Lighting color question

[Neckbone]

Most if not all LED fixtures have adjustable RGBW settings. For coral growth do I need to crank up the white setting? I like the color best with the white setting turned down a bit Is that going to inhibit growth? It seems most people have pretty blue spectrums.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Most if not all LED fixtures have adjustable RGBW settings. For coral growth do I need to crank up the white setting? I like the color best with the white setting turned down a bit Is that going to inhibit growth? It seems most people have pretty blue spectrums.

The blue spectrum is favored because it's the spectrum that the zooxanthellae inside our corals utilize to photosynthesize. The white spectrum is also utilized but not as much, adding in the white has to do alot with aesthetics and viewing your fish and coral

 

[tiggs]

It comes down to spectrum more than actual color. For example, here's the Ecotech Coral Lab documentation on the settings they use for their research setups. The most popular setup is recreating their SPS AB+ spectrum, which can be found on page 7 in the link below..

https://ecotechmarine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ReefWholesale_CoralLab.pdf

 

[mcarroll]

You should set the color (and intensity) how you like it and then forget how to make changes and leave it be. Your preference is not wrong.

Are you farming coral, or why a special emphasis on coral growth?

You'll find that they need lots of the basic nutrients and stability for growth. Lights are only one of many important factors to coral health.

 

[Bpb]

Yep. You’d be better served to set them a little lower than you think, tune them how you like the way it looks, and never touch them anymore. Focus on flow, food, and nutrient control/water parameters. Those are all more important for coral growth than light is. Light is just always the first variable people look at since it’s the most obvious. I

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Find a color combo you like to look at and then set the intensity with a par or lux meter according to your livestock.

There are 20,000 kelvin metal halide and 10k metal halides. Both grow coral very well.

Fwiw , reef led are not rgbw.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I would try to tune for 14-17K for the best of both color and growth. If you want more growth tune closer to 10k. 6.5-10k MH has been the standard for coral growth for 20+ years. The Radion template for color is very 20K and the growth template is more 10k to my eye. AB+ is a 15-16K with more or a pink blue hue to me and is a great proven choice, falls in that 14-17k medium between 14-17k range.