white LEDs and t5s

snake1

snake1

Premium Member
I'm seriously thinking whats the point of them I have been doing a small study with my corals taking two of the same corals same size on a frag plug and seeing who grows the fastest and nicest in color and the corals in my garage under 3 blue plus and 1 purple plus t5s are growing the same in the same amount of time as my main display corals the one huge difference is the corals in the garage look way more amazing in color and florescence they both are growing over there frag plugs but the corals in the house are whiter and not as florescent not as appealing.I did this with frogskin acro and some basic sps ,pics won't come out really well with the phone ..and this is based on a white on only 3 hours a day in the main display and only at 10% output .... So I'm starting to firmly believe its a majority of water chemistry ..some of these corals in the wild are deep or not getting all the sun we all think they are getting ....so I'm just going to remove all my display white LEDs and change them to more UV and blue and keep the t5s in the house the same combo as the garage tank ....this is all my opinion and what I have seen someone else might experience a different situation....but I believe water stability and chemisty is key .....
 
white really is for our own enjoyment, other than running lower kelvin whites to add some red spectrum white is not all that important.
 
At the same time though, you could probably grow corals with just whites also, since whites are a mix of different colors to make a certain color temp. Like you could probably just run neutral white leds and then 405 and 430 and have the tank grow well. It just would be hideous, then again, so is an all blue tank.
 
I have the garage tank that's 3 blue plus and 1 purple plus and it looks really nice IMO ..and I'm sure its the t5s that are a huge contributer in the growth of the corals but the white and bland look of the corals are a lot different from the garage they have some serious pop to them so that's why I'm going to remove the whites in the main display and put some multi blue and UV and use that whole extra white channel for more pop in the main display ..I thought I needed the whites to grow the coral faster and improve the corals health but I think the corals look way better with no whites ....this is just my opinion I know some like the whiter look but the corals then have no pop to me
 
CrazyEyes said:
At the same time though, you could probably grow corals with just whites also, since whites are a mix of different colors to make a certain color temp. Like you could probably just run neutral white leds and then 405 and 430 and have the tank grow well. It just would be hideous, then again, so is an all blue tank.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree I don't want an all blue tank but the uvs and pink LEDs and mix of t5s help with this I just think the white channel is a complete waste of valuable space and electricity to me ....
 
Last edited:
Reefpilot11 said:
So it's the blue LEDs that make them grow the most?? I thought I was the other way around.
Click to expand...

I used to always focus on my lighting as the main reason my corals are growing and yet I would always spend a lot of time and money doing what everyone else was doing ,metal halied ..vhos..t5s....LEDs....and always had the hit or miss corals live or die .until I dialed in my stability and correct peremiters that's when things would grow and thrive ....I'm just doing this because I have noticed that the white seems to be a waste of space and time IMO and I can now add more pop with an extra channel of leds and get way better color like I see when I look at other reefers and Google pics of some corals that I have and mine look washed in the display at 10% whites and the same coral in the garage looks like they show on the internet and others on here
 
Actually it has been tested. Anti blue plus bulbs put out more growth then any other ati bulb. It should be your staple lighting. My plan with the gen 3 pro radions I was going to run I was not going to use any of the white LEDs they have in the fixture.
 
rogergolf66 said:
Actually it has been tested. Anti blue plus bulbs put out more growth then any other ati bulb. It should be your staple lighting. My plan with the gen 3 pro radions I was going to run I was not going to use any of the white LEDs they have in the fixture.
Click to expand...

I actually started my small test on my corals after seeing how much pop your tanks had and when you told me your lighting schedule I started mine on the same time layout and I like what I'm seeing already in the garage tank and now I'm going to go the same route in the main display. Thanks roger
 
Funny you say that I now have on the main display 2 blue plus 1 coral plus and 1 purple plus and then all the LEDs I like this look that's the other reason I'm ditching the white LEDs...but its still crazy how the garage setup the corals are looking much better
 
I used to have 3 blue plus and 1 purple plus on the main display and then played with changing one blue plue to an aqua blue special but that was a little to white the coral plus is not so white and yet will help with the coral needs...
 
