Should I switch to all blue?

[Zeal]

And yet as I wander through my favorite coral shops display tanks all I see are blue and UV. No white at all. I wonder how they keep all those acros looking beautiful?

I Also guarantee you that coral farms not your typical LFS selling zoas for triple the price are running white lights.

BattleCorals is a PERFECT example of how white light effects Acros…. But I guess he’s not a valuable source

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I'm sure BRS or big coral vendors have run lighting tests to see if white adds anything to coral devopment. I run my white at 10% but only for a few hours for visual astetics

From ATI's website:
Efficient photosynthesis requires not only adequate light intensity but also the correct spectrum of light. Terrestrial plants, like those found in our garden, favor colors in the yellow, orange, and red range while corals favor colors in the blue spectrum. As water depth increases, the reds, oranges, and yellows are gradually filtered out, leaving more blue light. For optimal coral growth, you will generally want a full spectrum of light that includes some reds, oranges, and yellows, but that is heavier towards the blue range.

There is a current trend in the hobby towards very blue, nearly dark aquariums, with glowing corals. While many believe this looks good, it is still essential to provide a full spectrum of light for improved growth and coloration. If you like lots of blue, we recommend running a fuller spectrum of light for a few while you are out and transitioning to a bluer range when you are home enjoying your tank.

Link:https://www.atinorthamerica.com/blog/how-to-maximize-coral-growth-and-coloration/

 

[Lavey29]

I Also guarantee you that coral farms not your typical LFS selling zoas for triple the price are running white lights.

BattleCorals is a PERFECT example of how white light effects Acros…. But I guess he’s not a valuable source

I was just in my LFS yesterday and my coral vendor farm shop 2 weeks ago and saw no white light or if they were running then the percentage was so low the eyes can't pick it up.

There have numerous successful tanks running nothing but blue spectrum variations but I can't think of one reef tank that runs all white and no blue or UV

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I was just in my LFS yesterday and my coral vendor farm shop 2 weeks ago and saw no white light or if they were running then the percentage was so low the eyes can't pick it up.

There have numerous successful tanks running nothing but blue spectrum variations but I can't think of one reef tank that runs all white and no blue or UV

Have you missed all the tanks that were lighted with metal halide bulbs for the last few decades? And: white light contains all the colors of the light spectrum. So white light is also blue light

 

[Zeal]

I was just in my LFS yesterday and my coral vendor farm shop 2 weeks ago and saw no white light or if they were running then the percentage was so low the eyes can't pick it up.

There have numerous successful tanks running nothing but blue spectrum variations but I can't think of one reef tank that runs all white and no blue or UV

Who said that no reef tanks have blue light? Did you read my post at all Or you just responded?

 

[Arego]

I'm at 100% blue 70% white including two coral plus bulbs. The major difference is manually control my lights except for lights off.

While I blast them at any given time I may only use blues, sometimes whites and just the t5s, just depends how I want to see the tank that day or even week. My corals anyway have responded by really taking advantage of the high light times because I'm getting at least by my standards, very much thriving growth out of everything.

Nuisance algae from what I have seen in person and in my experience isn't a problem in a very mature tank using whites, my 250g even gets natural sun light from 7am depending on season until 1pm.

Anyway the point was give the corals what nature would give them. You'll get used to the whites, I used to run solid blues for a long time and I see now how I wasn't appreciating what they could look like during the day.

The pic below is toward night time with the whites and two coral plus only, no blues. I don't have a photo of all 3 but it looks even better but not "blue", whites are your corals friend and not your tanks enemy.

 

[Lavey29]

Who said that no reef tanks have blue light? Did you read my post at all Or you just responded?

Guys will leave it as it is. Every tank is different and every reefer can use their own preferred methods.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Guys will leave it as it is. Every tank is different and every reefer can use their own preferred methods.

