05grandprix
Active Member
So what are you running the red and green at now
White vs Blue; Which grows coral better?
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brad65ford
Active Member
We've all seen this subject and its debate though yet again its like cancer there is not exact answer or reasoning at the moment to be more the gospel which ....... sucks. Like other long time LED reefers I will admit softies/lps's seem to enjoy or favor these white led's while sps's seem to favor the blue side of the spectrum.
brad65ford
Active Member
me
Heck you can grow a lot of softies with just 6-10k leds and no blues been there done that. Can grow them with just blues as well but not as well from my experience. Put a kenya tree in a tank lite by only 10k leds and then another tank just run any 1 blue spectrum LED say 420nm with a kenya tree coral and see which one grows better or even stays up 
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Red's 25%, Green 18% , all Blues 100%, white 24%
Hmmm. I'll refer back to I'll go back to set it to how it looks good to you with a quality fixture.
Just check with a meter you have enough intensity. Acclimate slowly.
Fwiw % of what. Full? Full us how much.
Just check with a meter you have enough intensity. Acclimate slowly.
Fwiw % of what. Full? Full us how much.
This is why I love programmable LEDs like my AI Hydra. My lights are programmed to go through different color spectrums throughout the day. It gives corals a variety of spectrum and intensities, while giving me a continually changing look to my tank. During the morning its more white, going blue in the afternoon, and then to a late evening fluorescent view to make the corals pop after dark. Corals adapt, just make their changes slow.
Mortie31
Valuable Member
In the sea, as the water depth increases, light of different colours is filtered out, starting with the longer wavelengths, so as you go deeper light shifts towards blue and eventually black, so depth is actually important on colour temperature, it could be argued though that at the depths our corals are collected from how much has this change actually occurred? And how big is its influence, I for one set my lights (Orpheks) to what I like, I've spent thousands on my tank so my enjoyment and viewing pleasure comes first as long as I'm not inhibiting growth this strategy works for me
Stigigemla
Well-Known Member
Sad to say but i believe there is no direct answer to the question. When we shifted from MH to T5 we noticed that some corals really liked the T5 light better.
Now when shifting from T5 to led it is a bit more complicated because led lights are so different. Some have a very strict radiation pattern like Kessil while other have a more diffuse light like Giesemann or Nyos. And then it is the colour too.
By me it seems like the birdsnest for instance like a more diffuse light and don`t shift so much in colour because of the colour of the light if just the white light is strong enough.
My red Montipora digitata didnt colour up under T5 like they did under MH but now under 90 degrees strong led they are getting light red again.
Most Acropora (maybe not deepwater) seems to like strong direct white light the best.
It seems to me that it is easier to bleach corals with white light. (My white light is +20 000 K)
Most fishes look awful in blue light so do have at least a little of white light to make them look better.
Now when shifting from T5 to led it is a bit more complicated because led lights are so different. Some have a very strict radiation pattern like Kessil while other have a more diffuse light like Giesemann or Nyos. And then it is the colour too.
By me it seems like the birdsnest for instance like a more diffuse light and don`t shift so much in colour because of the colour of the light if just the white light is strong enough.
My red Montipora digitata didnt colour up under T5 like they did under MH but now under 90 degrees strong led they are getting light red again.
Most Acropora (maybe not deepwater) seems to like strong direct white light the best.
It seems to me that it is easier to bleach corals with white light. (My white light is +20 000 K)
Most fishes look awful in blue light so do have at least a little of white light to make them look better.
05grandprix
Active Member
Are you running regional setting. Was wondering if the % mattered when running as Jakarta setting or will it only go up to the % set in the regional settings
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I don't have Radions, I'm running 4 y/o AI Vega Color lights. With this research ongoing I may very well spring for them with my next build though. I was already running blues around 90% before this adjustment. For what ever reason, decreasing white and increasing red seems to have helped my growth and color significantly. Of course it could be completely unrelated to the lighting change.
WetWhistle
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There is a large flaw in the approach of people not listening to "experienced" reefkeepers advice. No matter how much someone has read and think they have learned from what they have read, it will do them no good without experience. Experience enables people to actually understand what they have learned and the knowledge base of how to implement what they have learned properly. Without experience someone has not done something they read about it. Reading about it is nothing like experience and is not a substitute for it. If someone has only read about it why should people take their advice over someone that has actually done it? I sure would not. It makes the person sound like they think they know more then someone that has actually done it. This is not true most of the time and comes of arrogant. I can guarantee you that if someone who has experience were to read the same thing as someone who doesn't, the experienced person will take more out of it and understand the concepts more. Not just parts of it like someone without experience would. Because past experience has already laid the groundwork for understanding. Nothing beats experience in doing anything in life. If that thought process was true it would be the same as I read about how to treat illness on the internet so that means I should not listen to a Dr because I read about it. Or someone knows more about chemistry then Randy because they read about it so they should take his advice with a grain of salt. Or that someone that has 5 years in this hobby has a better knowledge base and understanding then someone with 10 years or more because they read about it. None of these are true. You are allowed to have your opinion but this thought process sets a bad example for the new people in this hobby that hear someone say they don't listen to people with experience. That gives them the impression that they should not and that is bad advice. (Not saying you gave that advice) I will put my bet on someone with experience over someone that has read about it any day. I definitely take what people have to say that have only read about something with a grain of salt. Not attacking you I just disagree and am just expressing my opinion.
For the comment of people being focused on par and pur but don't really take into account "rest". The same can be said about the other factors like proper available nutrients, waterflow and experience level that also factor into coral growth. Experience level is one of the most important things in this hobby to be successful. The more you do the more you have learned. A large portion of success in coral growth comes down to experience. A lot of the time the deciding factor if a coral is going to grow, to live or die depends on the reefers experience level. Not because they read about it they are good to go. By you ignoring experience you are just as guilty as those that didn't factor in the rest period.
after reading your wall of text you have just solidified my thoughts on so called "experienced" reef keepers.
dont take it personally... but its hard for any coral to not thrive in my tank let alone die. i think you need to toot your horn to those that need it.
ill keep my experience until i ask what im doing wrong.
while you may be correct in some areas, old school reef keeping dies easy. last year it was 0 nutrients, this year some. bioballs. etc. those white papers keep on ticking even before paul b had a tank.
ill trust a scientist in the field over a country bumpkin with a glass box any day of the week. idc the years they owned it.
my .02
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Yea, I remember the first time one of my threads blew up
ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
You edited your post after I replied to it.
Nothing you posted there though has anything to do with what I said. I never claimed one led did more than another. Just that you can't eyeball a light and tell if it will grow/color coral or not.
I don't own any "expensive" LEDs, I just used it as an example so I don't know why you made that comment.
OP
OP
Jakepen
Few beers and I'll frag anything...
Haha yeah I'm sort of following. A whole lot of this talk is going over my head, and it turned into a much more heated debate than I thought it would. I love it though, and I plan to read in depth and try to understand everybody's argument. Thank you guys, for your participation.
