BLUE LIGHT REEFING: So you like to look at your reef under blues?

[Pickwun]

And when you have company over you can pull out all of your outdated blue lights and turn them on, too. That tends to make people uncomfortable so they leave sooner.

 

[tdlawdo]

I have radions and use the @WWC light program so it is blue from 2-8pm. I personally like the look of the tank better under white light but if the blue is better for my coral then so be it. I think they look nicer more realistic under white. And easier to photograph. When people are over (rare) I will turn up the whites and let them see the tank and how beautiful the fish are for a few minutes then turn it back to the WWC schedule.

 

[Greenreef75]

I run LEDs weighted towards blue in the morning and evening to showcase fluorescence. Whiter for four hours a day so I can see how Oregon Tort and Red Dragon Acroporas are doing.

Can you recommend a good schedule and settings for AI hybrid 60" with 4x blue + and 4x AI 26 HD lights over a RSR 650 peninsula that's SPS heavy?

 

[Dave Cureton]

Blue in the morning (ATI B+). White/Warm in the afternoon (ATI B+, C+, P+), Black light poster at night (SB reefbar). I love it all!

 

[ccombs]

Water and Windex are the same color.

Change my mind.

;Shamefullyembarrased;Shamefullyembarrased;Shamefullyembarrased

 

[madweazl]

I'm not a fan of blue tanks and keep mine in the 12-14k range; visually, it's most appealing to me but I dont really target acroporas that look their most vibrant under heavy blue lighting either. To me, the fish and the majority of corals look best under lighting in this range, especially blue acroporas. My LEDs (Kessil A360s) do start the light cycle at their bluest setting and ramp up to my "whitest" setting (50% right now I think) over the course of two hours at sun-up and sun-down each day (10am-12pm and then 8pm-10pm). The Kessils remain at 50% color the remaining eight hours of the photo-period along with the T5s (mix of blue+, aquablue special, and purple+).

 

[Keith Burns]

I am surprised I have not seen anybody discuss what is best for the corals! As for looks I think the corals look best under more blue, but the fish like better under a more natural light, say 50/50 white and blue.
My understanding is that SPS corals grow faster under white light but color up under blue light. So for coral health and ascetic appeal I have the first and last two hours of light cycle heavy blue and the hours in between more natural with 40% white and 60% blue.

 

[charlesk]

1. I am not a fan of having a room that I often spend time in having so much blue light.

2. It seems unnatural to me to run a tank 20K and up.

3. Blue lighting has been an excuse for years to charge more for coral due to newbs not realizing what is going on. Almost all acro will "pop" under enough blue light

4. It is a lazy way to make blah look better. Thus it's current popularity.

5. I am not a coral farm.

6. Yes I run some blue/actinic but just to balance out things out for approx 14-16K look.

7. Get off my lawn

Get off my lawn, good one, lol

 

[sawdavis]

I like a more blue tank than a white one. That's why I have a more white photo period while I'm at work. Then it transitions to more blue when I'm around to enjoy. And like @Sailingeric you got to have the "show off" mode.

Same here. I have programmed my daylight/white lights to come on between 4 a.m. to 11 a.m. and then my blue lights come on. I'm thinking that I will change my daylights to come on from 12 to 7 am during the summer to lessen the heating of the water by the lights during the heat of the day. Also, blue lights make my water look pristine. White lights show all the algae on my sand, glass, and rocks.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I am surprised I have not seen anybody discuss what is best for the corals! As for looks I think the corals look best under more blue, but the fish like better under a more natural light, say 50/50 white and blue.
My understanding is that SPS corals grow faster under white light but color up under blue light. So for coral health and ascetic appeal I have the first and last two hours of light cycle heavy blue and the hours in between more natural with 40% white and 60% blue.

Here's an article I wrote a few years ago. Bear in mind results are not likely to be applicable to all corals/zoox clades.

Effects of Different Spectra Generated by LEDs on Growth of the Stony Coral Porites lobata

Stony coral nubbins (tentatively identified as Porites lobata; see Figure 1) were exposed to light of the same intensity (128 µmolm²sec) but different spectra for 75 days. Growth rates were determined by weighing the fragments periodically with an analytical balance.

www.advancedaquarist.com

 

[NanoDJS]

I run my lights @ like 15k during main photoperiod , of that 90% is blue / uv/ actinic and some whompin 10w 8k white bulbs to even out the color. ramp up is like 20k and ramp down goes into like 23k. I notice my corals POP more when I have a whiter photoperiod , also the definition /striation is much more bold and defined as well as colors. I think people can do whatever they like , the science is already proven.

