How long do you run blue LEDS

[Rconner15]

Hi,
I have a 45 gallon LPS and softie tank with current marine ic LED lights. I have the daylight cycle running for 9 hours during the day, and a moonlight cycle that runs for 6 hours. The moonlight cycle currently has the blues set to 10% intensity.

My understanding is the corals rely heavily on the blue color spectrum for their photosynthetic nutrition. Would increasing the moonlight blue intensity at night result in better coral growth?

 

[Sense of nature]

I Probably run em too long 6am to 11pm
My moon cycle is 4 hrs & iirc there needs to be a total darkness period of @ least 4 hrs.
How true it is I'm not sure.
My residents seem to be doing well( knock on wood) so I have not tried anything .

 

[redfishbluefish]

My light cycle is a total of 12 hours with the blues on for ten of those hours. Here's my cycle:

Sunrise (Nightlights) ----------- 1 hr ------ 10AM-11AM
Morning (Blues only) ----------- 3 hr ------On at 11AM
Mid-day (Blues and Whites) -- 4 hr ------- 2PM - 6PM
Afternoon (Blues) ---------------3 hr ------ Off at 9PM
Sunset (Nightlights) -------------1 hr ------ 9PM-10PM

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Actually unless it's royal blue, white and red spectrums provide better growth.. Doesn't that fixture have .5W LEDs? Half watts don't penetrate nearly as much water as full watts, so you should program accordingly.

Blue is mainly used as a contrasting color

 

[Rconner15]

I guess my main question is, should I try upping my moonlight blue intensity? Right now moonlight it is set with just blues at 10% intensity. I run the moonlight setting for 6 hours. My daylight program, which has white, red, blue, and green all running at 100%, runs for 9.5 hours. I also have 3 hours of sunrise/sunset with whites at 5%, blue at 70%, reds at 45%, and greens at 20%. This gives me 5.5 hours with lights off. Would increasing my blue intensity durning the 6 hour moonlight period be beneficial?

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Not really.. but I'd do it anyway just for personal pleasure of seeing the corals pop a bit more

 

[glweek]

Actually unless it's royal blue, white and red spectrums provide better growth.. Doesn't that fixture have .5W LEDs? Half watts don't penetrate nearly as much water as full watts, so you should program accordingly.

Blue is mainly used as a contrasting color

Where are you getting your information? par vs pur? Can you provide links to back up your claim that white and better yet RED provides better coral growth?

 

[jsker]

When I had my Orbit marnie's I ran the blue at %100 for 12 hours and my whites at 47% for 8 hours I did not run the moonlights

I currently run 12 hrs. royal blue and blue at %100 percent + and my white at %30 to 35% for eight and the reds at 10% for eight. I run the blues a 1% for the moonlight mode for 12 hrs

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Where are you getting your information? par vs pur? Can you provide links to back up your claim that white and better yet RED provides better coral growth?

Well seeing as though a true white light contains all light from the visible spectrum, it's safe to say that no matter what certain wavelength of light is best for coral growth, white light will contain said wavelength, along with all the others in the visible spectrum. That being said, there is no man made LED (that I'm aware of) that can provide a true white light as all wavelengths must be present in order to do so (which is currently not possible). The easiest and most common way to obtain a white light using LEDs is to have a 1:1:1 ratio of red, green and blue LEDs which only provides 3 differing wavelengths rather than the 300 or so needed for a true white light. Even in cheaper LED fixtures that only use those 3 colors to create a white light, you will see more sustainability of photosynthetic organisms while using the white setting than you would if you were simply using only a red, green, or blue setting (given that the fixture emits light that falls within the accepted PUR range of said organism). In higher end LED fixtures you will find more often than not their white lights provide even better growth due to the fact that they use more wavelengths in making their white LED. They do this to try to mimic a true white light as closely as possible.

That alone should be explanation enough as to why a white light provides better growth than any light with 1 given wavelength.

(It's now very late at night and I just spent the last 2 hours researching zooxanthellae)

Regarding red light providing better growth than blue light, here is what I found: (keep in mind, it's very late so this is the quickly jotted simple version, links to nearly all sources will follow)

Zooxanthelae contains 3 kinds of chlorophyll- a, b, and c. Chlorophyll A and B help in photosynthesis by absorbing light at different rates within the visible spectrum.

Although this graph may seem like it gives a clear cut answer, this isn't the case. Chlorophyll B is an accessory to Chlorophyll A meaning it's not as important in the process of photosynthesis, therefore it isn't produced as much (except for in times of little light due to its ability to absorb a broader spectrum of light). Chlorophyll A is more abundant due to the fact that it is the reaction center of the antenna array of core proteins. Although Chlorophyll A is more abundant, chlorophyll B is more absorbant.

Essentially, if you don't have lights strong enough to healthily support your coral's zooxanthellae, they will rely more on their chlorophyll B, while the opposite is true for A. This means that if you use a high output light that adequately meets the needs of your coral's zooxanthellae, a red light will yield better growth than a blue light.

