Lighting Placement to affect coral direction growth

[Kinetic]

In my light fixture, my metal halide is on the front side of the tank, while my actinic is on the back side. This was an adhoc / temporary fixture while my 98g tank is being built. After 7 months, the corals are super colorful on the backside, but dark and almost brown on the side you see all the time, the front. I'm talking mostly about my Acropora.

If you place a growth stimulating (most PAR) light near the back of your tank, then actinics up towards the front, would it allow for the coral to grow slanting towards the back of the tank, showing off more of a side of it's tissue then hit by the actinic supplement to bring out the color?

Do corals, like home plants etc., grow towards the strongest light source? Do they try to expose most of their tissues towards the light?

I was thinking about placing a 10K bulb towards the back of my tank, and a 20K bulb towards the front of my tank.

any ideas?

 

[RichConley]

Have you pulled the corals out and looked at them under natural light?

They probably just look more colorful under the actinics, and are actually the same color.

 

[CaptiveReef]

Light Placement

Light Placement

If you place all the lights in positions above the tank the corals will get full exposure, more important is the water flow the corals are getting. The water flow is a major factor on coral directional growth. If you go with 10,000k lighing you will need to supply actinic 03 lighting.
I use 20,000k lighting and 6500k lighting for growth and coloration.


CaptiveReef

 

[Boxer_Crab]

I like a higher kelvin rating on my bulbs for the blue spectrum
10k has too much yellow for my tastes.

 

[jim48442]

re

re

my sps grow with the flow lol and if the light isnt getting some spots on them they will not be as colorfull in those areas

 

[parothead22]

Good water flow is very important to coral growth. Also the amount and way the current hits the coral will alot of times dictate the way the coral grows(ie. laminar). As far as light is concerned, I love metal halide lighting with the (glimmer lines) which acts as a magnifying glass and pierces deep inside the coral offering more intense light every second. Also do you use plain white color sand or Aragonite? It is better than say black sand as the light refrax back up hitting the underside of corals curbing the bleaching problem and aiding in the overall consistency of color throughout your coral.