Planted aquarium lights for corals.

[Clownshow]

Okay so there is this guy on a forum that I used when I was into freshwater. He is trying to figure out what he needs for a saltwater aquarium and someone told him a regular aquarium light with 6500k would work with any coral. Is this true, I don't think it would work.

 

[Uroplatus]

Depends on the light

 

[Clownshow]

H

Depends on the light

He said any aquarium light for plants.

 

[mdb_talon]

No a 6500k light would be a very poor choice for corals. Some corals will grow. Generally not well. Algae however would grow great.

 

[Clownshow]

No a 6500k light would be a very poor choice for corals. Some corals will grow. Generally not well. Algae however would grow great.

Yeah and you wouldn't get to see the colors without the blues.

 

[Jekyl]

Definitely not. There's a reason fresh water lights are cheap and coral lights are crazy expensive

 

[JohnTheReefer]

6500K is not a great choice for most corals. Being heavy in the red and green spectrum favors the growth of plants. Corals prefer more of the blue and white spectrum. 10000K or greater is normally what people use for coral applications.

 

[mdb_talon]

Definitely not. There's a reason fresh water lights are cheap and coral lights are crazy expensive

I thought it was cause we were suckers that pay 5 times as much if they put a fancy name on it, but ya I agree.

 

[blasterman]

Whats the color temp of the sun? About 6500k.

So, you guys are telling me the sun is bad for growing coral? Nevermind....you probably are. Just like white is a specific spectrum. Need some kool-aid to chase those crayons?

Zooanthalae algae is corals is a plant. Famous fun fact.

Ask any veteran halide owner what color temp grows fatter SPS and the closer to 6500k the better. No one with a lot of experience with SPS would claim 20k lights grow more SPS than 10k. 6500 is just too yellow for our tastes.

As long as the light has sufficient PAR nothing else matters. 6500k will just be too yellow for our tastes.

 

[JohnTheReefer]

Whats the color temp of the sun? About 6500k.

So, you guys are telling me the sun is bad for growing coral? Nevermind....you probably are. Just like white is a specific spectrum. Need some kool-aid to chase those crayons?

Zooanthalae algae is corals is a plant. Famous fun fact.

Ask any veteran halide owner what color temp grows fatter SPS and the closer to 6500k the better. No one with a lot of experience with SPS would claim 20k lights grow more SPS than 10k. 6500 is just too yellow for our tastes.

As long as the light has sufficient PAR nothing else matters. 6500k will just be too yellow for our tastes.

This has always been an interesting debate. The sun itself looks white outside the earth's atmosphere and we see it as red/yellow/orange. The sun's light then has to penetrate the ocean's water which may (this is only speculation) change the wave length yet again.

Another interesting debate is should reefers tune their lights based on what color their corals are for better growth? Meaning, does the color of the coral determine which wave length is best for them? Makes me wonder if that's why corals have different colors.

PAR and PUR are important, but IME it's not the only thing that matters.

 

[mdb_talon]

So, you guys are telling me the sun is bad for growing coral?

Thats exactly what i am saying in this scenario. Before issuing a snarky response you might want to research about light spectrum and the impact water has on it.

A hint: underwater that spectrum is no longer 6500k

 

[mdb_talon]

The sun's light then has to penetrate the ocean's water which may (this is only speculation) change the wave length yet again.

Generally agree other than not just speculation. We know blue light penetrates the best, then green, yellow, orange, and red.