How much white is too much white light?

[Parker6923]

I’m currently rocking 2 ai 32 hydras over a 120 gal display with the intention of setting up a mixed reef. I know how important the blue light spectrum is for coral growth and maintenance, but later in the night my family complains that the lights are too blue and is too much to look at. I don’t want to set the schedule earlier because then I can’t enjoy the tank at night but I currently have to. Would it be bad to coral development to have an hour or two of solely white light? For example 8 hours of a normal spectrum then 2 of just white? (I’ll have access to a par meter in a couple days).

 

[unchaotic]

I wouldn't go with just white at any point. Visually the whites will overpower the blues so you can leave the blue on and not notice them that much.

The one thing I read from a guy that used to work for Ocean Revive is that you probably need whites set higher than you think. We see the white lights spectrum more than the blue so they look super bright but are probably significantly less powerful than the blue. Checking that concept with the par meter would be a good idea.

Personally, I know that having recently turned my whites up a bit more (everybody with black box/Ocean Revive lights seem to set the whites in the low single digits) the corals are starting to get the pastel tissue color back on them. A severe lack of white light led to browned out coral that glowed intensely in the blue lights.