Best corals for white lighting?

[carol3]

Softies

LPS

Even some SPS don't look too bad.

All under photons set on 100% white

Would you mind putting names to all of those for those of us that don't know all of our coral names yet? Thanks

 

[exnisstech]

Would you mind putting names to all of those for those of us that don't know all of our coral names yet? Thanks

Done. I edited the post with names added above the images, happy reefing

 

[stE26wy14]

They are certainly nice, but I'll specify that I'd only be looking at 'easy' corals so photosynthetic is a must!

most corals are photosynthetic, also requiring nutrients to help skeleton and polyps
but require photosythesis

 

[stE26wy14]

Would you mind putting names to all of those for those of us that don't know all of our coral names yet? Thanks

duncans, bubble corals, rhodactis mushrooms and mushrooms, leather coral, gsp, tenuis(thats very difficult), gsp

edit: oopps @exnisstech already put the names in XD

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Not 100% sure yet, I was thinking of a 12" AI Blade Freshwater as I like the style for the concept I have in mind, but also could just go for a 12" Blade Grow and use mostly whites but throw in a few blues for coral growth. Not sure how soft corals would do with the Blade Freshwater.

I’m planning on 3 AI freshwater plus one AI glow (not grow) for my upcoming mixed tank.

 

[courtneykeeps]

I found the more florescent GSP looks really vibrant under white lighting. Depending on the spectrum I've had it look anywhere from red to orange or bright yellow, which is great because bright yellow is hard to come by.

I've recently tried Leptastrea and plating Montipora and found it stays relatively true to colour.

But also it's highly subjective depending on what you think looks good. Is my frogspawn mostly light brown with a teal tinge and my toadstools/leathers light pink instead of neon? Maybe but I love them and it fits well with the tank.

 

[Lundiboy8]

I just started a white light Innovative Marine 15 tank in December. Other than a Crocea Clam, its all Gorgonians, Fiji Yellow Leather, Koji Wada Pink Nepthea.

 

[Mickle]

Yellow polyps and photosynthetic purple plating sponges look good in white

 

[Enad]

I’m planning on 3 AI freshwater plus one AI glow (not grow) for my upcoming mixed tank.

How do you think the Freshwater spectrum would do with corals? Without the Glow or Grow as supplement.

Yellow polyps and photosynthetic purple plating sponges look good in white

I was planning on trying out a few decorative sponges. Probably looking at some yellow and reds.

 

[maleks.reef]

Definitely toadstool leathers and the pink kenya trees. A lot of yellow/orange mushrooms look pretty good under white light too.

 

[Enad]

I'm thinking of some Yellow Polyps could be cool. I hear they get pretty bright yellow in higher white lighting.

Also looking at a Blood Red Mini Maxi nem. I've always wanted one of these and I feel like the red would show up really well in white lighting.

 

[Common Blevil]

Hi all,

I thought this would be an interesting topic to discuss - I'm thinking of setting up a small 10 Gallon Lagoon style tank sometime in the future, and my idea would be something very low tech and easy, but still very beautiful. I would do pure white lighting for this as part of the concept would be to blend into a living room aesthetic.

So that begs the questions - what are the absolute best looking corals under white lighting?

I know of a few such as the Koji Wada Pink Nepthea and Fiji Yellow leather, but I'd love to hear about more. I'm primarily looking at soft corals, but any LPS suggestions are welcome too.

Thanks!

Xenia is cool, anthelia is good, gsp looks really cool too. Parazoanthus yellow polyps are good too, but are invasive and sting everything. Some zoas are good too. Of course, with white light macroalgae is a must, beautiful, easy to take care for and stabilises the environment. I was able to grow chaeto, caulerpa racemosa (grape caulerpa) and halymeda very well. Red macroalgae are a bit more demanding in my case, but dragon's breath halymenia and gracilaria are finally not dying and growing. For the life of me i couldn't grow caulerpa taxifolia or prolifera, it's probably because i had a lot of coral biomass when i got them, adding chaeto after that didn't help. Sarcophytons should look cool too. Discosoma mushrooms should look beautiful, especially red and blue ones, didn't try them tho.