 

[Aquaman102]

I've got a Reef Breeder Photon V2+ light setup. I prefer a more blue look. I'm about to use the WWC method to see how it goes. This is what I'll be ramping up to, although it not ramping up much from what I have got in place today.

	Red	Green	Royal Blue	White	Cool Blue	Violet
10:00	5%	3%	30%	7%	30%	12%
11:00	10%	10%	50%	20%	50%	25%
12:00	10%	25%	70%	25%	70%	70%
13:00	10%	25%	70%	25%	70%	70%
14:00	10%	25%	70%	25%	70%	70%
15:00	10%	25%	70%	25%	70%	70%
16:00	10%	25%	70%	25%	70%	70%
17:00	5%	10%	70%	20%	70%	70%
18:00			70%		70%	70%
19:00			70%		70%	70%
20:00			70%		70%	70%
21:00			70%		70%	70%
22:00			10%		10%	10%

 

[Crabs McJones]

I've always loved my corals more under the blue light. I run my system pretty blue. I used to run actinic T5's but now run all blue + for the par

 

[Eric Miller]

I use blue's in the morning and then 20% whites in the middle of the day then taper back down to blues in the evening with Kessils 360we.

 

[jsvand5]

Something I haven’t seen anyone mentioned yet- when you go diving, or at least watch a movie with ocean/reef, when it gets to certain depth, it’s actually very blue looking. Most SPS are pretty shallow and therefore, requires high light. Most “low light LPS” actually live much deeper in the ocean where only blue light exists.

It is true that the deeper you go the bluer the light gets, but there is no place in any ocean on the planet that looks even remotely like the crazy blue led lit tanks.

 

[ZoWhat]

With Chlorophyll A and B..... why would you run anything but 400 to 500nm blue light??? Science backs the 400 to 500nm spectrum

 

[MPS]

Certain corals just pop and look best under actinics. I know it's artificial but dangit it looks good.

What I don't understand is people that only use actinics and then only look at their corals with those orange glasses on. That's taking it to a whole other level.

I’ll agree with that, even though I do have a set of glasses. I look through them sometimes just for a “wow!” Factor. I also admit to using them when I’m showing off the tank to anyone that’s not in the hobby.

 

[Lizbeli]

I chose, "Other." I run 4 A36Xs over my tank with no other lighting. There's no other supplementation.

How do you like these as a stand alone light? I have two coming in a couple days to replace a 4 bulb ATI fixture. Cant wait to see the Kessil shimmer!

As far as my tank goes now, it is probably 15k. I like the natural light look with a touch of blue. However, I do run an actinic bulb to try and get more pop from my T5s.

 

[ZoWhat]

1. I am not a fan of having a room that I often spend time in having so much blue light.

2. It seems unnatural to me to run a tank 20K and up.

3. Blue lighting has been an excuse for years to charge more for coral due to newbs not realizing what is going on. Almost all acro will "pop" under enough blue light

4. It is a lazy way to make blah look better. Thus it's current popularity.

5. I am not a coral farm.

6. Yes I run some blue/actinic but just to balance out things out for approx 14-16K look.

7. Get off my lawn

1. Why did you take up this hobby? Just asking. Bc a lot of ppl dont have a medical job bc they cant handle blood.

But I do understand where you are coming from...In Fact! The reason I have a HOOD and not contemporary open hanging light vibe is so excess blue light doesn't kill my family's eyes. I feel my hood protects somewhat of excess blue light harmful to eyes

But blue light eye damage walks hand n hand with this hobby

2. A good PAR in the 400-500nm blue range allows the corals think they are deeper than 24-28ins deep in a glass box. Blue light IS their natural environment

3. I would read up on zooxanthellae algae that builds coral structures. Zooxanthellae is basically algae in the corals tissue that converts NO3 and blue sunlight into growing tissues.

Marine coral biology goes way deeper than that but basically corals convert NO3 with the use of blue filtered sunlight to g r o w

4. Again the GOAL of Reef Keeping is nourish zooxanthellae. This chart is universally accepted on how corals grow zooxanthellae

5. No but I betcha you want your investment in corals to grow

6. Kelvin K is a temp color when the whole light spectrum if Blue/Green/Red all comes at you at the same time. 20k is just s little heavy handed on blues. 8-10k is heavy on yellows/red. A Kelvin rated light is all blues/greens/reds emitting light energy with slight variations on the RGB mix

This pic show you what happens when you start mixing Blues/Green/Reds at the same time and the different Kelvin White Light that's produced

Sorry I just can not let this comment go by without an opportunity to learn. Sorry my delivery is a rough. Just how I am. Dont take offense



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[redeyejedi]

I have two hours of blues when the lights come on, and then whites ramp up to 30% for four hours with blues and then finish with four hours of just blues after that. Its all run on timers and auto settings.