Tweaking LEDs for Best Color

Ernie C · Jul 11, 2019

Any one have any suggestions for Tweaking AI Hydra 26 HDs to produce good coloring? I've tried the signature settings and eventually came up with my own that has been workiong great for coral growth. however, I'm not super happy with the settings (colorwise) but my corals seem to be. I don't want to completely alter my settings as my corals don't tell me they are unhappy until several days later. Any one have any tips, tweaks, advice on setting preferences for good color?

Richard Newman · Jul 11, 2019

Hi Ernie,
What I did was one afternoon when there was normal lighting in room I sat in front of the tank and played with each of the color channels and looked at how it either enhanced the corals or didn't. I added all the channels together and used that as my max. I run a 12 hour schedule with a 3 hour ramp up and 3 hour ramp down. I also have a 2% blue from 9pm till midnight that is controlled by the moon phase.

It really all depends on what's in your tank and what you think looks best. There are a couple of lighting guidelines floating around, but they are specific to max growth out of sps. As you mentioned, your corals will let you know if they are unhappy.

Best of luck!

jda · Jul 11, 2019

What are you trying to color... softies, acropora, monits, LPS, etc.? What don't you like about the color that you have?

Ernie C · Jul 11, 2019

I have a mixed reef but feel the acros could look better. The tank just looks very blue and not crisp. Maybe my corals aren’t very colorful or I have to let them grow In. I’m getting some acros next week from a fellow R2R member so I’ll have to see how they look. The green lps look good though.

JustAnotherNanoTank · Jul 11, 2019

Well I’ll be honest, I’m getting amazing color, but my tank is crazy blue. And I have two prime HD’s... similar lights to me!

This is without the filter..

This is with the filter..

sstanley223 · Jul 11, 2019

I'm running this for 8 hours at 60% with a 2 hour ramp up and 2 hour ramp down to all blue. I enjoy the all blue last thing in the evening

Screenshot_20190711-220923_Apex%20Fusion.jpeg

jda · Jul 12, 2019

If the LPS look good and you are wanting more from the acropora, this is a pretty common story with Hydra. These are not great a getting ultimate color from acropora on their own... they do OK, but are not great. If you read and browse around the SPS forum, you will see lots of these stories and most of them end with Aquatic Life Hybrid.

Generally speaking, daylight to get actual color in coral and then blue-it-up to your satisfaction to illuminate them.

Color is all in the eye of the beholder. If you can live with this, then don't do anything. If not, then check some tanks out in person if you can since colors can be masked or enhanced on the interwebs - it is frustrating to chase a color or a tank only to find out that they are just better at Adobe Lightroom than you are.

Phil D. · Jul 12, 2019

I'm running this schedule without the red or greens, current settings is 50%

Ernie C · Jul 12, 2019

Thanks all. I'm not super unhappy, and also think i don't have the most colorful acros. I'll have to work on that, but down here in the lfs not much selection. Most stuff is green and if its not green its super expensive. Hopefully my new acro pack will add some diversity and color. Since everything seems to be happy and growing i'll try to do some minor tweaks but don't want to upset the corals. lol

Dana Riddle · Jul 12, 2019

We could be taking too different things - Spectra required to make the coral produce colorful proteins, or the color is there but the light source doesn't showcase it. In addition, there are florescent and non-fluorescent proteins. Generally, violet/blue light causes at least some SPS corals to make colorful proteins and makes the florescent one 'pop.' On the other hand, non-fluorescent proteins merely reflect light and - generally - full spectrum light is best for the display.

Ernie C · Jul 14, 2019

Thanks all, how about intensity over all? Could slightly lower light intensity contribute to color in a positive way? Meaning, if it’s too intense you could have bleaching and too little, browning. Is that a correct assumption? If so, do you have to find a sweet spot? I know not all corals are the same but a chalice I moved to a shadier spot has gained some great color while before it looked good but not great. Now it’s great. Any thoughts?

Dana Riddle · Jul 14, 2019

Ernie Crucet said:
Thanks all, how about intensity over all? Could slightly lower light intensity contribute to color in a positive way? Meaning, if it’s too intense you could have bleaching and too little, browning. Is that a correct assumption? If so, do you have to find a sweet spot? I know not all corals are the same but a chalice I moved to a shadier spot has gained some great color while before it looked good but not great. Now it’s great. Any thoughts?

Generally speaking - it's difficult to make blanket statements - fluorescent orange/red corals prefer lower light. I'm currently maintaining these at a PAR value of about 150-160 with a peak intensity of about 200 at the end of the day. It is thought the reddish fluorescence could be an aid to photosynthesis. The non-fluorescent proteins (mauve, purples, reds) preferentially reflect violet, blue, and red wavelengths and are thus an aid in combating effects of intense light.