Okay so some of my sps doesn't quite have the color I would like, especially my red planet it is white and red. My parameters are stable and I am going to hook up a calcium reactor in the next week. Anyways, I have been running my lights at 70% blue and 35% white. Last week I downed the whites to 25% and going to see what happens. Could the blues being that high have a negative affect?
 
I'm not sure I have always had my blues at 100% same with my UV and pink and actinic led channel at 100% and then t5s everything seem to be happy ..but I'm no lighting professional this is just my opinion.....after all these years the water stability and chemistry is proving to me that I can probably grow a coral under a 60 watt table lamp bulb the coloration might be ugly but I bet it will grow with perfect water
 
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/10/aafeature

This is probably the best article I've read on the subject. If you've ever dived or just look at pics and video of a natural reef you'll notice everything is a washed out blue. Most wavelengths are filtered out from the water pretty quickly as you descend. Therefore we know corals primarily use the blue and uv wavelengths. However our eyes don't perceive the lower wavelengths all that well so we add the higher wavelengths to bring out more colors. Especially from corals that have little to no fluorescent pigments.

Now light is half the battle. And as mentioned I believe rock solid stable parameters are the key to profound growth. Swings stunt growth. Recently I had a large swing in alk from a batch of salt that was mixing up over two times NSW. My corals stopped growing. Once things stabilized growth continued.

Finally, and I believe this is over looked by many, is feeding your corals. Even sps. They will eat. Live artemia or similar has been studied to greatly enhance growth and color. If the coral is eating food it doesn't need as much zooxanthellae. Less zooxanthellae means less brown and more color. Couple that with intense uv lighting were the coral is creating more fluorescent pigments to protect itself and you are left with a coral that pops. On a natural reef there is an abundance of zooplankton. Every night corals are eating and thus you don't see browned out corals on a reef. However, they enter the captive tank and no longer have this food source so they allow the zooxanthellae to rapidly reproduce and they lose color and sometimes brown out. And there's a big difference between pellets and fish crap compared to a live pod.

Some of this is fact and some may be theory, but through my research and experience this is the conclusion I have come to. ;)
 
CuzzA said:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/10/aafeature

This is probably the best article I've read on the subject. If you've ever dived or just look at pics and video of a natural reef you'll notice everything is a washed out blue. Most wavelengths are filtered out from the water pretty quickly as you descend. Therefore we know corals primarily use the blue and uv wavelengths. However our eyes don't perceive the lower wavelengths all that well so we add the higher wavelengths to bring out more colors. Especially from corals that have little to no fluorescent pigments.

Now light is half the battle. And as mentioned I believe rock solid stable parameters are the key to profound growth. Swings stunt growth. Recently I had a large swing in alk from a batch of salt that was mixing up over two times NSW. My corals stopped growing. Once things stabilized growth continued.

Finally, and I believe this is over looked by many, is feeding your corals. Even sps. They will eat. Live artemia or similar has been studied to greatly enhance growth and color. If the coral is eating food it doesn't need as much zooxanthellae. Less zooxanthellae means less brown and more color. Couple that with intense uv lighting were the coral is creating more fluorescent pigments to protect itself and you are left with a coral that pops. On a natural reef there is an abundance of zooplankton. Every night corals are eating and thus you don't see browned out corals on a reef. However, they enter the captive tank and no longer have this food source so they allow the zooxanthellae to rapidly reproduce and they lose color and sometimes brown out. And there's a bi


g difference between pellets and fish crap compared to a live pod.

Some of this is fact and some may be theory, but through my research and experience this is the conclusion I have come to. ;)
Click to expand...



About the 10th time I have read that article. It's pretty good. I am looking forward to getting my 40 breeder setup going for this exact reason. Each one I plan to try different lighting setups but all the same water.

Roger
 
I run 50 50 Coral plus and blue plus and I have great growth and color...only problem I have is I have 14 of them to replace every year...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Steve's LED and temperature
Replies
11
Views
133
oreo57
oreo57
K
Huge difference in tanks per coral
Replies
4
Views
147
Kirino
K
Jyetman
What to feed a no fish reef
Replies
1
Views
152
OrionN
OrionN
D
Favorite Colors (corals) and Flowies
Replies
7
Views
283
griss
griss
K
Copperband butterfly
Replies
1
Views
79
OrionN
OrionN
Back
Top