Lighting the FRONTS of corals

[eschulist]

I see no reason why this wouldn't work but its kind of an experiment.

Forever my lights have been hanging directly over the top of my corals. I have a very narrow small tank and a narrow small light. This is causing a compounded effect of creating excellent coloration from the top but the sides are very neglected. I see the reason why so many larger tanks use multiple fixtures arranged in grids with varying tilts, or adding supplemental T5s, Halides, and LED strip lights to fill in and blanket the corals from all sides.

I could at some point redo my lighting to retrofit T5s or front/back LED strips but for now I want to see how long I can go with manually alternating back and forth between 2-3 positions every few days. Pretty much whenever I change filtersocks or empty the skimmer cup I'll reset it to one of the other positions and leave it there for a few days, rinse, repeat over and over.

Normal setup

For now here is my front setup, my "stick" has been upgraded slightly since I took this photo to a 2x4" with an angle built in to hold the light fixture closer to 45 degrees to shoot more directly at the fronts.

Some coral pictures to document the progress. The undersides and fronts are very pale and have little to no polyps.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Makes you wonder though if the glass affects the amount of par that the coral is receiving?

Love the tank though!

 

[MnFish1]

Those are some nice coral - and its an. interesting idea. A couple things - more light will reflect off the outside glass (onto the floor) with it front lit - you also may have more algae growth on your glass. The look is nice though.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

I see no reason why this wouldn't work but its kind of an experiment.

Forever my lights have been hanging directly over the top of my corals. I have a very narrow small tank and a narrow small light. This is causing a compounded effect of creating excellent coloration from the top but the sides are very neglected. I see the reason why so many larger tanks use multiple fixtures arranged in grids with varying tilts, or adding supplemental T5s, Halides, and LED strip lights to fill in and blanket the corals from all sides.

I could at some point redo my lighting to retrofit T5s or front/back LED strips but for now I want to see how long I can go with manually alternating back and forth between 2-3 positions every few days. Pretty much whenever I change filtersocks or empty the skimmer cup I'll reset it to one of the other positions and leave it there for a few days, rinse, repeat over and over.

Normal setup

For now here is my front setup, my "stick" has been upgraded slightly since I took this photo to a 2x4" with an angle built in to hold the light fixture closer to 45 degrees to shoot more directly at the fronts.

Some coral pictures to document the progress. The undersides and fronts are very pale and have little to no polyps.

Beautiful corals... GLW experiment

 

[LiveWire]

The tank looks so clean that it seems photo shopped into the picture so bravo on the setup! I have seen lights on tracks in the past that move back and forth throughout the day so that you get light on all sides of the corals with only using a single light. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

 

[Mariette]

Initial reaction was: great idea! Upon more consideration, I’d have to point out 2 things. 1: as mentioned above, wonder if the light passing through the glass would effect PAR levels and 2: corals don’t get light from the side in the wild so I wonder if this is necessary or would warp their natural growth? I dunno. Just my 2 cents

 

[Dennco2000]

Beautiful tank, now stop it. Put the light back where it belongs before your wife gets home.

 

[eschulist]

The tank looks so clean that it seems photo shopped into the picture so bravo on the setup! I have seen lights on tracks in the past that move back and forth throughout the day so that you get light on all sides of the corals with only using a single light. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

Thank you.

Yes I contemplated the light mover mounted to the ceiling to move the fixture forward and backward but it wouldn't tilt. I think while it might help some the LEDs are still very narrow focused beams and they would still be aimed straight down and wouldn't illuminate the sides as much as I'd like.

Another option I may contemplate if I want to make this more permanent would be to create a Recurve style fixture. Use my original LED fixture, as Im loving the spectrum and color its producing, but add T5s mounted to the front and back with reflectors angled towards the middle. This just throws off my sleek design aesthetic by having a large bulky fixture thats larger than the tank.

 

[MnFish1]

Thank you.

Yes I contemplated the light mover mounted to the ceiling to move the fixture forward and backward but it wouldn't tilt. I think while it might help some the LEDs are still very narrow focused beans and they would still be aimed straight down and wouldn't illuminate the sides as much as I'd like.

Another option I may contemplate if I want to make this more permanent would be to create a Recurve style fixture. Use my original LED fixture, as Im loving the spectrum and color its producing, but add T5s mounted to the front and back with reflectors angled towards the middle. This just throws off my sleek design aesthetic by having a large bulky fixture thats larger than the tank.

It seems to me - that in addition to the light from the front - you will need the same light up top - if you checked with a PAR meter - my guess is there would be a significant difference in different areas...

 

[eschulist]

Initial reaction was: great idea! Upon more consideration, I’d have to point out 2 things. 1: as mentioned above, wonder if the light passing through the glass would effect PAR levels and 2: corals don’t get light from the side in the wild so I wonder if this is necessary or would warp their natural growth? I dunno. Just my 2 cents

Yep I'm fighting the glare and reflection off the glass. I don't have a meter so I'm just winging it for now. I figure by alternating back and forth they should still get plenty of light. And visually the corals look very illuminated when I look at them. This may also just be a slight illusion as Im so used to the contrast and shadows created when its hung overhead.