Everyone can reef how they want to, doesn't change the fact that corals need more than just the blues lol

 

[Arego]

This is 100% blue, 70% white and 2 coral plus. Oh and the other thing.. the fish, omg they are so much more vibrant than in just blue.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

This is 100% blue, 70% white and 2 coral plus.

You can see the fish! lol

 

[Lavey29]

I'm at 100% blue 70% white including two coral plus bulbs. The major difference is manually control my lights except for lights off.

While I blast them at any given time I may only use blues, sometimes whites and just the t5s, just depends how I want to see the tank that day or even week. My corals anyway have responded by really taking advantage of the high light times because I'm getting at least by my standards, very much thriving growth out of everything.

Nuisance algae from what I have seen in person and in my experience isn't a problem in a very mature tank using whites, my 250g even gets natural sun light from 7am depending on season until 1pm.

Anyway the point was give the corals what nature would give them. You'll get used to the whites, I used to run solid blues for a long time and I see now how I wasn't appreciating what they could look like during the day.

The pic below is toward night time with the whites and two coral plus only, no blues. I don't have a photo of all 3 but it looks even better but not "blue", whites are your corals friend and not your tanks enemy.

Beautiful. Is that a leopard wrasse? And what the blue wrasse in the bac

 

[Lavey29]

Everyone can reef how they want to, doesn't change the fact that corals need more than just the blues lol

I'm going to be sure to call ecotech radion tomorrow and Kessil also and tell them to stop marketing Tuna Blue and Gen5 blue lights

 

[Duncan62]

More like 100' down, and the majority of our corals are living much closer to the surface. And who is "they"? lol

Diver?

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Diver?

I wish lol Just a hobbyist who spends WAY too much time researching everything aquatic

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I'm going to be sure to call ecotech radion tomorrow and Kessil also and tell them to stop marketing Tuna Blue and Gen5 blue lights

They sell that kind of stuff because some goofballs think that corals only need blue light ;Hilarious buuuuuuuut
Notice the LED colors?

Wait, they're all not blue??

Not the Kessil too?!?

 

[Duncan62]

I was just in my LFS yesterday and my coral vendor farm shop 2 weeks ago and saw no white light or if they were running then the percentage was so low the eyes can't pick it up.

There have numerous successful tanks running nothing but blue spectrum variations but I can't think of one reef tank that runs all white and no blue or UV

Same. The farm I buy from runs 5%. If you go 20 ft down it looks like

I wish lol Just a hobbyist who spends WAY too much time researching everything aquatic

I was certified and ran charters in NC for 12 years. Below 20 ita all blue. There are shallow water species, even some shrooms and zoas that need lots of white. I've never measured the light during descent but it gets blue pretty fast. Lots of acans we put under lights come from 70 to 100 ft. No white.

 

[Arego]

Beautiful. Is that a leopard wrasse? And what the blue wrasse in the bac

Yep there is a leopard, the blue guy is a paddle fin wrasse. There are 9 or 10 more wrasse in there.

 

[Arego]

For sure with the depths species come from, I've made sure to shade certain things like that yellow submarine mini colony until I know it's in a good position to maybe move up if even necessary. It's tricky getting everything happy.

The point to all this for me, I now know whites can help and not necessarily create nuisance algae. One day I decided to put the whites and algae fear to rest and started turning them up ever so much until I'm where I am. That's really all I was trying to get across.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Same. The farm I buy from runs 5%. If you go 20 ft down it looks like

I was certified and ran charters in NC for 12 years. Below 20 ita all blue. There are shallow water species, even some shrooms and zoas that need lots of white. I've never measured the light during descent but it gets blue pretty fast. Lots of acans we put under lights come from 70 to 100 ft. No white.

Lucky! I've heard that it doesn't get "all blue" until you're deeper than 20ft from other divers but maybe the water clarity was different where they were diving ;Drowning and shhhhh you're being an enabler lol

 

[Lavey29]

Yep there is a leopard, the blue guy is a paddle fin wrasse. There are 9 or 10 more wrasse in there.

Love me some wraases I have 4 in mine