 

[Tamberav]

Yellow Fiji leather looks best under white. Colt coral is a nice purple.

 

[Common Blevil]

That is very unfortunate, i have never have any issue with mu CUC eating my macro, apart from my filefish muching on caluerpa.

Red macros seems to have slower groth rate and doesn't go sexual. You could also look at palm tree caluerpa and caluerpa ashmedii as they are also slow growers to save you from frequent trimming.

From my experience caulerpa going sexual never does anything bad to an established reef. When i did a rescape and put a rock on some of my grape caulerpa, most of it eent sexual overnight. And you know what? The tank(15g) didn't even bet an eye... It happened like a few months ago and i found out it died off just a few weeks ago, because I wasn't paying attention to it and gsp covered the rocks the algae was on. I still have some left, but still, going sexual is the strategy only caulerpa using, and if it is not the major algae/coral in the tank and there are no finicky corals everything will be fine. Gracilaria, halimeda, halymenia, chaeto don't go sexual, they either grow, exist, or die. Never was able to kill chaeto tho. Very good technical algae to put in the corners and behind rockwork. Also everything except caulerpa, chaeto and some more stringy algaes doesn't grow that fast. So if it doesn't look like a caulerpa, chaeto or some kind of hair/sponge it won't grow super fast.

I will also say in advance that all this thing about red macros being shade liking is not true. Some of them are, some of them don't. Try and see. But all red macros i had liked strong flow, and I've seen them in the wild - they grow either deep or where the flow and light are the highest. Green are somewhere in between.

Also, even macro safe animals can damage macroalgae severely. For example - some blennies. They don't eat it , but if it's near their hiding place they will eradicate it. My bicolor did this with lot's of species of algae and coral near his tube, before was traded off . He did it only there, the problem is, in a 15 g half a tank is near a tube... My advice, the smaller and more docile the blenny, the less chance it will destroy something near it's hole.

 

[Common Blevil]

Definitely considering it though I'm not sure if I want to commit to the maintenance of trimming, but visually it definitely fits the concept I have in mind.

Plus, I always seem to have terrible luck with all my clean up crew absolutely loving to eat my Macro Algae so I've somewhat given up on it lol

I will also add, algaes like halimeda should be more resilient to algae eaters, because it is calcified. It will not save it from an urchin, but will from a hungry snail or a boisterous blenny. There are also some species of gracilaria(mammalaris/hayi) that are really dense, you could try them too. Not dragon's breath or softer caulerpas.

 

[Common Blevil]

I see you have one of the best species of the best group of fish in this hobby) I would feed him a bit more, he looks a bit skinny.

 

[Lundiboy8]

I see you have one of the best species of the best group of fish in this hobby) I would feed him a bit more, he looks a bit skinny.

That was just how I picked it up from my LFS a month ago. All this dude does is eat all day everyday. It's fine lol.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How do you think the Freshwater spectrum would do with corals? Without the Glow or Grow as supplement.



I was planning on trying out a few decorative sponges. Probably looking at some yellow and reds.

I expect they will grow fine, as they do in shallow parts of the ocean,

I’m intending to use the glow two reasons: fluorescence and possible changes in organism pigment (think sun tan in people). I’m not adding it thinking it is needed for growth. :)

 

[scardall]

Hi all,

I thought this would be an interesting topic to discuss - I'm thinking of setting up a small 10 Gallon Lagoon style tank sometime in the future, and my idea would be something very low tech and easy, but still very beautiful. I would do pure white lighting for this as part of the concept would be to blend into a living room aesthetic.

So that begs the questions - what are the absolute best looking corals under white lighting?

I know of a few such as the Koji Wada Pink Nepthea and Fiji Yellow leather, but I'd love to hear about more. I'm primarily looking at soft corals, but any LPS suggestions are welcome too.

Thanks!

Don;t bother at that size. imo 29g is the smallest I would go. Note: NO all in one Set Ups. I love leathers too. water movement is critical . Indirect.

from my past. note: I started with 5. ended up with around 12.

 

[reef’r]

Look at @Andrews_aquarium 40 gallon breeder. Enough said