Looking for thoughts and opinions on lighting schedules

[NanoReefWanabe]

I am using 4 cree lumia reef pucks over my tank with storm controller...i have full control over the strings and color (like most would with any led setup like this)

My question is:

I often seen poeple run thier actinic channels colors first on last off ... and have the whites come on mid day..

To me that does not seem very natural... as I have never in my life seen a blue sunrise or sunset...

To me it would make more sense that the whites (or reds if you have them) come on first and have subsequent colors come on after with your blue/ actinics being the last on and first off.. this would best replicate sunrise and sunset..

I guess you would not get all the viewing pleasure of florescent corals in the morning and night (or what ever your schedule is) though...

I am going to set mine to do exactly that... then have some of the blues come back on dimly for moon phases...

Does anyone else do this?

 

[Potatohead]

It doesn't matter what you see, it matters what wavelengths penetrate the water.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

Point taken, I have never been under water for sunrise or sun set... and I realize red is the first to filter out in water... which makes you wonder why we even use them (other then for our own viewing pleasure)

 

[Potatohead]

Point taken, I have never been under water for sunrise or sun set... and I realize red is the first to filter out in water... which makes you wonder why we even use them (other then for our own viewing pleasure)

A lot of people don't, and a lot of the earliest LED's didn't have any red or green or whatever. With those wavelengths added though the corals do look better.

 

[JZinCO]

Point taken, I have never been under water for sunrise or sun set... and I realize red is the first to filter out in water... which makes you wonder why we even use them (other then for our own viewing pleasure)

Because coral use red light for chlorophyll a

It just isn't intuitive to give a coral like this:

And feed it light like this:

*Also, while red light is less available at deeper depths, one should recognize that 'first to filter out' doesn't happen until ~50m in depth.

Back to the topic, yeah it does seem counter to run blues before and after full spectrum considering common knowledge about how light scatters in the atmosphere. But.. it just looks cool.

 

[slief]

Because coral use red light for chlorophyll a

It just isn't intuitive to give a coral like this:

And feed it light like this:

*Also, while red light is less available at deeper depths, one should recognize that 'first to filter out' doesn't happen until ~50m in depth.

Back to the topic, yeah it does seem counter to run blues before and after full spectrum considering common knowledge about how light scatters in the atmosphere. But.. it just looks cool.

Red filters out at about 15' - 20' (5-6 meters). Not 50 meters. Orange filters out at 50 feet..
Here is a good read on the spectrums and what happens to them under water.
http://www.scubadiverinfo.com/2_red_at_depth.html

Corals get most of their needed photosynthetic radiation from 420nm to 460nm wavelengths. That is why there is that huge peak in that range in the charts above. They get enough red spectrum from the white channels for their chlorophyll A needs. Especially since most higher end fixtures have a fairly broad range of white channels/spectrums as opposed to just cool white. The red and green channels are more to bring out colors in corals that would otherwise be invisible as opposed to providing a source for Chlorophyll A.

You can grow corals just fine under a mix of blue, royal blue and white. The typical rule is a 3:1 mix of blue to white channels. It's only recently (the last handful of years) that red diodes, green diodes and UV range diodes have become popular in fixtures. Now if you take a coral and place it under a fixture with just the mix of just blue and white channels on and then bring up the red channels a bit, depending on the corals, you will immediately see colors that are otherwise invisible. Same with the green channel. The UV channel may bring some photosynthetic at lower levels but that spectrum as well will bring out colors in a coral or even fluorescence that may not be seen under just blue, royal blue or white.

 

[slief]

As for the question regarding why blue for sunrise/sunset.. White light gives the appearance of brightness. Blue doesn't read as intense to the human eye. It's also the primary color that passes through the waters at typical reef levels where mostly blue and some yellow light reaches. It's a more natural color on the reef at dusk and dawn. At least to me as a long time scuba diver. White spectrum also facilitates algae growth moreso than blue light does. With a 12 hour photo period, I start off with the blue/royal blue channels and as those channels increase in intensity, I start bring up the white and UV as well as the red and green channels. In my 12 hour photo period, the whites are only really used to 10 of those hours. They start 1 hour before sunset where they ramp up gradually to my peak 4 hours and then ramp down from there until 1 hour before the lights go out. That last hour mimics the first hour where only blue and royal blue are on. Given that white is the least needed spectrum, there is photosynthesis throughout the 12 hour light cycle but it's a slow build up and by limiting the white spectrum and ramping it up, I promote less algae growth on my viewing panes and my corals grow like weeds.

 

[Powder Blue107]

Was it difficult to wire the controller to your light fixture. I plan to take on this project but it seems itimidating. I have an led fixture from amazon that has 2 channels (white & blue) can i use this controller on my fixture?

 

[Powder Blue107]

Was it difficult to wire the controller to your light fixture. I plan to take on this project but it seems itimidating. I have an led fixture from amazon that has 2 channels (white & blue) can i use this controller on my fixture?

And also you can set the coordinates to fiji hawaii on the storm controller and leave it on auto.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

Was it difficult to wire the controller to your light fixture. I plan to take on this project but it seems itimidating. I have an led fixture from amazon that has 2 channels (white & blue) can i use this controller on my fixture?

NOT sure it can be used with your fixture... though I am sure if you are smart tech kinda person you could figure a way... me not so much.. and my lights and controller are very plug and play

And also you can set the coordinates to fiji hawaii on the storm controller and leave it on auto.

As for this question, yes I believe so...