The Optimal Light Spectrum in a Reef Aquarium

[Nonya]

Oh ok if your out of the country I would look at the orphek or3 reefday bars or on ebay theres either evergro or popbloom bars in a blue white mix to supposedly mimic 10k bulbs. The ebay ones are under 100.00 depending on size needed.

As a side note ive been seeing 4 ft sps reefs lit with 3-4 of the bars in the link, blue, qblue heavy and reef day mixes and no additional light needed. That's pretty impressive if you compare the cost of some other options.

You think the other brands are made in the us? Too funny, man.

 

[Nonya]

We try to imitate nature, sun intensity at various depths, which is not easy in such small scale, and really, any tank size is small scale compared to natural habitat of corals and fish....

Second, in our rooms we have stationary source of light, and stationary object, and in nature, things is far more complicated.....

Many lights dont have separate control of intensity and spectrum, meaning you can't adjust blues to 100% power, and 20% intensity.... also, same on other channels, on all of them intensity equals power in wats, which is ok, but much easier to set up things in wrong way, affecting par in favor of "color".....

Maybe high end lights have way to work around this, but, lower end units don't, so, wanna more natural color? Sure, reduce blue channel, and loose 30-60% of actual par.....

Personal preference and believes is something that i respect, and don't touch, but for me, that is main reason to have stronger white channel, well, stronger than modern lights have...

So that u can regulate color "temperature" with increasing blue channel power, and have good par numbers, instead of regulating color with reducing blue channel, and loose par....

Like i said, i bought popbloom lights, where is exact situation, white channel is weak, so, if i want more natural look instead of washed dark blue color, i need to crank white up, but also lower blue, and most par power of these lights are in blue channel....

On the other hand, chinese black box have app. same ratio of blues and white, so, i can set white channel (and par) to what i like, then add or subtract blue channel how i want, and loose, or add, smaller amount of par...

Yeah, it's called a filter and Photoshop. I've taken pics underwater while snorkeling in shallow water. Between UV and the blue hue in the water, nothing looks good without either a flash, changing the white balance in the camera, and or using filters.

 

[Shooter6]

You think the other brands are made in the us? Too funny, man.

If you bothered to read his comment, he is having an issue ordering lights from the U.S. therefore I suggested other options which sell from China. I never once mentioned any country of origin/production did I?
Since your trying to start another dispute, maybe we have the truth on where the xr30 g5 are really being produced, another Chinese factory product removed by an American company?

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

m.alibaba.com

 

[RedoubtReef]

If you bothered to read his comment, he is having an issue ordering lights from the U.S. therefore I suggested other options which sell from China. I never once mentioned any country of origin/production did I?
Since your trying to start another dispute, maybe we have the truth on where the xr30 g5 are really being produced, another Chinese factory product removed by an American company?

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

m.alibaba.com

holy c-r-a-p, that is a Chicom Radion. I never felt better about ditching Radion/LED. Here's a better link in case anyone wants a 'Radion' on the cheap:

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

www.alibaba.com

 

[Nonya]

If you bothered to read his comment, he is having an issue ordering lights from the U.S. therefore I suggested other options which sell from China. I never once mentioned any country of origin/production did I?
Since your trying to start another dispute, maybe we have the truth on where the xr30 g5 are really being produced, another Chinese factory product removed by an American company?

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

m.alibaba.com

I read yours, but it went on for so long I lost interest.

 

[Nonya]

..."maybe we have the truth on where the xr30 g5 are really being produced, another Chinese factory product removed by an American company?"

I'd have to see one of the boxes, but I believe Radions are assembled in the USA using the "finest" foreign-made parts. I'd be surprised if ANY of the luminaires are made completely in the US. Even the LED chips are made in China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea, with the exception of Cree chips which are made in the US. I thought that was all common knowledge.

Not sure what you mean by "removed by an American company"?

Yeah, I'm sure those Alibaba Radions are knockoffs using the parts and LED chips available to them. I'm guessing the photos are actual Radions. Since a lot of the Radion LEDs are Asian-made, all they needed to do was substitute other manufacturers' chips for the blues. Assuming they have the same internal design, they may be a good deal for you. Too bad I'm going DIY with mostly Crees over my massive new tanks.

 

[Shooter6]

I'd have to see one of the boxes, but I believe Radions are assembled in the USA using the "finest" foreign-made parts. I'd be surprised if ANY of the luminaires are made completely in the US. Even the LED chips are made in China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea, with the exception of Cree chips which are made in the US. I thought that was all common knowledge.

Not sure what you mean by "removed by an American company"?

Yeah, I'm sure those Alibaba Radions are knockoffs using the parts and LED chips available to them. I'm guessing the photos are actual Radions. Since a lot of the Radion LEDs are Asian-made, all they needed to do was substitute other manufacturers' chips for the blues. Assuming they have the same internal design, they may be a good deal for you. Too bad I'm going DIY with mostly Crees over my massive new tanks.

You already know what I went with, which is still a better deal then these, but on the other thread you raved about the radion g5 like that was your choice of lights lol. Hell I thought you may have bought stock in the company the way you were championing them!

 

[Nonya]

You already know what I went with, which is still a better deal then these, but on the other thread you raved about the radion g5 like that was your choice of lights lol. Hell I thought you may have bought stock in the company the way you were championing them!

Is Ecotech publicly traded? No spare cash for that. I bought Pfizer and Moderna stock the minute I read they were working on COVID vaccines.

Yes, I know what you got. I'd have gone with the X400 though.

