Lighting for Corals

[expert]

Hi Bros and Sis,

Kept corals for coming to 3 months and had been using only white lights. According to some of my friends, white is more than enough, some say 8hrs white and 8hrs blue. Can anyone advice which is the best way?

[expert]

no advice?

[sgtayc]

I use hydra26. It has white. Blue red green Violet and uv. Good for coral. Can set sun rise sun set and intensity. Set it up and forget very easy.

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[JMW]

In general corals do need the blue too.

perhaps the lighting experts here could chime in?

[sgtayc]

I saw in other forums more reefers setting intensity for blue higher than white.

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[dinGdinG]

I have always utilised more blue than white. From LED to t5 now. 

My previous maxspect runs at 100% blue and 40% white for 14 hours. 

My current sunpower dimmable runs 4 blue plus and 2 actinic for 14 hours and 2 coral plus for 6 hours. 

Colours still good even with more blue than white

Edited September 2, 2015 by dinGdinG

[m_wtan79@yahoo.com.sg]

Heard that white is for growth n blue is for colour. Not sure if it is true. But what i know is in ocean most colours r filter out by water n left only blue. Tats the reason when u take underwater photo it always comes out with Blue tint

[kohanson]

I am not an expert and have been running my tank for close to 2 years. I am using the maxspect nano and running at 60% white and 85% blue daily for 8 hours from 3.30pm to 11.30pm. I prefer more blue as I can see the corals fluoresce and I believe blue light can penetrate deeper into the tank. 

[shy88devil]

Hi , I also using 40% White 80% Blue for my set up ..

[AlphaFlag]

So more artic blue than white for reef/coral tanks?...Btw check w u guys, ur PH lvl maintains at 8.2? or higher?thks

[sgtayc]

I check dkh, ca, mg, no3, po4 once a week. Nvr tested pH so far no problem

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[expert]

I use hydra26. It has white. Blue red green Violet and uv. Good for coral. Can set sun rise sun set and intensity. Set it up and forget very easy.

 

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where you got it bro and how much it cost?

[expert]

I saw in other forums more reefers setting intensity for blue higher than white.

 

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what i heard was blue is just for our eye pleasure and white is what the corals require. no solid answer to this yet

[expert]

I have always utilised more blue than white. From LED to t5 now. 

My previous maxspect runs at 100% blue and 40% white for 14 hours. 

My current sunpower dimmable runs 4 blue plus and 2 actinic for 14 hours and 2 coral plus for 6 hours. 

Colours still good even with more blue than white

thanks for the info

[expert]

I am not an expert and have been running my tank for close to 2 years. I am using the maxspect nano and running at 60% white and 85% blue daily for 8 hours from 3.30pm to 11.30pm. I prefer more blue as I can see the corals fluoresce and I believe blue light can penetrate deeper into the tank. 

agree bro. what really important is what that soothes our eyes. thats the whole purpose of this hobby. of cause no harm to the corals too.

[expert]

I have always utilised more blue than white. From LED to t5 now. 

My previous maxspect runs at 100% blue and 40% white for 14 hours. 

My current sunpower dimmable runs 4 blue plus and 2 actinic for 14 hours and 2 coral plus for 6 hours. 

Colours still good even with more blue than white

thanks for the info

[Jimmy75]

where you got it bro and how much it cost?

Saw it @ madpetz, online pricing shows $459

[expert]

Saw it @ madpetz, online pricing shows $459

thanks for the info. will check it out

[tuajia]

I'm no expert, but according to research, it depends on what corals you keep. The logic behind the lights, if i understand correctly, is that its supposed to emulate the amount of light they receive at certain depths of the ocean. For those who do diving, you may notice that the deeper you go, the more "blue" the reef becomes due to refraction of light in the water column. Hence, in general, many LPS, especially the bottom hugging ones like plates and brains benefit from the blue since they live in deeper waters while softies do well in just normal white as they tend to be found in shallow reefs. Of course, there's also extremely deep water coral that are non-photosynthetic and don't even need light to survive. 

Then again, since i am no expert and also hate to do math and physics calculations, I just go by the "watts-per-gallon" rule and currently use a 16 watt LED (70% white 30% blue) on a 9 hour cycle to cover all ground. Also, my corals are the beginner type, so i guess they are hardy and not too bothered about light lol

Softies: mushrooms, luminous GSP, zoa, cauliflower, xenia

LPS: Torch coral, Blasto merletti

Edited October 11, 2015 by tuajia