Blue or White LED lights for growth/color

[scunfcu]

Just got my first LEDs Maxspect Razor 160watts 27in 16k. Wondering how I should allocate % of Whites and blue to get most growth and color pop?

A = white B= Blue. Right now I'm its about A=50% and B= 70%. Not seeing much pink,purple and blue in my sps. Also I'm starting low as I don't want to shock the corals going from ATI T5s to LEDs.

The 16k is a bit dark similar to my old Phoniex 14k. I would prefer a more blue look. Previously I was running bunch of ATI Blue Plus with a daylight.

Any suggestions?

 

[murphreef]

i am not familiar with your set up but as for me i made a 24 - 3W CREE LEDs 16 royal blue 2 blue and 4 cool white and 2 neutral white set up.

I run 12 RB on one driver at 80% and then i run the remaining 4 RB, 2B, 4 CW & 2 NW on a another driver at 30% it gives the tank a nice 14-16K look. If I run too much white it drowns out the blue and my corals bleach too.

 

[scunfcu]

Maxspect Razor uses Cree XT-E.

A channel = mostly White (8000k and 3000k) and Royal blue (450-465 mm)
B channel = Blue, Royal blue and Super Actintic

Only program % of A and B but not the individuals. A channel considered Whites and B channel consider Blue. I'll probably try yours 80/30 or 70/20 to start out.



I'm going to try few combo to see, was just curious as to what most LED SPS owners uses.

 

[BigAl2007]

You probably wont see a lot of PINK and PURPLE because you are using a majority of Blues & Whites. I'm not saying you wont see any of the other colors but to see them really pop you'd want to add some Magenta (purple) and UV LED into the mix. Maybe you can use some type of "add-on" strip to incorporate some of the other colors that the coral might like to really color up more. Just an idea.

 

[wholelottawater]

I found out the hard way on my DIY setup that to much white can make your corals brown fast. Start off very blue and work you way up. I also added 420nm, 590nm and pink LED's(similar spectrum to a purple plus t5 bulb).

withing a month of turning the CW LEDS down my colors recovered on almost all colonys.

 

[geldof]

True that too much white LED will nuke your coral at first. My SPS frags have been growing at snale pace under 80% blue and 30% white for about a year (AI Sol Blue) I have spent the last 3 months ramping the two whites up 5%per week. The corals are now developing color and finally branching with whites and blues all at 80% and the light mounted 7 inches above the water! The coral seem to prefer the intense white spectrum for growth, much like metal halide growth spectrum, now that they are acclimated. Coincidence? perhaps.

 

[geldof]

One more thing. Am seeing pink and purple tones now that the coral have acclimated when my SOL Blue's whites are at 80%. I am starting to wonder if people are missing the color because LEDs have not been around long enough for most SPS frags to acclimate and grow into fully developed colonies. Really does seem to take a solid year to accomplish.

 

[jg93]

100% agree with geldof. I have the AI Sols as well. Start low, ramp up. I quickly put mine (over a month) from 50 to 80 and browned out all my monties. Now that I'm running them lower (50/70, w/b) growth is great, colors are great.

The thing I've seen with lighting is that changes take time, and a lot of it. I see so many threads where people write off LEDs after a month - well, that's there prerogative, but in my experience, it takes corals several months to properly acclimate to new lights. And once they do, they'll take off it flow/h20 are fine. There are plenty of online examples of people running sets up side by side with LEDS vs MH and the LEDS meet or even exceed the growth rate of the MH without all the power consumption, heat, and general ugliness