Sources (missing a few)
https://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/Wavelengths_for_Colors.html

https://orphek.com/the-correct-light-spectrum/

http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-chlorophyll-a-and-b/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophyll_b

It was also delved into somewhat on this thread on a different site.. I didn't get into it much
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums#/topics/220705?page=1

 

[Dana Riddle]

A couple comments to clarify things. Zooxanthellae contain chlorophyll a. There are several photopigments that collect energy and channel this to chlorophyll a reaction centers. These photopigments include chlorophyll c2 and peridinin & are called accessory pigments. The absorption bandwidth includes blue of course, but peridinin extends it up to about 550 nm (green.) Naturally, some red wavelengths are absorbed but too much red seems to be the factor that regulates zooxanthellate density/pigment content. There are protective photopigments called xanthophylls (the diadinoxanthin/diatoxanthin cycle) that shunts blue light away from the photosynthetic process. It is obvious that too much blue light is collected by protective pigments and simply wasted (photosynthetically speaking) while too much red can cause mild (perhaps severe) bleaching.
As far as the photoperiod, their is a way to calculate the total amount of light falling upon a coral. This will require some PAR readings but is simple to do once we have that information. We can then compare that number to the amount of light received by corals in Hawaii. I have winter and summer values that I collected over the last decade while living on the Big Island of Hawaii.

 

[Luke Schnabel]

I've always run my blue lights from 10am-10pm.

With my T5 fixture I have an Actinic and Blue Plus Bulb on from 10am-10pm

Ive always had a 12hr photo period and everyone is happy it seems

 

[Ahbaloch]

Do you have 3 different timers?

My light cycle is a total of 12 hours with the blues on for ten of those hours. Here's my cycle:

Sunrise (Nightlights) ----------- 1 hr ------ 10AM-11AM
Morning (Blues only) ----------- 3 hr ------On at 11AM
Mid-day (Blues and Whites) -- 4 hr ------- 2PM - 6PM
Afternoon (Blues) ---------------3 hr ------ Off at 9PM
Sunset (Nightlights) -------------1 hr ------ 9PM-10PM

 

[redfishbluefish]

Do you have 3 different timers?

No, I have an old school reef controller....a ReefKeeper 2.

 

[Vmpgrl]

My light cycle is a total of 12 hours with the blues on for ten of those hours. Here's my cycle:

Sunrise (Nightlights) ----------- 1 hr ------ 10AM-11AM
Morning (Blues only) ----------- 3 hr ------On at 11AM
Mid-day (Blues and Whites) -- 4 hr ------- 2PM - 6PM
Afternoon (Blues) ---------------3 hr ------ Off at 9PM
Sunset (Nightlights) -------------1 hr ------ 9PM-10PM

What do you mean by “nightlights “? What percentage do you have your whites and blues on? I also run 2 black boxes and have been wanting a good schedule and this seems to be it! From 10pm to 10 am it’s all lights off? Total blackness??

 

[redfishbluefish]

What do you mean by “nightlights “? What percentage do you have your whites and blues on? I also run 2 black boxes and have been wanting a good schedule and this seems to be it! From 10pm to 10 am it’s all lights off? Total blackness??

First off @Vmpgrl , welcome to R2R.

The "nightlights" are two IceCap LED moonlights, approximately four foot long, where each fixture has 70 some-odd blue LEDs. They have the appearance of a T-5 bulb:

I originally purchased these as moonlights so that I could extend my light schedule and still enjoy the life in the tank. However, what I noticed, with these being fairly bright, is that most fish weren't going to bed. That's when I starting using these as part of my light cycle, mimicking early morning and late evening.

And YES, all lights off after 10.

 

[Vmpgrl]

First off @Vmpgrl , welcome to R2R.

The "nightlights" are two IceCap LED moonlights, approximately four foot long, where each fixture has 70 some-odd blue LEDs. They have the appearance of a T-5 bulb:

I originally purchased these as moonlights so that I could extend my light schedule and still enjoy the life in the tank. However, what I noticed, with these being fairly bright, is that most fish weren't going to bed. That's when I starting using these as part of my light cycle, mimicking early morning and late evening.

And YES, all lights off after 10.

Thank you so much for your quick reply!!

What is the white and blue percentage that you are running? I’ve been doing 50% white and 100% blue.

My lights are about 8” above the water and tank is 24” deep.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I have old fixtures....

Five foot 90 gallon tank, 21 inches deep. Two Apollo (now out of business), fixtures on the outside (not controllable...full ON or OFF, two channels). Center fixture is a Mars Aqua, approximately 30% white, 100% blue, lenses removed.

 

[Vmpgrl]

I have old fixtures....

Five foot 90 gallon tank, 21 inches deep. Two Apollo (now out of business), fixtures on the outside (not controllable...full ON or OFF, two channels). Center fixture is a Mars Aqua, approximately 30% white, 100% blue, lenses removed.

Sweet. Almost like my setup. 90g with 2 Chinese black boxes. I may have to try removing the lenses! I didn’t even know you could!

 

[Midrats]

Welcome aboard! @Vmpgrl

 

[madweazl]

A couple comments to clarify things. Zooxanthellae contain chlorophyll a. There are several photopigments that collect energy and channel this to chlorophyll a reaction centers. These photopigments include chlorophyll c2 and peridinin & are called accessory pigments. The absorption bandwidth includes blue of course, but peridinin extends it up to about 550 nm (green.) Naturally, some red wavelengths are absorbed but too much red seems to be the factor that regulates zooxanthellate density/pigment content. There are protective photopigments called xanthophylls (the diadinoxanthin/diatoxanthin cycle) that shunts blue light away from the photosynthetic process. It is obvious that too much blue light is collected by protective pigments and simply wasted (photosynthetically speaking) while too much red can cause mild (perhaps severe) bleaching.
As far as the photoperiod, their is a way to calculate the total amount of light falling upon a coral. This will require some PAR readings but is simple to do once we have that information. We can then compare that number to the amount of light received by corals in Hawaii. I have winter and summer values that I collected over the last decade while living on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Dana, do you have an article on the total light calculation by chance? I remember seeing something about it but I failed to bookmark it.