Light settings?

[CoryEaster23]

I have a 20 gallon saltwater aquarium and rite now I have a Fluval sea led 32 watt light does anyone know good settings to have set up on it? As of now it’s set to 85% blue and 70% purple. Thanks in advance

 

[Ron Reefman]

It's hard to recommend settings without knowing what kind of things you have (or plan to have) in the tank. I'm not that familiar with the Fuval led fixture. 32 watts doesn't sound like much, but then you have a very shallow tank, right? Like 12"?

Running more blue spectrum, like you are, is a good start. Are you running any white at all? Other spectrum are still important to other aspects of coral health.

 

[CoryEaster23]

It's hard to recommend settings without knowing what kind of things you have (or plan to have) in the tank. I'm not that familiar with the Fuval led fixture. 32 watts doesn't sound like much, but then you have a very shallow tank, right? Like 12"?

Running more blue spectrum, like you are, is a good start. Are you running any white at all? Other spectrum are still important to other aspects of coral health.

As of rite now I have a BTA, a hammer coral , 2 acans , and Zoas and not I’m not running white just blues and purple. But I have settings on the app for red, cyan, and white but everyone I talked to tell me to use just blues and purples so I didn’t know forsure

 

[Ron Reefman]

Your corals have a symbiotic algae inside the polyps called zooxanthellae. That algae does photosynthesis using mostly blue spectrum. That is what feeds the coral as much or more than the food we put in the tank. I suspect that your curent fixture is not producing the kind of PAR (Photosyntheticly Active Radiation) that could be more useful to the coral. The addition of some (not a lot) of white light would increase the PAR. Untill you get a fixture that can produce enough PAR, I'd add a few hours (3 to 5) of white light at midday along with the blue.

Coral also produces proteins, amino acids, pigments and more which are processes that are helped by access to other color spectrum. Your coral can 'survive' on only blue spectrum light for a long, long time. But it will grow healthier and faster if it get some (it doesn't need a lot) of white or red light.

People shy away from red (I do too) and white because it helps photosynthesis in other nuisance algae in the tank. But that algae is pretty easy to control by limiting nitrate and phosphate (think fertilizer) in the tank.

 

[CoryEaster23]

Your corals have a symbiotic algae inside the polyps called zooxanthellae. That algae does photosynthesis using mostly blue spectrum. That is what feeds the coral as much or more than the food we put in the tank. I suspect that your curent fixture is not producing the kind of PAR (Photosyntheticly Active Radiation) that could be more useful to the coral. The addition of some (not a lot) of white light would increase the PAR. Untill you get a fixture that can produce enough PAR, I'd add a few hours (3 to 5) of white light at midday along with the blue.

Coral also produces proteins, amino acids, pigments and more which are processes that are helped by access to other color spectrum. Your coral can 'survive' on only blue spectrum light for a long, long time. But it will grow healthier and faster if it get some (it doesn't need a lot) of white or red light.

People shy away from red (I do too) and white because it helps photosynthesis in other nuisance algae in the tank. But that algae is pretty easy to control by limiting nitrate and phosphate (think fertilizer) in the tank.

So would you put the white on a little less than what my blue is

 

[zapbap99]

id put white on like 5-10% blues on like 60% and purple same. hard to say though dont know much about those lights par etc.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Whatever you are running the blue at (85%?), then run the white between 25% and 50% of that, say between 20% and 40%. It's not rocket science. The corals will be OK unless you get the light too intense. I don't think your fixture is that strong, but on the other hand, your tank is shallow (less depth of water means more intensity gets to the bottom of the tank).

 

[old salt reefer]

I have a 20 gallon long with a Current USA IC PRO loop set up. It has two 27 watt light strips for a total of 54 watts. I run my blues/purple at 100%, white at 30% and red and green at 5%. I can "grow" SPS coral down to about 10 inches deep in the tank(Monti cap). Other SPS (Anacroporia,Monti digi, etc.) grows well 8 inches and above. I think you should run your blues/purple at 100% and add in some white, maybe 20% to 30%. You could double your light output if you added/bought a 2nd light strip(just saying).

 

[CoryEaster23]

Whatever you are running the blue at (85%?), then run the white between 25% and 50% of that, say between 20% and 40%. It's not rocket science. The corals will be OK unless you get the light too intense. I don't think your fixture is that strong, but on the other hand, your tank is shallow (less depth of water means more intensity gets to the bottom of the tank).

