Which light colour is best for corals!

[merereef]

The new red sea reefLED lights utilize lights more on the blue end of the spectrum... my question is can we just run a blue light only or do we need a little bit of white too? What are your thoughts?

 

[jda]

It gets way complicated, but simply put... daylight to render the best color, and then blue-it-up for your viewing pleasure.

 

[Crossfire]

You def need white in there too. I notice if I only use the blue spectrum and check my alkalinity consumption the next day. With white lights the alkalinity consumption is much higher and the acros look so much more colorful after a day of both lights. Blues are great- I always run them at 100%, but I like to add in %30 whites too. I think the corals need it.

 

[merereef]

I was watching a BRS VIDEO ON wwc tanks lighting and they have blue 100% and whites on for a few hours then it ramps to just blue only for the rest of the day.. red sea are also suggesting that the blue corals is needed so yeah keep everyones suggestions flowing and thank you

 

[merereef]

You def need white in there too. I notice if I only use the blue spectrum and check my alkalinity consumption the next day. With white lights the alkalinity consumption is much higher and the acros look so much more colorful after a day of both lights. Blues are great- I always run them at 100%, but I like to add in %30 whites too. I think the corals need it.

Yeah i noticed this too and my corals seem to be more extended too when i have more white

 

[sixty_reefer]

The new red sea reefLED lights utilize lights more on the blue end of the spectrum... my question is can we just run a blue light only or do we need a little bit of white too? What are your thoughts?

There’s no answer for this question as it will depend on what coral is under that light really.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I always start with 20% white and 70% blue and ramp up the white slowly

 

[merereef]

There’s no answer for this question as it will depend on what coral is under that light really.

Lets say mixed reef sps and lps

 

[merereef]

I always start with 20% white and 70% blue and ramp up the white slowly

Which do you ramp up slowly? The white or the blue?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Which do you ramp up slowly? The white or the blue?

White

 

[merereef]

White

When you ramp up just the white what are you looking out for in terms of your goals and when do you decide to stop the ramp up of whites?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Im looking at coral response, bleaching and obviously growth

 

[Mykawl]

The long wavelengths of the light spectrum—red, yellow, and orange—can penetrate to approximately 15, 30, and 50 meters(49, 98, and 164 feet), respectively, while the short wavelengths of the light spectrum—violet, blue and green—can penetrate further, to the lower limits of the euphotic zone. Blue penetrates the deepest, which is why deep, clear ocean water and some tropical water appear to be blue most of the time. Moreover, clearer waters have fewer particles to affect the transmission of light, and scattering by the water itself controls color.

Read more: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/La-Mi/Light-Transmission-in-the-Ocean.html#ixzz5xqTaiK3R

 

[Mykawl]

I think the next thing to consider would be what average depth are corals as blue is the only spectrum to go further than 164 ft ish. But white seems to be really important for algae reasons and such and white seems to speed things up ofcourse white can be produced from many combinations of different colors though... or most commonly an even blend of all spectrums? Not sure on that last part

 

[lapin]

Which light colour is best for corals!

Sunlight

 

[sixty_reefer]

Lets say mixed reef sps and lps

Am with the crowd on this one 30% whites blues 100% violet 100% all on a rap up for 4 hours then keep them up der for 4 then ramp down. I leave the blues on for extra 2 hours, just because it looks cool my lps, mushrooms and anemones don't expand as much if only blues. I use the green to adjust visual appeal

 

[merereef]

The long wavelengths of the light spectrum—red, yellow, and orange—can penetrate to approximately 15, 30, and 50 meters(49, 98, and 164 feet), respectively, while the short wavelengths of the light spectrum—violet, blue and green—can penetrate further, to the lower limits of the euphotic zone. Blue penetrates the deepest, which is why deep, clear ocean water and some tropical water appear to be blue most of the time. Moreover, clearer waters have fewer particles to affect the transmission of light, and scattering by the water itself controls color.

Read more: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/La-Mi/Light-Transmission-in-the-Ocean.html#ixzz5xqTaiK3R

Thank you so much

 

[Mykawl]

Thank you so much

It’s not really an answer just pointing in the right direction, I’ve never been diving but a quick google search said most reefs are under 150 ft which is prettty interesting considering that’s the cutoff for the orange spectrum so most reefs receive all spectrums except red and orange. yet corals come from many depths and some reefs are 450ft.... which would be strictly blues.

Most I’m guessing generally receive blue/green/violet

Imitating god’s sun is hard, see What I did there ?

You should definitely spend hours and hours on this although a par meter is ofcourse best I believe human eyes are particularly ineffective with the blue spectrum

more often than not too much light is used so be careful

Also Google says red green blue are most commonly used in led’s to make white. Idk if specific reef tank light makers do it differently though Idk the implications of that either. just be careful with the whites : P I’ve read some studies saying red can stunt coral growth remember red only goes 10ft and most reefs are at least 20 and if red is being used to create white...

 

[jda]

Nobody on this thread probably has anything in their tanks that was collected at a depth of more than 5 meters... maybe just a few things. The vast majority are collected on one breath with a mask only. Lots of stuff is collected waist-deep water at low tide.

Deeper dives, specialized equipment and rebreathers are used for fish which are worth a whole lot more and even then, dives of 50 meters are not common and those fish can sometimes cost tens of thousands of dollars.

 

[merereef]

It’s not really an answer just pointing in the right direction, I’ve never been diving but a quick google search said most reefs are under 150 ft which is prettty interesting considering that’s the cutoff for the orange spectrum so most reefs receive all spectrums except red and orange. yet corals come from many depths and some reefs are 450ft.... which would be strictly blues.

Most I’m guessing generally receive blue/green/violet

Imitating god’s sun is hard, see What I did there ?

You should definitely spend hours and hours on this although a par meter is ofcourse best I believe human eyes are particularly ineffective with the blue spectrum because we don’t come from the bottom of the ocean? Haha sorry can’t help myself

more often than not too much light is used so be careful

Also Google says red green blue are most commonly used in led’s to make white. Idk if specific reef tank light makers do it differently though Idk the implications of that either. just be careful with the whites : P I’ve read some studies saying red can stunt coral growth remember red only goes 10ft and most reefs are at least 20 and if red is being used to create white...

thank you for the explanation it was very kind of you and very helpful