Crazyfingerz
New member
I've been talking to some friends in the hobby along with some of my own observations we are realizing that zoas are very much responsive to the blues more than the daylight bulbs. What are you guys take on this?
Blue led better for zoas than daylight bulbs
- Thread starter Crazyfingerz
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trinidiver
New member
I told you...................so i guess you real happy now
Crazyfingerz
New member
Yup, instant colour changes, and it seems as the hours past im seeing more colours.
trinidiver
New member
seems like you owe me some big $$$$$$,
The blue LED's brings out the color in everything. Everything pops in colors you've never seen before.
The blue LED's brings out the color in everything. Everything pops in colors you've never seen before.
Not to have the subject go in a totally different direction, but for a tank with 90% zoas and rics, are LEDs mainly the way to go? I've read so many opinions lately I just get more confused by the day. I have some under a 20k halide right now and was thinking about making the change to led
milesofreefs
New member
IME, blue light is the deepest penetrating light in the ocean, most reefs only receive blue light. if you look through the sps forums youll see that most of them use fixtures with majority blues with little white light and receive amazing growth along with awesome colors. I say this because sps's need the most light.
blue does a lot more then just "accentuate the look" it plays a big roll in the growth of corals too. I do agree that most fish store will leave there blues on for show and yes it annoys me. i always ask them to turn the whites on while im looking for corals. lol
Crazyfingerz
New member
My lfs told me that it really does penetrate deeper than the daylights. so I was wondering would it really make more sense to keep your blues on longer than all the other lights. e.g. from lights on to lights off, what do you think
milesofreefs
New member
yes, my job gives me the worst hours so i run my light for 15 hours the blues are on for the full 15 while my whites run for 9 hours. 9am-12 blues 12-9 blues + whites 9-12 blues
im not saying run your lights 15 hours most would be good with 8 some even say 6 its w.e. works for you.
Crazyfingerz
New member
My lights run at 5am-10am(blues and white) 10am-5pm(blues) 5pm-11pm(blues and white)
trinidiver
New member
I have the Current USA Deepwater Blue - sharp 453nm actinic blue LED's (2 X 4' strips)
Each strip has 156 blue LED's on it and i run mine from 7am to 10:30pm 7days/wk. My zoas grow like crazy ever since i got the lights. 5-10min after the led's come on my zoas open. Other than that, my GSP, gorgonians and leathers sense it and start to open. My super daylights (12,000K) dont come on till between 11am- 12 noon. Those blue led's are not only for color in my tank. The corals that have feeder tentacles out at night like my acans, lobos, scolly's and candy canes all pull in when the leds come on, so the do sense it........................................
Each strip has 156 blue LED's on it and i run mine from 7am to 10:30pm 7days/wk. My zoas grow like crazy ever since i got the lights. 5-10min after the led's come on my zoas open. Other than that, my GSP, gorgonians and leathers sense it and start to open. My super daylights (12,000K) dont come on till between 11am- 12 noon. Those blue led's are not only for color in my tank. The corals that have feeder tentacles out at night like my acans, lobos, scolly's and candy canes all pull in when the leds come on, so the do sense it........................................
trinidiver
New member
Thats one investment that i'll never regret
milesofreefs
New member
Just my opinion but i would run blue white in the middle of the day so it simulates nature, meaning in the morning you have just blues on for a couple hours to simulate sun rise. in the afternoon have all on so they have the most light for there photo period. then blues to simulate sunset.
the only way i feel you'll prove what this post was initially about is by running the same amount of light but more blues and less whites in your fixture,witch IMO will work. if you go search the sps forum youll see that a lot of people with t5 6+ bulb fixtures tend to only run 1 or 2 whites in there fixtures and get great growth and color.
I'm a zoa/paly collector and I run my LEDs with split blue and white times. 10am to 12p(blue), from 12p-1p(blue+white, 1p-2p(blue), 2p-3:30p(blue+white, 3:30p-4p(blue), 4p-5p(blue+white), and 5p-10p(blue). I get great growth and color out of my zoas. I went from a one head rasta frag to 35+ in 6 months. I do believe zoas still need some amount of 14k lighting during the day but no where as much as recently thought.
Crazyfingerz
New member
Kool, nice point. I just had it set like this so i can see my tank in the afternoon time when i return home from work. So what you think would be an excellent schedule
Crazyfingerz
New member
I know ppl who run there lights for 24hrs a day. at some point of time either the days are on or the nights are on. I think this is over kill but what are your guys views?
trinidiver
New member
24hrs a day is madness.
Blue LED's - 7am-10:30pm (2X 4' strips)
T5 - 03 purple - 6am-8am & 4pm-9:30pm (4 bulbs)
T5 - 12,000K 11 or 12 noon (depending on which day) to either 8:30-9:00pm (8 bulbs)
All my corals grow like crazy
Blue LED's - 7am-10:30pm (2X 4' strips)
T5 - 03 purple - 6am-8am & 4pm-9:30pm (4 bulbs)
T5 - 12,000K 11 or 12 noon (depending on which day) to either 8:30-9:00pm (8 bulbs)
All my corals grow like crazy
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milesofreefs
New member
ive heard of this, there's a sushi place with a fish tank up the street from me. I was talking to the owner and he was telling me he runs a 24 hour light. witch is 6 hours day 6 hours night twice a day. his tank does pretty well and he was also saying since he started that light cycle he gets a lot less algae growth on the glass.
