Needing more lighting spectrum?

[Whatnow]

Okay now that my tank has a bunch of corals including a beauty of a WWC Convict Killer chalice my Current 48" marine led is lacking on the colors of some of the corals.....
What can I do to go along with my current setup to add some more spectrum without breaking the bank cause money is not there right now and my wife is about to kill me over the $500 I spent at the WWC live sale LoL...any suggestions besides spending another $500 on a new setup? Was told by a friend to add a t8 blacklight into my old 48" hood light. (but he knows little about anything reef related)

 

[mcarroll]

If you're saying you want lights to artificially color your corals, then you need something with extra color LED's.

Do you know what your peak PAR or lux is at the water surface right now?

Get a [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] for your smartphone's camera and order a $15 basic hand held lux meter off of amazon or ebay (etc).

Here's the model you're most likely to find and that most folks here on R2R use (check out those tags):

Anywhere around 40,000-50,000 lux should be more than plenty, but down to 20,000 lux or so is even good. (One of my SPS tanks runs at around 14,000 lux.)

(Don't tell your wife you waited til AFTER the sale to check your lights....doh! )

 

[hart24601]

What colors is it lacking? I looked up one model, but I'm not sure if it's the one you have.

If it's the older blue/white style of leds some actinic t5 would be nice. I held off buying and LEDs until there were violet and near uv leds included in commercial fixtures. The current pro looks to have violet though.

 

[Whatnow]

Well I think I'm lacking some red and probably more actinic lighting- The Current LEDs I have do have the 10k and actinic LEDs in it but for the time being I'm going to get an extra t8 actinic bulb to go into my old hood fixture and put behind my LED for now. I looked at a 2 of the 24" LED full spectrum led systems but they run $400 each plus the mounting or hanging system and at those prices its beyond me right now. Any way to get some red LEDs (roll LED strips?) Just used a phone app and checked Lux at water surface and its 10400 lux......

 

[Whatnow]

Found this good read.
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

 

[hart24601]

I would do actinic for sure and see how that looks. The white LEDs have some red in them. Sometimes quite a bit. But I would hold off red for a while.

What is the wavelength of the LEDs the fixture has? The current marine site calls their Royal blues actinic, but most people reserve that term for violet and near UV. 420-430 and lower.

That site is good, but imo they put a bit too much emphasis on PUR. Sure it's the most important, but with the power modern fixtures have its simple to get enough PUR. Adding other none photosynethic wavelengths can alter the visual rendition and brightness to our eyes. Not important to coral, but very important to how it look to us.

 

[Whatnow]

What is the wavelength of the LEDs the fixture has?

combination of 8,000K/12,000K white along with 445nm/460nm actinic blue
model 4103 48" - 60" 46.8 x 3.5 x 0.44 46 Watts 96 Dual Daylight/96 Dual Actinic LEDs, 192 LEDs Total

 

[hart24601]

Ah. Yea they call that actinic, but most people don't. Some violet and near uv would be great. Easiest is an actinic t5 bulb. Those are around 420nm.

 

[Lonny]

I have the orbit marine led fixture as well. I only have one coral in my tank but I could tell I wanted more color. I bought a 48" four bulb t5 fixture from the garden section of the home store for $148! My lfs uses those lights so figured I'd try it