Why so much blue (lights)

[eggplantparrot]

I got into reefing for the crazy disco pop colours that corals have under blue, i didnt care for reefing at first as i didnt even know it was a thing.

I did set my light up so it goes from blue to mostly white and back to full blue, and i get about an hour of most whites when i get home, transitioning to crazy disco pop. I am slowly growing to like the whiter look too.

 

[eggplantparrot]

I mean, how can you deny the colours

 

[jtl]

Yellow filter?

 

[DanConnor]

I think corals look cool under the blue, but I prefer the whiter look. This is because under a more natural light I can see a much greater tonal range, with translucency, sub-surface scattering and other nuance. In comparison, the blue lit organisms are bright colors, but fewer colors that are flatter with less details. I wish I could have both!

 

[Chuk]

I think a bunch of it has to do with cameras people are using. I can tell you to my eye my tank doesn't look blue but when I take a picture with my iPhone its as blue as can be. If I do some white balancing with my wife's Nikon it comes out pretty much looking like it was taken in daylight.

 

[Fourstars]

Gives me flashbacks of the early 80's

 

[cvrle1]

I mean, how can you deny the colours

Favor to ask, if I may. Could you post a pic of your tank with mostly whites that you use as well. It would be interesting to do side by side comparison of colors of blue vs white without any filters and such for both pics.

 

[Sailingeric]

I dont like it either. I do have just a touch of blue to make my the corals glow a little. I do have a blue bomb setting to show people how the corals can glow under certain light but I never run it by itself.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Favor to ask, if I may. Could you post a pic of your tank with mostly whites that you use as well. It would be interesting to do side by side comparison of colors of blue vs white without any filters and such for both pics.

I will when i get home.

 

[jzw]

;Cat;Cat;Cat;Cat;Cat glow baby glow ;Cat;Cat;Cat;Cat;Cat

 

[Phil D.]

Hi All,
Ok, having 300 dives under my belt, (Guam, Saipan, Truk Lagoon, Philippines), in tropical waters I can tell you that at depth the light that penetrates the most is in the blue and UV spectrums. So having the blues for our tanks not only brings out the colors, but is beneficial for our coral kids. If you have ever tried to keep corals under just white light, they will suffer due to not having the 460nm light. JMO and My experience.

 

[MrObscura]

Because it looks good.

I run my full spectrum(and even that leans blue) early to get it over with and can't wait for the tank to turn blue. Looks so much better.

 

[John3]

Some people would have preferred the Wizard of Oz to have been completely in black and white.

What I can tell you is that nobody should be dupped by online vendor blue pics. If it’s colorful and glowing you should know it’s a blue shot. You won’t get color like this any other way.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Its all about spectrum and the particular colors that corals favor.

For me- its about hiding stuff in the tank so no one notices another expense as they all look the same . . . LOL

 

[Weedy Sea Dragon]

Someone at my local LFS told me "white for grow, blue for show".

Not sure if that is accurate but we run the blues for a couple hours in the morning then switch to white for most of the day then back to blue before bedtime.

 

[jzw]

@cvrle1 about those blue vendor pics. youre not just buying any old coral, youre buying corals with particular and exotic enzymes that reflect certain wavelengths. blue light 'excites' those emzymes and reflects or alters the wavelenght back to our eyes. white-ish light probably also contains blue, but the reflected coral light is overwhelmed by the other wavelenghts and washes it out.

imo, if you don't run blues, and even particular brands of blue lights, you'll never see the full show. ;Clown;Clown;Clown;Cold;Clown

someone knowledgeable, please post info about ocean fish, with blue filters on their eyes (like our camera filters), au natruale ;Wacky glow baby glow heehee

michelle

p.s. @Phil D. have you ever done a fluoro dive (done with 450/460nm blue light and yellow mask filter)? it's rad

 

[jtl]

Hi All,
Ok, having 300 dives under my belt, (Guam, Saipan, Truk Lagoon, Philippines), in tropical waters I can tell you that at depth the light that penetrates the most is in the blue and UV spectrums. So having the blues for our tanks not only brings out the colors, but is beneficial for our coral kids. If you have ever tried to keep corals under just white light, they will suffer due to not having the 460nm light. JMO and My experience.

^ Totally agree.

 

[cvrle1]

Hi All,
Ok, having 300 dives under my belt, (Guam, Saipan, Truk Lagoon, Philippines), in tropical waters I can tell you that at depth the light that penetrates the most is in the blue and UV spectrums. So having the blues for our tanks not only brings out the colors, but is beneficial for our coral kids. If you have ever tried to keep corals under just white light, they will suffer due to not having the 460nm light. JMO and My experience.

That makes sense, but i would put a big asterisk next to that statement. A lot of the SPS corals for example, that are kept by reefers, can be collected snorkeling or just walking in the shallow water. When low tide comes, those colonies are literally out of the water, so to say that they absolutely need that blue light or they will suffer is not entirely true

GBR

 

[Saintnovakai]

People ramp up their lights because they can, and for lots of the reasons already mentioned. I run 14k mh which people describe as a nice mix of white & blue.

Night diving in California during bio luminescent red tide is an incredible light show, with green it blue light provided by microbes. If you ever get a chance to do this you will be amazed at the low white spectrum you will see. Imagine fish swimming by that light up in the water as the move about. It does look unreal, and god made it that way because He could.

"God made it that way because he could". No truer words have been spoken on this forum my friend. All hail the great Reef keeper.

 

[flchamp89]

Really enjoy this thread. The heavy blues was the first thing I noticed getting back into the hobby. I remember the moon light craze lol. Everyone made lots of good posts. I prefer a more white tank.