. the reason is as we age blue remains one of the colors we can see best. i don't think you'll have an issue. maybe build a hood