BigRedSquid
Active Member
Can running more blue light then white change the color of your corals.?
Lighting and corals?!?
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BigRedSquid
Active Member
I guess Noone knows"/
Gotta get some more views. Its a very good question, one that I have no idea on the answer.
BigRedSquid
Active Member
Is that why u bumped it ha
ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
Yes. Depending on what type of corals.
Too much blue light has been linked to morphing zoa and some lps. I'm not going to even try and guess on the ratio. I have noticed some of mine change with only 1 of 6 bulbs being white, but this was because of the white. The polyps that are in more shaded areas are the original color, but in the white they change. Most of my rainbow acan turn red or orange because they get the white light.
BigRedSquid
Active Member
Yeah my scolys color is changing and it's awesome
TJ's Reef
Valuable Member
YES, absolutely! Different Zooxanthellae species use different colored light spectrum and themselves are differently colored (yellow, brown or red)
As an example in my system even though under full spectrum LED's I have what was once a bright neon pink shallow-water Stylopora that ended up directly under a pair of Blue/Royal Blue emitters and turned a very dull purple brown in coloration. Recently I've moved it under a 10K white and better blended light in general and is now slowly returning to original Pink coloration. Deep water photosynthetic corals have evolved with symbiotic algae that primarily uses the Violet to Blue spectrum while most shallow water species have more of a diversity to their's and also use the green and a bit of red spectrum. A good example is of the Mari-culture facilities having most of the rearing platforms set at around 15-20' or in shallow vats in Greenhouses for ease of maintenance tend to hold their bright colors if from shallow water originally or can change significantly if from a deep water environment. Once in our systems deep water corals can/will convert back to original color if kept under 20K or remain the same under full spectrum. Then of course opposite is true for shallow water species.
Cheers, Todd
As an example in my system even though under full spectrum LED's I have what was once a bright neon pink shallow-water Stylopora that ended up directly under a pair of Blue/Royal Blue emitters and turned a very dull purple brown in coloration. Recently I've moved it under a 10K white and better blended light in general and is now slowly returning to original Pink coloration. Deep water photosynthetic corals have evolved with symbiotic algae that primarily uses the Violet to Blue spectrum while most shallow water species have more of a diversity to their's and also use the green and a bit of red spectrum. A good example is of the Mari-culture facilities having most of the rearing platforms set at around 15-20' or in shallow vats in Greenhouses for ease of maintenance tend to hold their bright colors if from shallow water originally or can change significantly if from a deep water environment. Once in our systems deep water corals can/will convert back to original color if kept under 20K or remain the same under full spectrum. Then of course opposite is true for shallow water species.
Cheers, Todd
BigRedSquid
Active Member
Thanks for the input guys it's helped alot. Keep them coming
Ron Reefman
Lets Go Snorkeling!
Reef Squad
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Article Contributor
Tampa Bay Reef Keepers
MAC of SW Florida
TJ is right. different color spectrum can change the color of your coral. There are 3 issues at work here (as best I understand it).
First is the basic light and color we see when we look at a coral, or anything else for that matter, is reflected light. So a 'true' full spectrum light (for now, MH and t5) has all the spectrum of light (400nm thru 700nm) to reflect off your coral, therefore you see all the colors well. Most 'full spectrum' leds are really 'multi spectrum' fixtures. There are 300 different wave lengths between UV (shorter than 400nm) and IR (longer than 700nm). And most led fixtures hit 10 to 20 wavelengths (with some spill over to nearby wavelengths). You get something like this: 420nm violet, 440nm and 460nm blue, 520nm green and 650nm red along with 1, 2 or 3 different shades of white. And the white leds are mostly just a wavelength of red, green and blue that mix to look white to our eyes. But remember, coral doesn't have our eyes, so they 'see' red, green and blue, not white. So thats 5 wavelengths of color and 3, 6 or 9 more wavelengths as white leds. If the wavelength of light isn't emitted from the light, it obviously can't reflect back to you off the coral. Example: Just run the blue leds and hold a white card in the light (the white card reflects all colors) and what color is it? IT's blue. The light makes blue wavelengths, it's reflected off the white card and you see blue even thought the card is white (because white reflects all colors). Now hold a yellow card under the blue leds and what color do you get? It's gray. There is no yellow wavelenght in the blue light, so there is no yellow to be reflected back to your eyes. So the color coming from your light affects what color you see reflected back to your eyes.
