Anyone still prefer the 10K look, or even 6.5K? What's with all the windex colored tanks?

[tripdad]

I like it whiter than most these days. 4 bulb t5, 2 blue plus, 2 coral plus.

 

[Larry L]

If I was a new reefer and set up a tank with LED's, I might be led to think that white light is undesirable or creates algae problems.

Totally agree. I've always run my tanks on the whiter side (almost 30 years now) because I prefer the look, using everything from VHO T8s to power compacts to T5s to LEDs. And as referred to by a previous response herbivores are underrated. The only time I've had a major algae outbreak was when my foxface got too big and I traded him in to my LFS for a smaller one, and during the couple weeks that it took to get a small one in stock all kinds of algae sprouted up. I had no idea how effective even that one fish was in keeping things under control. And after a few weeks the new guy had it all back in control.

 

[Duncan Tse]

I love the windex look especially if its under all blue led lights. Makes the corals pop way more and thats what I enjoy

 

[Nano sapiens]

In smaller tanks where herbivores are more limited, too much white (which includes red) or red LEDs by themselves can contribute to algae growth. If I run my white and red channels at higher levels, I have to pay special attention to keeping nutrients on the lower side of 'typical' to prevent blooms.

I'd say this is somewhere in the 12k range in person, so a bit whiter than common these days:

 

[scchase]

using LED's for that effect, the 10K effect, is fueling hundreds and hundreds of GHA challenge reefs, though 10K metal halides might not be as bad it was still common to see gha tufting under nonblue light

for running my kessils are 100% blue.

for pics, 10%

in every case of GHA rework we do, after killing algae and cleaning out detritus, last step is bluing the lights and lowering whites.

Utter nonsense in fact since I have switched to bluer tang I have had many more problems with GHA, You might think it is the lights that is the difference, key thing is I also switched my water source when I switched to bluer lights. It is all about the water not the lights.

 

[bam123]

I have my orpheks set at around 17k to 20k throughout the day. I love the look of 10k and will switch for short viewing, but the par for 10k fries my corals as all the channels will be at close to 100 percent to get the spectrum.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

No matter how hard we try to replicate the natural look it's really only possible with large tanks (in my opinion). By large I mean tanks 5,000 gallons or more. What I dislike about white lighting is that all the algae/dirt/detritus really shows up and with the back tank wall so close i'm just not a fan. I think the whiter tanks look good when you're running mainly softies and there are viewing panes front and back with clear glass.

SPS tanks just don't look great to me with white lighting, I really do enjoy the heavy blue. While they don't look great in pictures they look fantastic in person. I'd also say there is a big difference in how a tank looks under blues depending on the lights...some lights are better than others. Reef brights/Orphek to me are much better than Radions which are much much much better than AI in my experiences.

I see old timers get really worked up over blue lights and I just don't know why...people are obsessed with making things generational. Whenever I see someone mention stuff like "I must be out of touch" or "they don't make them like they used to" I just have to roll my eyes. It's mostly because at some point in our lives people just decide they no longer want to ride with change and stick to their ways. Nothing wrong with it but it's not worth worrying about folks that like newer stuff.

I prefer blue because it really brings out unique colors in these corals, I enjoy the colors.

And no, I am not some kid in a dorm. I actually run brighter white during the day while I am at work because it helps my tank with growth; blue is set at dusk for show and I enjoy the heck out of it. From 7pm to 10pm I have JUST my Orphek Blue plus bars shooting down over the front rocks of my tank and the color pop just puts me in such a good mood. I can see the purple tips of my WD from 50 feet away.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

You prefer the windex look as a method of algae control?

Id much rather use my lights to see the yellows and reds on my magjificent foxface or the yellow on my purple tangs tail, or the delicate pinks in the crown of my coco worm than to lose all that to combat algae.

Pro tip:

You can see that with blues too. If the tank in person looks like it's filled with windex then it's probably garbage lights with terrible settings.

I run all blue T5's (8x ATI Blue Plus), Radion AB+ and Orphek Blue + and my reds/pinks look stunning. My yellows are a thing of beauty; I still feel my tank has a very white look when the T5s are running. My water is very clear and the black acrylic back wall of my tank really brings out the contrast. The water still looks clear as can be...generally nutrient rich dirty water makes the tank look washed out with blue almost as if it's filled with "windex". A softy tank running all blues is going to look way worse than a clean SPS running all blue.

