Lighting spectrum advice

[Shilpan Patel]

Hey team! Just upgraded to hydra 26’s x2 for my 100gallon softie and now LPS tank. Parameters are Ca= 390, Alk=8.3 Mg=1285. Some of my softies which were dying have come back to life now which is great! (I had no T5’s for 2 weeks cause my bulb unit died).

I’m learning about lighting spectrums and I’m getting a bit confused on how to choose a spectrum. Do you guys have any advice for me in regards to the science behind understanding why we choose the spectrums we do? Maybe a link to another post which explains this?
Currently I’m just going along with with something I found on YouTube with very little understanding about why I’m using it. I have 55%UV, 130%RB 100%B 25%CoolWhite and Tiny amounts of R and G and my lights go from 1pm - 10pm so I can inspect the tank when I get home.

Thank you team,

 

[Ranjib]

bump

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Hey team! Just upgraded to hydra 26’s x2 for my 100gallon softie and now LPS tank. Parameters are Ca= 390, Alk=8.3 Mg=1285. Some of my softies which were dying have come back to life now which is great! (I had no T5’s for 2 weeks cause my bulb unit died).

I’m learning about lighting spectrums and I’m getting a bit confused on how to choose a spectrum. Do you guys have any advice for me in regards to the science behind understanding why we choose the spectrums we do? Maybe a link to another post which explains this?
Currently I’m just going along with with something I found on YouTube with very little understanding about why I’m using it. I have 55%UV, 130%RB 100%B 25%CoolWhite and Tiny amounts of R and G and my lights go from 1pm - 10pm so I can inspect the tank when I get home.

Thank you team,

I have 1-26 HD on my 29 gallon frag tank 14” above the water.

This produces about 230 par 8” below the surface

 

[jda]

Generally speaking, daylight for coral growth and true color rendering in the coral. Blue to your taste to illuminate them. I have no idea how to do this with a Hydra 26, but it should be achievable.

 

[blasterman]

The only thing you need to know about lighting spectrum with coral is you need mostly blue light, and pretty much all reef lighting fixtures do this fine.

Pull up the spectrograph of every reef light made of any technology that grows corals well and they will all have the same thing in common. That's most of their energy emitting in the 440-465nm range which is blue. No one has proven if any other color matters, especially UV ~400nm which only started showing up as the Chinese figured out how to make those LEDs.

The extra colors are there for your own taste.