Lighting Temperature & Coral Growth

[Staaan]

Anyone have any good links to articles about better coral growth being linked to 10,000K as opposed to higher kelvin temperatures?

My DIY LED fixture for instance has White LEDs which are supposedly ~6500K according to the vendors site.

However the manufacturer's site states the K-Range is 5,000 - 10,000K.

I've opted for a "bluer" look, so I have 30 Royal Blue LEDs & 18 Cool White.

So am I getting the "best of both worlds" - in the 10,000K White LEDs for supposed better growth & the 450nm range of the Royal Blue LEDs for better color?

The mixture of the blue/white light (leaning more on the blue end) should deter nuisance algal growth just as a 20,000K MH bulb. Correct?

 

[THEDLO]

here ya go LINK this wont answer ur LED question but only the since behind K temps etc.

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

So you went with a 2 to 1 ratio for a 20K look. Nice job Stan. Controllable or straight current. Not sure if it will deter nuisance algae but there's more to it than just lighting. There's other contributing factors involved. Nutrients, lighting periods, any other outside influences such as a window and heat can also play a role. Not all algae's chloroplasts require the same lighting wavelengths(white orange red or blue) spectrum to grow. So if you do away with one spectrum of light. What effect does it have for another type to grow in its place.
I would say regular maintenance, proper husbandry and your dedication will play a vital role in keeping things in check. JMO... Check for articles regarding sanjay's lighting guide.

 

[Staaan]

Thanks David.

Noel - its constant current. I should have done dimmable, but replacing each drivers and getting all the power supplies was more money than just adding an extra 12 LEDs that were blue. Other wise I could have just made the whites dimmable... and dimmed it to my liking.

Regardless I'm in the process of creating a hanging contraption for my fixture. Because its a retrofit now, and there is too much of (what I guess you would call) spotlight of blues and whites, rather than the colors all mixing together nicely. Just cause the optics (70 & 80 degrees) are not allowing the light to spread enough. So around the top of the tank where the rocks are tall some of the light looks spotty. On the bottom it all mixes more or less.