Marineland LEDs

[Lauramichelle]

I am using Marineland Reef Capable LED fixtures for my 20 Gal. I and running 2 fixtures. While I know the white light is needed for coral health and growth, I was wondering of the blue is needed? The reason is that Marineland, in their wisdom(?) only makes it possible to have all blue, or white with blue on. No option to run each on separate ti,ers. So while I have been told to run the blues, for 10 hrs, and the whites for 6 hrs. So I have been manually switching them on or off. Yuck!!! Therefore, I added Ecoxotic Stunner LED strips (Blue/Magenta).
My question is, does coral need the blue lighting, or is it simply for looking at the brilliant colors? If the blue isn't really needed, I could run my white/blue combos for the 6 hrs, and the stunner strip for the 10 hrs. Thank you

 

[Mark Bianco]

Yes different corals use different colors or spectrum. The deep water corals use the blue color or spectrum and the shallower corals usually use the whiter colors. So the short answer is run the blues. I have one Marineland Reef Cabable strip on my 26gl cube and I keep all corals except SPS and clams. I run mine for 12 hours a day for the last two years, IMO running your whites and blues for 10 to 12 hours a day should be fine, but start out slowly increasing your time.
Mark

 

[Lauramichelle]

Thank you Mark. I appreciate your answer.