This is why I said earlier I prefer the more white lighting spectrum when I ran a softy tank.

 

[X-37B]

You have to look at the tank. Run what makes you happy. Its really that simple. They all work, all K levels, pick what works for you and enjoy your reef lol.

 

[Victor_C3]

I have a theory related to that. Back in the iwasaki days, nobody really ever talked about Dino's. They were rare. I think our tanks were more nutrient rich then for sure, but I also think our tanks were more hospitable to green algae. Dino's, like Diatoms, were a pioneer species eventually to be succeeded by turf algae. I feel like blue windex tanks with zero nitrates get in the way of that succession.

The only way I've ever managed turf algae is through herbivores. It's better to battle an algae that critters like to eat versus one nobody touches. I haven't found any good consumers of Cyano/Dino's. I'll take the green stuff.

As far as my settings, I'll try to download them and upload the aip file. But my recommendation is to go into "manual" mode, set the blues and purple to 75% or more, then add in enough red/green/white till it looks good to you. Then have that be 8-9hrs and add some dawn dusk before and after. The dawn dusk periods can be the fun glow in the dark time... Similar to what we did with actinics.

Interesting point, the differences between systems that were more nutrient rich back then versus the plethora of ultra-low nutrient systems we see today.

I remember when zeovit and other similar systems first started to appear, but I’m probably just showing my age.

Like you mentioned, I always kept a decent assortment of herbivores and never had a problem with algae growth getting out of hand. I deal with aptasia the same way - start a system from day one with a handful of aptasia eating peppermint shrimp and the stuff never makes an appearance in my display tanks.

I guess it all boils down to preference on how each of like to manage our reef systems.

 

[Rmckoy]

I prefer more of a daylight look .
And partially why I still believe in t5’s instead of switching to leds

 

[Aqua Splendor]

I love that topic

Anything that can replicate what natures does, is usually what I love the most.
So I have a tendency to like the whiter color then pure blue windex.

But this is way I love Hybrid so much, I have all the T5 combination and Kessil and Radion.
Having the ability to customize exactly your type within the health of corals is very great.

So since but bring interesting and different aspect I like to use both with the schedule.
In Sunset and Sunrise it's the LED that kick in with UV/Blue low intensity, during the day it's more white and T5 kick in.

 

[Spieg]

Wait a sec... Windex what? LOL

 

[Silent]

I like the 20k look the best. Little blue but white enough to see colors.

 

[Doctorgori]

I got great growth and terrible color back in the 6500K VHO/Ice Cap days of the 90’s .... of course I got blasted on the forums, esp after/when those 15K Radiums were “romanticized” by this study or that ,,,windex is just in my friend LOL

 

[User]

Dbl post

 

[AnneO]

Why not have the best of both worlds? I run a bright white look for high noon 12pm-4pm and then it gradually ramps down to a more blue evening look (not fully windex though) from 8pm-10pm that brings out the fluorescent colours

 

[Mark]

Why not have the best of both worlds? I run a bright white look for high noon 12pm-4pm and then it gradually ramps down to a more blue evening look (not fully windex though) from 8pm-10pm that brings out the fluorescent colours

Exactly! That's what I was implying when I said earlier,

I think the greatest thing about LED's is that we can enjoy the tank under multiple spectrums. The blue LED's certainly bring out amazing colors in the corals, and it's nice to throw in some high noon daylight as well to enjoy the fish and coral under more natural light.

 

[DothanReefer]

So happy I found this thread. Thanks OP!!

I'm brand new to the hobby, first tank has been up almost a month. I'm prepping for some easy corals soon, but have no idea how to achieve the "daytime" light look with these G5 Pros. It looks like windex to me - I just chose the preset template for "LPS/Softies". The other "AB+" template makes it even more blue. Can someone please help me to tone down the blue?? Sounds like thats an okay thing to do as far as keeping corals alive and thriving, please correct me if I'm wrong?

I have a WB 100.3 (3x2 display) running two Radion G5 Pros. Any help adjusting this blue look would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Abhishek]

Well nothing makes chroma proteins shine better than 10K . Blues are nothing like any leds can achieve ..