The growth may become unnatural. I don't intend to leave it there but maybe more growth will go towards the front of the glass and honestly I don't mind that too much. The corals are fairly close to the back glass and filling in towards the front and top would be cool.

As for the natural look I feel like with the sun and ambient light of the sky corals are getting illuminated from all sides quite well in nature. So many wild colonies have full growth and coloration on all sides. Mine are just from the tops so if I can improve upon that even slightly I'll be happy. Its more of a test of my willingness to keep this going for multiple weeks/months. If its showing good results a more permanent solution will be sought out.

Beautiful tank, now stop it. Put the light back where it belongs before your wife gets home.

HAHAHA, she couldnt care less. She hardly ever goes into the basement and isn't all that impressed with my aquarium anyway.

 

[Mariette]

Yep I'm fighting the glare and reflection off the glass. I don't have a meter so I'm just winging it for now. I figure by alternating back and forth they should still get plenty of light. And visually the corals look very illuminated when I look at them. This may also just be a slight illusion as Im so used to the contrast and shadows created when its hung overhead.

The growth may become unnatural. I don't intend to leave it there but maybe more growth will go towards the front of the glass and honestly I don't mind that too much. The corals are fairly close to the back glass and filling in towards the front and top would be cool.

As for the natural look I feel like with the sun and ambient light of the sky corals are getting illuminated from all sides quite well in nature. So many wild colonies have full growth and coloration on all sides. Mine are just from the tops so if I can improve upon that even slightly I'll be happy. Its more of a test of my willingness to keep this going for multiple weeks/months. If its showing good results a more permanent solution will be sought out.



HAHAHA, she couldnt care less. She hardly ever goes into the basement and isn't all that impressed with my aquarium anyway.

You must be doing something right because your tank is absolutely gorgeous

 

[jda]

I lit the front of the tank using a 4 bulb T5. I also kept the MH over the top. The color from the front improved. I would not forsake top lighting for front, but if you want to add more, then you might get more color from your view angle.

This color improvement was with using MH which do a good job of lighting from all sides. I imagine that the impact when using LEDs would be even more pronounced.

 

[dantimdad]

This seems to directly relate to the experiments with moving light racks. Corals were growing and coloring in a fixed pattern. Moving the lights made a more natural pattern like the sun moving overhead.

One could make a curved rack that mounted the ends of the fixture on rods that slid in the curved rack either manually or, with some clever stepper motor/gear setup, moved back and forth controlled by apex or pi

The rack would be half an oval that went over each end of the tank from front to back.

@JDowns care to chime in on the motor/gear setup for this?

 

[dantimdad]

BTW, I hearby copyright this idea should someone get rich off of it.

 

[jda]

Light movers have been used over aquaria since the 1980s. Only ever seen them over large tanks. Usually, there are static lights and a very large single light that moves to cover the whole top. ...like a row of T5s or VHOS front and back and a 1000w halide on a mover that goes side to side every few minutes. Nothing ever gets dark, but the higher wattage light just boosts the static lights.

Google "light rails" or "light movers" and there are a few different manufacturers.

 

[serwobow]

Beautiful tank. It is clear from the first picture that lots of light is escaping out the sides. I think if you built a reflective canopy, there would be much more illumination of the fronts of the corals due to reflection. The angled lighting solution looks rigged and really bad, especially since the tank itself looks so great.

 

[dantimdad]

Beautiful tank. It is clear from the first picture that lots of light is escaping out the sides. I think if you built a reflective canopy, there would be much more illumination of the fronts of the corals due to reflection. The angled lighting solution looks rigged and really bad, especially since the tank itself looks so great.

He only does it, I believe when he's not in the basement office looking at it. So, looking bad isn't really an issue.

But, it would be nice to automate it.

 

[eschulist]

Beautiful tank. It is clear from the first picture that lots of light is escaping out the sides. I think if you built a reflective canopy, there would be much more illumination of the fronts of the corals due to reflection. The angled lighting solution looks rigged and really bad, especially since the tank itself looks so great.

It’s not a permanent solution. Within 5 seconds I can place the light back over the top of the tank. I’ve since changed my “stick” to something more stable so it can be suspended in front and angled more at the corals. If this show progress in coloring up more of the coral a new more hands off solution will be investigated.

 

[MnFish1]

It’s not a permanent solution. Within 5 seconds I can place the light back over the top of the tank. I’ve since changed my “stick” to something more stable so it can be suspended in front and angled more at the corals. If this show progress in coloring up more of the coral a new more hands off solution will be investigated.

As im sure you are aware - you are at the same time taking away light from the 'top' of the coral - so you may find less there You are also providing less light in the front that you are on the top due to the angle.

 

[taricha]

Can't see why this wouldn't work. Glass doesn't absorb much in the wavelengths we care about (maybe a little UV). And there are coral tumbleweeds that roll around and get bigger and bigger until they can't roll anymore. Coralliths