Second is the work the coral and the zooxanthellae do. Just like you turn colors if you go out in the sun for any length of time (you turn tan or red), your corals will create pigments that make colors that help protect them from various colors of light and/or the zooxanthellae may change because of the presence of a different color of light. As TJ said, a deep water coral doesn't get any red light (red only penetrates water about 10 feet). Then we put it in a shallow tank with red leds and red spectrum in the white leds. The coral and it's zooxanthellae don't like red spectrum so they make pigments and turn colors to protect themselves. You add different wavelengths of light and the corals react by making new colors of pigment. BTW, this process typically takes 30 to 60 days. I have some very nice shallow water zoas from the Florida Keys that had good sunlight in just 2 feet of water and they are a pretty light pea green. But after 30 days under my leds at a PAR of 400 they turn a gorgeous aqua blue! Dial back the light intensity and they go back to being light green.
Third is the color some coral pigments make, they actually produce their own light. These pigments are made by the coral and take in shorter wavelengths like blue and they use some of that energy to produce their own longer wavelength (less energy) light in green, yellow, red... whatever. That is why some corals under just blue leds (you don't need UV) still look green, yellow, orange and red. Remember the experiment above? So now you have a green coral and put it under just blue leds and it looks yellow. Now put a green card under the same blue led and what color is it? It's gray. There is no green wavelength to reflect, so it can't look green. Well there is no yellow wavelength either, so why does the coral look yellow (and a bright yellow at that)? It's because there is a pigment that is actually making the yellow color and emitting it like a lightbulb (that's why it's so bright).
So changing the color of your lights, even different shades of white, can change the colors you see. It may be due to your eyes, or the colors made by the coral or even the colors emitted by the coral. Some can change dramatically and some may not change at all.
First is the basic light and color we see when we look at a coral, or anything else for that matter, is reflected light. So a 'true' full spectrum light (for now, MH and t5) has all the spectrum of light (400nm thru 700nm) to reflect off your coral, therefore you see all the colors well. Most 'full spectrum' leds are really 'multi spectrum' fixtures. There are 300 different wave lengths between UV (shorter than 400nm) and IR (longer than 700nm). And most led fixtures hit 10 to 20 wavelengths (with some spill over to nearby wavelengths). You get something like this: 420nm violet, 440nm and 460nm blue, 520nm green and 650nm red along with 1, 2 or 3 different shades of white. And the white leds are mostly just a wavelength of red, green and blue that mix to look white to our eyes. But remember, coral doesn't have our eyes, so they 'see' red, green and blue, not white. So thats 5 wavelengths of color and 3, 6 or 9 more wavelengths as white leds. If the wavelength of light isn't emitted from the light, it obviously can't reflect back to you off the coral. Example: Just run the blue leds and hold a white card in the light (the white card reflects all colors) and what color is it? IT's blue. The light makes blue wavelengths, it's reflected off the white card and you see blue even thought the card is white (because white reflects all colors). Now hold a yellow card under the blue leds and what color do you get? It's gray. There is no yellow wavelenght in the blue light, so there is no yellow to be reflected back to your eyes. So the color coming from your light affects what color you see reflected back to your eyes.
Second is the work the coral and the zooxanthellae do. Just like you turn colors if you go out in the sun for any length of time (you turn tan or red), your corals will create pigments that make colors that help protect them from various colors of light and/or the zooxanthellae may change because of the presence of a different color of light. As TJ said, a deep water coral doesn't get any red light (red only penetrates water about 10 feet). Then we put it in a shallow tank with red leds and red spectrum in the white leds. The coral and it's zooxanthellae don't like red spectrum so they make pigments and turn colors to protect themselves. You add different wavelengths of light and the corals react by making new colors of pigment. BTW, this process typically takes 30 to 60 days. I have some very nice shallow water zoas from the Florida Keys that had good sunlight in just 2 feet of water and they are a pretty light pea green. But after 30 days under my leds at a PAR of 400 they turn a gorgeous aqua blue! Dial back the light intensity and they go back to being light green.
Third is the color some coral pigments make, they actually produce their own light. These pigments are made by the coral and take in shorter wavelengths like blue and they use some of that energy to produce their own longer wavelength (less energy) light in green, yellow, red... whatever. That is why some corals under just blue leds (you don't need UV) still look green, yellow, orange and red. Remember the experiment above? So now you have a green coral and put it under just blue leds and it looks yellow. Now put a green card under the same blue led and what color is it? It's gray. There is no green wavelength to reflect, so it can't look green. Well there is no yellow wavelength either, so why does the coral look yellow (and a bright yellow at that)? It's because there is a pigment that is actually making the yellow color and emitting it like a lightbulb (that's why it's so bright).
So changing the color of your lights, even different shades of white, can change the colors you see. It may be due to your eyes, or the colors made by the coral or even the colors emitted by the coral. Some can change dramatically and some may not change at all.
Last edited:
Daniel@R2R
Living the Reef Life
Very cool info!
