Malu light requirement?

[ThRoewer]

Last weekend I picked up a green-tan malu.
After quarantine I intend to put it on the bottom of my 100 gallon tank to provide my anemone shrimp with a home. Though I'm wondering if it gets enough light down there.

The lamp in that location is a Kessil A360NE. I have a Blastomussa wellsi and a green Porites (Christmas tree rock) in the intended location and they seem to be doing OK there (will be relocated).

So will this likely be enough light for a malu?

 

[nemguy]

Led is great for deep tanks because it penetrates way deeper than halides the light should be good for the nem I had a 160 on a 93 cube for a malu and it was a 3ft deep tank and he was good for a very long time 10 months then I sold him so I think your good for the light of not I'm sure the anemone will start to move around or start to get smaller


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[Big E]

Here is my malu at 350 par under T5. It's green based with purple tentacles.

This is under 14k lights, so there's very little bling to make the green or purple pop as much under a more blue light.

When I had it lower at 200 the tentacles were more brown.

There's a good chance your brown will change to the purple if you can get the lighting right. You should be able to produce something similar with your LEDs. Does your malu have the blue pin point tips?

 

[OrionN]

Malu can take fairly bright light, but doe not have too have the bright light like Magnifica or Gigantea.. I have not use your light so I am not familiar with the intensity it put out. I have my Malu under my Radion Gen 3 Pro at 100% intensity in a 40 gal breeder tank. The sand is about 3 inches deep, and the light is about 6 inches over the water. At this light level my 4 Malu anemones are doing well, colorful. You can adjust the spectrum of the light and bring our all kind of color in the anemones but what is the point of having purple anemone under purple light. I rather boost the full light spectrum up so they look natural.
My Magnifica and Gigantea also do well under this light level, although they can take more.

Led is great for deep tanks because it penetrates way deeper than halides the light should be good for the nem I had a 160 on a 93 cube for a malu and it was a 3ft deep tank and he was good for a very long time 10 months then I sold him so I think your good for the light of not I'm sure the anemone will start to move around or start to get smaller


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They physics of light is such that all the photon travel at the same speed, and photons of the same wavelength/frequency have the same energy. How deep it penetrate salt water depends on the wavelength/frequency because the sea water absorb certain wavelength/frequency, and scatter certain wavelength/frequency.
Although many people say that LED or MH or Florescent "penetrate" deeper or not as deep, this is not true.
The different in what intensity at X inches below the water all depends of the spectrum. Light from a point source decrease by a square factor. In a vacuum (no absorption, reflection or scatter of light) the intensity by a factor of 4 (2 square) if the distance double (2).
If the spectrum is the same, what the intensity of light is like 4 inches, 12 inches and 24 inches from the light depends on whether all the light all from the same point (or nearly the same point) like MH or multiple points like light tube, and the angle (incident angle) the light strike the water surface. The amount of light go through is highest at 90 degree and the percent penetrated the surface decreases as the incident angle become less.
The end result of all of this is light from a point source, MH and some LED, tend to have variable intensity at the bottom of the tank, brighter right under the light and drop off fairly quickly away from the light. Light strips, LED or Florescent, give more even light at the bottom of the tank.

Is this a waste of time on my part? I should get a life.

 

[Pericyte]

Malu can take fairly bright light, but doe not have too have the bright light like Magnifica or Gigantea.. I have not use your light so I am not familiar with the intensity it put out. I have my Malu under my Radion Gen 3 Pro at 100% intensity in a 40 gal breeder tank. The sand is about 3 inches deep, and the light is about 6 inches over the water. At this light level my 4 Malu anemones are doing well, colorful. You can adjust the spectrum of the light and bring our all kind of color in the anemones but what is the point of having purple anemone under purple light. I rather boost the full light spectrum up so they look natural.
My Magnifica and Gigantea also do well under this light level, although they can take more.



They physics of light is such that all the photon travel at the same speed, and photons of the same wavelength/frequency have the same energy. How deep it penetrate salt water depends on the wavelength/frequency because the sea water absorb certain wavelength/frequency, and scatter certain wavelength/frequency.
Although many people say that LED or MH or Florescent "penetrate" deeper or not as deep, this is not true.
The different in what intensity at X inches below the water all depends of the spectrum. Light from a point source decrease by a square factor. In a vacuum (no absorption, reflection or scatter of light) the intensity by a factor of 4 (2 square) if the distance double (2).
If the spectrum is the same, what the intensity of light is like 4 inches, 12 inches and 24 inches from the light depends on whether all the light all from the same point (or nearly the same point) like MH or multiple points like light tube, and the angle (incident angle) the light strike the water surface. The amount of light go through is highest at 90 degree and the percent penetrated the surface decreases as the incident angle become less.
The end result of all of this is light from a point source, MH and some LED, tend to have variable intensity at the bottom of the tank, brighter right under the light and drop off fairly quickly away from the light. Light strips, LED or Florescent, give more even light at the bottom of the tank.

Is this a waste of time on my part? I should get a life.

I think it is a good point. It may also be important to realize that blues have higher energy and penetrate the water deeper (not that most of our tanks are 50 feet deep, but you get more bang for your buck).

On a related thought: plants are green because they are reflecting green light. The pigment of our corals are reflections of different wavelengths of light, so it is important to also have as full of a spectrum of light as possible, i.e. the more color corals (photosynthetic) you have, the wider spectrum you need to satisfy everyone.

 

[davocean]

Malu's I've kept did not seem to require blazing light like some of the other more light needy nems, moderate light and moderate flow seemed best, and of course in sand bed at base of rocks.