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I get all that about the fixtures, of course. We all understand the differences of quality and efficiency of better built fixtures.The quality of the materials in a fixtures does have everything in the properties of the light emitted in each fixture when it comes to lighting. Especially in LED's. For LED's, the quality heavily depends on which binning the led comes from. The binning determines the voltage, how they chromatically appear, tolerance of spectrum, etc. etc. etc. The tighter the binning, the more the LED Cost. YOu get what you pay for. Do some googling on it, you will find some good reads and get some good knowledge in that category. It can help you determine how well your LED fixture is made and how close they are to a spectrum that you want. Best thing to do in determining an LED fixture. You will have to call manufactorers to get info though. Just FYI. In MH's the quality of the material also is in place. What kind of reflector are you using, bulb, and ballasts. Any change in the quality of product you buy will yield different results. Reflectors alone are huge. You cant compare a lumen bright reflector to the reflector I had in my PFO fixture. They are not on the same plane or level. The Lumen Bright was way better than what I had.
Anyway moving forward. I have no misunderstanding of how UV and blue lights work in regards to corals. I believe you have been misinformed with what you are saying, so let me share with you.
UV is a spectrum of light. Nothing more, nothing less. Just narrowing down to what we are talking about we have the following
UV-C which is between 200-280nm
UV-B which is between 280-315nm
UV-A which is between 315-400nm.
Then we move to violet and blue visible Light. 400- 500
Here is the spectral graph of MH 250W Radium bulb with electronic ballast.
Now you can see how much uv is in the spectrum. MH's do not offer more UV than any other lighting source. Now lets forget about LED's for a second. When I had MH's I used the super VHO actinic bulb for more "pop" in the coral. Here is its graph. You can clearly see its providing More UV. That is why we add supplement to the MH Radium Bulb. MOre UV. You can do it with SVHO, T5, or LED. Doesn't matter. You need It for the pop.
So what is POP. Let me go over that.
"POP".
Our corals are photosynthetic. The corals change their pigment in order to be more efficient in the photosynthetic process. The change of pigment from blue and UV light give off more fluorescents to the human eye under such lighting giving you the "POP". There is no magic or reflection coming from the coral. Its the pigment of the coral.
If you take a coral that's been under good UV and blue lighting it will have that "POP", under that lighting due to the pigment change to photosynthesize that lighting more efficient. If you put that coral under say a 10k light in another aquarium in buddies tank. The pigment of the coral has not changed, but you will not be able to see the "POP", with the human eye any more due to the loss of spectrum provided light. The corals hasn't changed pigment at this time, but you don't have the proper lighting to see it. Now if you leave the coral in the tank under 10k for several months the coral pigment will change over time to better suite 10k lighting. LEss blue and UV. The coral will no longer have that "POP".
You can give that same coral back to the aquarium that has the good uv and blue lighting and it will not have "POP" anymore. Why? Because the pigment changed in the other aquarium to suite 10k lighting. You will now have to wait say weeks or months later until the pigment changes again for you to get that "POP". Some of us in the old days called that "Coloring up a Coral" for friends. Used to do it all the time for people.
Now my LED's provide the blue and the UV all in one fixture. I hope this helps explain.
Isn't that UV damage?My 400's warped my overflow box lid. Its the only plastic on the aquarium and the lid is almost an inch thick.
The LEDs just can't be compared with halides. Please test your hands under the fixtures.
By putting the hand under a fixture one can have a "better idea" of the intensity.What does that have to do w/ UV?
Are you referring to the IR "sensible heat" portion?
The damage to the tanks looks to be from heat shrinkage and warping..
LOL!this thread got so big I thought it was a what’s the best salt thread.
You need more led pucks to get less shadows. It’s not about intensity.
You can’t say led or MH to classify it. It’s like saying fruit is sour, but you are talking about a lemon.
Each fixture has different spread and quality.
Was I talking about MH or Led?
Isn't that UV damage?
Can the Mitras' LEDs do the same?
Why not?
Get my point on the UV? Plastic, remember?
Grandis.
Threads like this are the best ones!!!Oh heck No. No way. I actually only had my MH's over this aquarium for a very short time before I saw the Mitras released and I upgraded my lighting. So I didn't have plastic having long term exposure of heat and UV radiation from MH's. It just got warped from the heat and the weight of itself over the overflow. Its a long piece with no support across the middle. I think I may have had one fan working on the PFO pendant at that time and didn't notice till I seen the lid. I actually just took it outside in the Texas heat and flipped it over and I let the sun put it back the way it was after I removed the PFO pendant. My mitras do not give off enough heat to make plastic/pvc pliable so that is why it cant do that. Nor would I want it too. The heat and electric is the reasons I got rid of the MH's in the first place. Thank goodness they are gone. Not to mention listening to those two fans on the fixture all the time and the chiller kicking on. Glad those days are over.
I believe what everyone is talking about on the MH's is actually "UV radiation". Yes the MH bulbs do give off UV radiation. I would agree that yes they give off more than any other bulb, especially if you bought unshielded bulbs with non shielded glass covering them. It will have long term effects on everything around it....Including us.
Well this thread is way of course unfortunately. But thanks for reminding me of the old days. Was fun.
I do more snorkeling then diving today and in both situations I see halides as the best to simulate the natural environment
Grandis.
It will grow coral.Yea if you use 6500k...