I know it’s not rocket science but I’m new to this whole thing so just trying to figure out my best possible setup. Rite now everything is going great that’s why I’m asking so I don’t do something stupid and mess stuff up ya know?

 

[zapbap99]

I know it’s not rocket science but I’m new to this whole thing so just trying to figure out my best possible setup. Rite now everything is going great that’s why I’m asking so I don’t do something stupid and mess stuff up ya know?

best option is to lower it and dont change it often, changing often and tweaking your corals will hate it

 

[Ron Reefman]

best option is to lower it and dont change it often, changing often and tweaking your corals will hate it

Corals in the wild see differing light all the time. Change in seasons, clouds, storms... changing the intensity of your fixture will not upset the coral. Now too dim and the zooxanthellae won't do photosynthesis and too intense and it will bleach the coral. But in between there is a LOT of room.

 

[CoryEaster23]

Corals in the wild see differing light all the time. Change in seasons, clouds, storms... changing the intensity of your fixture will not upset the coral. Now too dim and the zooxanthellae won't do photosynthesis and too intense and it will bleach the coral. But in between there is a LOT of room.

So would you recommend if blues and purples are 85% that white should be 15%?

 

[Paulie069]

So would you recommend if blues and purples are 85% that white should be 15%?

Wow I had no idea that I’d need a college degree and a lab coat to light up aquarium.
lol. Was just browsing this thread because I too am starting a new tank for my seahorses. Only thing though is I plan on all fake stuff for my tank but I will have some live rock Heck I don’t even know name of my light but it’s big and has pretty colors. And that’s as much as I know at this time.
not afraid to say I’m clueless to all this , and all them big fancy words that I can’t pronounce. But I will know everything I need to before I put my seahorses in there

 

[Ron Reefman]

So would you recommend if blues and purples are 85% that white should be 15%?

Anywhere from 10% to 25% would be a good place to start. I'd start with a low percentage and ramp it up 5% after a week or two, just to give everybody time to acclimate to the change. But that small a change shouldn't be a big deal.

Wow I had no idea that I’d need a college degree and a lab coat to light up aquarium.
lol. Was just browsing this thread because I too am starting a new tank for my seahorses. Only thing though is I plan on all fake stuff for my tank but I will have some live rock Heck I don’t even know name of my light but it’s big and has pretty colors. And that’s as much as I know at this time.
not afraid to say I’m clueless to all this , and all them big fancy words that I can’t pronounce. But I will know everything I need to before I put my seahorses in there

If you just have the sea horses in the tank and no live corals, any light will do. The sea horses, just like the fish, are fine with even dim white light. They don't do an photosynthesis, so it doesn't matter. If you have the ability to run white and blue independently, then set them at a color mix and intensity you like. In fact, the sea horses might actually like it a bit more on the dim side as they tend to live on the ocean floor in the grass beds.

 

[Paulie069]

Anywhere from 10% to 25% would be a good place to start. I'd start with a low percentage and ramp it up 5% after a week or two, just to give everybody time to acclimate to the change. But that small a change shouldn't be a big deal.



If you just have the sea horses in the tank and no live corals, any light will do. The sea horses, just like the fish, are fine with even dim white light. They don't do an photosynthesis, so it doesn't matter. If you have the ability to run white and blue independently, then set them at a color mix and intensity you like. In fact, the sea horses might actually like it a bit more on the dim side as they tend to live on the ocean floor in the grass beds.

Ok this is my light all I know is it’s pretty when lit up

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ok this is my light all I know is it’s pretty when lit up

Two points, you should probably start your own thread and leave this one to the OP.

Viparspectra is a very good led fixture. 55 leds at 3 watts each is enough to grow difficult corals at 20" deep in the tank.

 

[Paulie069]

Two points, you should probably start your own thread and leave this one to the OP.

Viparspectra is a very good led fixture. 55 leds at 3 watts each is enough to grow difficult corals at 20" deep in the tank.

Two points, you should probably start your own thread and leave this one to the OP.

Viparspectra is a very good led fixture. 55 leds at 3 watts each is enough to grow difficult corals at 20" deep in the tank.

Ur right wasn’t thinking. Sorry Corey this is ur gig