reefbreeder photon blues vs whites

[legacyline]

I have the photon 48 and ive been tinkering with the settings a bit..i have all sps in the tank (90 gal) ...is it best to keep the blues close to the white for example 45% blue 40% white or is there some advantage to have the blues higher example 60% blue 40% white..im just trying to find what people are having the most success with running blues closer to whites or higher thanks for any advise ..

 

[codydemmel4]

when I had mine (reefbreeders 48), I ran my blues over 20% higher as I liked the look a lot more and my SPS seemed to like it a lot too. I know a lot of people run their blues higher on every lighting system out there. I am sure a lot more people will chime in

 

[Buzz1329]

FWIW, I do 75/25 blues/other colors (including whites) during peak hours on my Reefbreeders Photon 32's. Just like the look is all. But I've also added 2 x 48" Build My LEDs 14k strip fixtures to back of 180 tank to boost peak light period. They seem to whiten the color a bit (but frankly, the BMLs are so weak compared to RBPs, not sure they affect the color spectrum all that much.)

I bought the BMLs strips as replacement for a MH/T5 fixture on my 75, but after a few weeks I went back to 2 x 250 watt MH plus 2 x 48" T5 fixture. IMO, generation of BML strips I bought are good for extra boost/highlights only. I understand they've introduced a more powerful strip light since I bought so I have no idea whether new BMLs are better.

Mike

Mike

 

[legacyline]

Yeah I like the blue look myself I'm trying to get to 100% blue 40% whites for peak hours I like the look of that ...I would assume more blue is more beneficial than white...the photon 48 is less par than the 16 or 32 " at the same settings so just trying to balance the look I like while still achieving enough par

 

[laga77]

I hate blue tanks. I want something more neutral and easy to look at. I have a RB 48" and a 32". Both have the blues and whites set the same. There is a 13 hour cycle where it ramps up from 7am to noon then a 3 hour period of 100% and then ramps down to 0 at 8pm. I have great color and excellent growth rates. Been like this for 2 years on my 50G tank.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Your coral's zooxanthellae do photosynthesis with the blue spectrum light (mostly) and there is some blue in your white leds. But the more blue you can give the system, the better the zooxanthellae can do photosynthesis and the more food your corals can produce for themselves.

I run my two IT2080 (the 32" version of your light) at 40% white and 90% blue for 3 hours at midday and the sunrise and sunset (5 and 6 hours respectively) are even more blue.

My recommendation is to run it as blue as makes you happy with the look of the tank. If you are away from it for work, run it even more blue and have it go back to what you like to look at for when you are home.

BTW, laga's post above shows that he is getting lots of blue at 100%. But he gets the look he wants by running his white just as high. And a note of caution, if I ran my lights at 100% each channel I'd kill a lot of coral. Even at 100% blue and 60% white I bleached out a milli that was about 12" deep in the tank. So be careful.

 

[laga77]

I am not telling anybody to do this. I just state what I do. It took 3 weeks of acclimation to put the lights that high. I have nuked one piece of Acan in the beginning because I started it out too high. Now they go and stay on the on the bottom with no problem. I do this because of the growth rate I get. I am selling frags back to the LFS quite often.

 

[legacyline]

Thanks for the input guys...i like the bluer look myself I like the look at 100% blue 40 white so Ill work up to that and see how that goes ...

 

[Ron Reefman]

I am not telling anybody to do this. I just state what I do. It took 3 weeks of acclimation to put the lights that high. I have nuked one piece of Acan in the beginning because I started it out too high. Now they go and stay on the on the bottom with no problem. I do this because of the growth rate I get. I am selling frags back to the LFS quite often.

I didn't mean to imply you were doing anything wrong. I just don't know anybody with EverGrow, ReefBreeder or OceanRevive fixtures running them at 100% on both channels. And 3 weeks is a very short acclimation period for moving up more than about 20%.