Moving away from blue light, white light looks better

[GarrettT]

Whitish - 10K with supplemental lighting.

 

[tbrown]

I find my that i am liking more of a white light these days. I was always in love with dark blue but now i keep changing my lights to more white. I run a hybrid led and t5s

White light just seems more real and corals are lovibg it

I did blue last night for guest to see and i hated it, even though my guest were amazed

I usually get the blues set to really make the corals pop, then I add in white until right before the glow goes away. The more white I run though also seems to bring algae with it so white comes and goes occasionally.

 

[Jeffcb]

Like blue. 100/20 blue white LED works great.

 

[Dcal]

Im currently deciding what to go with for new tank and am leaning towards white. does anyone know of a thread that is just a bunch of different tanks with white lighting?

 

[RedoubtReef]

I have thought about halides but all i keep hearing is all the negatives like how hot they get and

I have always been able to mitigate heat issues with fans or a chiller in my experience. Even with LED, I had to run a fan on real hot weeks. Just depends on your environment.

 

[jdpiii3]

Natural Sunlight!

 

[Falc!]

Natural Sunlight!

Very nice. Plus makes taking pics a lot easier without having to worry about filters

 

[KK's Reef]

Aesthetically, I prefer a bluish light from LEDs. If I really want to see the coral colors pop, I turn the whites to zero and turn up the blues and UV.

However, I used to be in the white-light camp. Just because it's a more natural look, like what I would find snorkeling in shallow water. BUT, I'm not snorkeling and the corals are in a glass box in my living room, so blue it is.

 

[Emanuel Refer]

Natural Sunlight!

Great looking tank! I whose wondering, what tipe of light do you use and at what Kelvin level? Beacouse I really like the look!

 

[chipchipbro]

Somehow I enjoy the white and the white look..
thats why I have a 7hrs white peak phase and then it starts to get blueish at night.

so I do have both and kinda like 2 tanks

 

[steveschuerger]

Bluish , esp. early and later in day. Run blues at 60% at the height of the day and whites at 7%.

 

[mtraylor]

I find I like both too, but not exactly white spectrum which would be around 8k I think. Blue in morning and nights and move toward 10 to 20k during peak hours and back down.

Did the same when I had mh's, and I still do the same with led's now, but now I can put both 10k and 20k during peak hours to bring out more colors in corals.

 

[Dorinda]

I like blueish. I have 2 viparspectra lights and a Edge reef light on my 75 gallon tank. I think the Vipars white is too white and is off. The blue is too blue and set at 5.
The Edge light gives a good balance and is set for Hawaii lights. Comes on at 8:00 off at 11:00. Mostly white. Has the shimmer I like and the moon light. Vipars come on at 10:00 and off at 6:00.
At 10:00pm or so my tank is a deep purple before it shuts off.
I find the blues help my sea anemones and corals colors look good.

 

[aquaman67]

I love the people who post completely purple pictures online where you can’t see anything.

 

[Crowe578]

I prefer the look of more white but am inexperienced (only 6-7 months since starting soft corals) so I'm sticking with more blue for now just based on everything I've read on here regarding coral vs algae growth, etc.

Following...

Blue light isn't for you it's for the coral. Unless you have a fish only tank. Then it doesn't matter what lights on it. really doesn't need a light for fish only. Get you a light you can adjust all spectrums and just turn the white up when your around.

 

[gbru316]

I have thought about halides but all i keep hearing is all the negatives like how hot they get and

Many of us ran halides for years. All light sources have negatives. It's up to you to decide if the negatives are worth it.

I've found halides and T5 easier to use than LED. They're basically plug-and-play. No channels to adjust, no intensity settings, no spotlighting, etc. Just pick your bulb(s) and go.

 

[EricR]

Blue light isn't for you it's for the coral. Unless you have a fish only tank. Then it doesn't matter what lights on it. really doesn't need a light for fish only. Get you a light you can adjust all spectrums and just turn the white up when your around.

Thanks,,, I get it -- I have soft corals (zoas/ricordea).

FYI -- I have 2x AI Prime 16 HD LEDs and run the BRS 40 breeder LPS/softie settings which I consider "blueish" ... so that's what I voted.

 

[vlangel]

Back in the 90s when I first got into reef keeping, most of us mimicked natural sunlight as close as possible. Since there were no LEDs back then we often used actinic bulbs in the morning and evening but added 10k in the middle of the photo phase to simulate high noon. I personally preferred the whiter light in the middle of the day. Now 25 years later and having the ability to adjust 6 channels of color and intensity hourly. I use all 6 channels but the red, green and purple are used sparingly. The 2 blue channels are in higher intensities at the early and late part of the day (starting and ending at 3% and ramping up to 30%) but the white channel is ramped up to 60% during the midday peak hours.
This balance seems to be to my Coral and macro algaes' liking while at the same time not promoting too much nuisance algae growth.

 

[madlos123]

Heres my 90 gallon reef tank. 250 W 10,000K metal halide with t5 actinic.

T5 are on for 7 hours
Metal Halide are on for 5 hours.
Might increase to a longer duration someday.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I run MH (20K) and T5's (actinic and blue plus). It is a bit bluer than I like, but I like it a bit better than the 10K and I do like the 14K look too. I change it up every now and then with a new bulb.

My other systems have T5s and they are blue plus and coral white. Nice color.

My traveling tank is LED and when I have the kids around it, I use a white setting for finding all the creatures. Then, I change to a blue setting and let the kids wear yellow and orange filter glasses for fun.