I'd really be interested in tearing open one of the Chinese G5s, though. Half price compared to the Ecotech versions? Hmm. I've been told the G5 Blues essentially duplicate the AB+ spectrum without needing to adjust anything.

 

[Nonya]

The Alibaba versions appears to be identical to the Radion, even the LED color layout. The description says only 6 channels compared to the Radion's 10. They even claim to use Cree blues. Definitely a ripoff, and I'm assuming they don't work with the Apex or Ecotech apps. Still, if they're even similar to the Gen 5s, they're probably better than halides.

 

[Nonya]

I got ahold of someone on Alibaba chat. "A8 is similar with XR30 G5 Pro", but the app is only available in Chinese right now. They are updating the app. Alibaba shows there are 364 vendors selling this one.

I won't be getting one anyway. My DIY setup will allow me to mimic the AB+, plus will interface with the Reef Pi app on the Raspberry Pi via the Leviathan board.

 

[Nonya]

Shooter, here's a photo showing the reality of what reefs look like with and without digital processing or filters. In my experience, this is common in even shallow depths under 10 feet:

 

[Shooter6]

Shooter, here's a photo showing the reality of what reefs look like with and without digital processing or filters. In my experience, this is common in even shallow depths under 10 feet:

Sea water isn't magical, it's only a little more dense then your swimming pool. How blue is your swimming pool at 10 feet lol.

 

[Shooter6]

The Alibaba versions appears to be identical to the Radion, even the LED color layout. The description says only 6 channels compared to the Radion's 10. They even claim to use Cree blues. Definitely a ripoff, and I'm assuming they don't work with the Apex or Ecotech apps. Still, if they're even similar to the Gen 5s, they're probably better than halides.

Ecotechs mobius app doesn't work half the time either lol

 

[Shooter6]

The Alibaba versions appears to be identical to the Radion, even the LED color layout. The description says only 6 channels compared to the Radion's 10. They even claim to use Cree blues. Definitely a ripoff, and I'm assuming they don't work with the Apex or Ecotech apps. Still, if they're even similar to the Gen 5s, they're probably better than halides.

And the g5 are trying to be halides, TRYING being the key word!

 

[oreo54]

Sea water isn't magical, it's only a little more dense then your swimming pool. How blue is your swimming pool at 10 feet lol.

For example, most of the red is gone from the light after 10 feet. Some of the orange is gone. Less of the yellow is lost. At 25' most of the orange is gone. At 35' most of the yellow is gone

http://www.deep-six.com/textbookphotos2/Photos%20For%20Class-Text/Color%20Loss%20Spectrum.jpg

 

[Jeffcb]

Sea water isn't magical, it's only a little more dense then your swimming pool. How blue is your swimming pool at 10 feet lol.

Actually most swimming pools are white plaster sides and bottoms. They only look blue because of what water does to the red and orange spectrum of sunlight.

 

[Shooter6]

Actually most swimming pools are white plaster sides and bottoms. They only look blue because of what water does to the red and orange spectrum of sunlight dont know what pools you have been in but most have a light to dark blue paint on that plaster to give a bluer look.

If you go down to the bottom of the deepend and look at you hand in an outside pool, does it look blue? Or does your hand look normal colored? Correct answer is normal color.

People confuse looking at a body of water and seeing blue, with the light actually hitting the corals .
If you want to see what spectrum is hitting a coral at any given depth, a white board should be held next to the coral and looked at from the same distance you would view it through in your system. So if your coral is 1 ft away from your veiwing panel , then look at that board 1 ft away from you.

You can do the same experiment in the deep end of a sunlit swimming pool!

 

[Jeffcb]

If you go down to the bottom of the deepend and look at you hand in an outside pool, does it look blue? Or does your hand look normal colored? Correct answer is normal color.

People confuse looking at a body of water and seeing blue, with the light actually hitting the corals .
If you want to see what spectrum is hitting a coral at any given depth, a white board should be held next to the coral and looked at from the same distance you would view it through in your system. So if your coral is 1 ft away from your veiwing panel , then look at that board 1 ft away from you.

You can do the same experiment in the deep end of a sunlit swimming pool!

Man, I cant wait for summertime! I love to swim.

The water looks blue not because it is refracting the blue light but because it is the red and orange so you see the blue..
When you dive to the deep end of a white plastered pool, which most are, the white plaster looks blue not white.

 

[Shooter6]

Man, I cant wait for summertime! I love to swim.

The water looks blue not because it is refracting the blue light but because it is the red and orange so you see the blue..
When you dive to the deep end of a white plastered pool, which most are, the white plaster looks blue not white.

Only looks blue until you get close to it.
As you increase the depth of water between you and the object being viewed then it appears bluer.
And if you look at the plaster along the water line most pools have a blue paint, some very light blue, some very dark, as a sealer on that plaster.
My last house had a 38,000 gal plaster pool that I had to get resurfaced. I got to choose the paint. Color that went down. The raw plaster isn't waterproof and will lead to the rebar in it rusting and causing cracks.

 

[oreo54]

Only looks blue until you get close to it.
As you increase the depth of water between you and the object being viewed then it appears bluer.
And if you look at the plaster along the water line most pools have a blue paint, some very light blue, some very dark, as a sealer on that plaster.
My last house had a 38,000 gal plaster pool that I had to get resurfaced. I got to choose the paint. Color that went down. The raw plaster isn't waterproof and will lead to the rebar in it rusting and causing cracks.

Regardless of what you "think" you see the color is NOT the same...
Again reef 3 meters..