what happened to plasma lighting?

kutcha · May 17, 2021

So I know 3-4 years ago there was a lot of talk and excitement around plasma lighting technology, since then it has kind of died out so I am wondering does anyone know what exactly happened and why this technology wasn't pursued?

alain Bouchard · May 17, 2021

from what I read, wrong spectrum (too much yellow), high purchase cost. Even though a new tech with lot of promise, but not fit for this hobby.

mdb_talon · May 17, 2021

Just like in the past they are expensive, hot, and the value they had(true full spectrum closely mimicking the sun) is not something the majority of modern reefers want.

Even with plant horticulture they have not really taken off though. Hard to justify the cost of them.

kutcha · May 17, 2021

alain Bouchard said:
from what I read, wrong spectrum (too much yellow), high purchase cost. Even though a new tech with lot of promise, but not fit for this hobby.

but with all the supplemental lighting we add to tanks wouldnt we be able to give the tank a more blue look to make up for the yellow?

kutcha · May 17, 2021

mdb_talon said:
Just like in the past they are expensive, hot, and the value they had(true full spectrum closely mimicking the sun) is not something the majority of modern reefers want.

Even with plant horticulture they have not really taken off though. Hard to justify the cost of them.

interesting, just wondering why wouldn't the majority of reefer want to mimic the sun? isn't that what we strive for more or less?

alain Bouchard · May 17, 2021

mimicking the sun would be mostly a waste of energy the lower in light spectrum you get, the less light penetrate the water; adding to that that corals seems to prefer the bluer light for growth and that more uv light gives them more fluorescence, while yellow light give them a more washed out coloration (brown, beige, pink...). Continuing that, more in the yellow spectrum, while mostly useless for corals, are preferred by nuisance algae. As for supplementing an inadequate light with adequate light, I think, if you really deeply want to a a plasma light, then it could help, but why not just go with leds, that are able to do a better job for less energy cunsumption?

kutcha · May 17, 2021

alain Bouchard said:
mimicking the sun would be mostly a waste of energy the lower in light spectrum you get, the less light penetrate the water; adding to that that corals seems to prefer the bluer light for growth and that more uv light gives them more fluorescence, while yellow light give them a more washed out coloration (brown, beige, pink...). Continuing that, more in the yellow spectrum, while mostly useless for corals, are preferred by nuisance algae. As for supplementing an inadequate light with adequate light, I think, if you really deeply want to a a plasma light, then it could help, but why not just go with leds, that are able to do a better job for less energy cunsumption?

ok so the electricity to work a plasma light is more then a LED? I ask because a lot of what I had heard back in the day was that a light diode the size of a tic tac will be able to light a entire tank and cost less then LEDs. So that makes more sense as to why they havent taken off they cost more to run and they have not advanced plasma technology enough to modify color range, makes sense.

alain Bouchard · May 17, 2021

kutcha said:
ok so the electricity to work a plasma light is more then a LED? I ask because a lot of what I had heard back in the day was that a light diode the size of a tic tac will be able to light a entire tank and cost less then LEDs. So that makes more sense as to why they havent taken off they cost more to run and they have not advanced plasma technology enough to modify color range, makes sense.

Sorry, did I check up, and I ended up being wrong on that. They seems to be about equivalent. Found an interesting article comparing LED and LEP effect on coral growth and coloration.

Coral growth under Light Emitting Diode and Light Emitting Plasma: a cross-family comparison

With the advent of new technology, aquarists are able to customize light spectra with great flexibility. However, our knowledge of how light spectrum affects aquarium life, including corals, is still limited. Here, we show the effects of two light spectra, emitted by Light Emitting Diode (LED)...

reefs.com

It would suggest that the main issue about this tech is the acquisition cost and the spectrum (having an awesome growth on corals with washed out colors is less appealing to hobbyist than having a good growth with colorful corals).

Their conclusion is that this tech is great for aquaculture.

Bpb · May 17, 2021

It was never intended for aquaculture or marine aquariums. It was always for horticulture. It’s just that some aquaculturists adopted it for grow out tanks with varying degrees of success. Researching why it failed on the horticulture market would likely yield more answers.

Spectral composition is terrific for shallow water corals. Better than just about any other artificial light source. It’s just an aesthetic that isn’t in fashion being on the lower end of the Kelvin scale

blasterman · May 17, 2021

Not sure who siad it but nuisance Algae isn't fueled by different spectrums than coral. Stop spreading this....... You really think you can get rid of hair algae by running blue only LEDs? Let me know how that works out for you.

Reefers want 450nm dominant light to show off their corals. Plasmas are closer to 6000k with an even spectrum in the visual range centered on green. Ive seen plasma sulfur over reef and fresh tanks and they are just too warm for captive reef. Look amazing on fresh. Look amazing for high CRI applications. Far superior to high CRI tubes with all their spikes and valleys.

Plasma sulfur also has some of the drawbacks of halide, mainly quirky reflectors. LEDs are much simpler to direct.

In theory you could augment a plasma sulfur with LED to fudge the color balance for reefing.. The problem is by the time you balance it for reef tastes the plasma would be the minority light source. Not worth the effort.

mdb_talon · May 17, 2021

blasterman said:
Not sure who siad it but nuisance Algae isn't fueled by different spectrums than coral. Stop spreading this....... You really think you can get rid of hair algae by running blue only LEDs? Let me know how that works out for you.

There is good reason that planted tanks use different spectrums and that horticulture systems use different spectrums than our reef tanks. Nobody is claiming running blue leds will eliminate hair algae. However plants and algae do grow better at some spectrums more than others.

Acroguy · Jul 3, 2022

Well I have one 270W fixture. It has a beautiful spectrum and shimmer just like on a shallow reef in the wild.Together with the ATI t5 fixtures its perfect.

HuduVudu · Jul 3, 2022

Acroguy said:
Well I have one 270W fixture. It has a beautiful spectrum and shimmer just like on a shallow reef in the wild.Together with the ATI t5 fixtures its perfect.

Can you expound on it's benefits and drawbacks?

Acroguy · Jul 4, 2022

HuduVudu said:
Can you expound on it's benefits and drawbacks?

Well benefits are that it is true full spectrum.Corals especially shallow water species love it.Very long bulb life average is 30000 hours.No bulb change.Looks like a mini sun over the aquarium.270W plasma compares to a 400-500W Mh.

Drawbacks are that the body of the fixture heats up quite well.Yellowish light like the sun ( maybe not apealing to someone who wants the washed out blue look of corals.So really not many drawbacks.

HuduVudu · Jul 4, 2022

Acroguy said:
Well benefits are that it is true full spectrum.Corals especially shallow water species love it.Very long bulb life average is 30000 hours.No bulb change.Looks like a mini sun over the aquarium.270W plasma compares to a 400-500W Mh.

Drawbacks are that the body of the fixture heats up quite well.Yellowish light like the sun ( maybe not apealing to someone who wants the washed out blue look of corals.So really not many drawbacks.

Thank you for the reply. I am going to look into this.

Suggestions on vendors?

Weevo · Jul 4, 2022

Acroguy said:
Well I have one 270W fixture. It has a beautiful spectrum and shimmer just like on a shallow reef in the wild.Together with the ATI t5 fixtures its perfect.

Is that the gavita plazma. I have one over my plants and was thinking about my tank