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

Do you use BLUE (actinic) lighting to make your corals POP?

  • YES

    Votes: 688 81.5%
  • NO

    Votes: 116 13.7%
  • Other (please explain in the thread)

    Votes: 40 4.7%

  • Total voters
    844

fishguy242

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still using t12 vho 6 blue uri 4 uri white 6' with ice cap ballasts 240 tank 24 deep,lights are 18 above tank ,some bulbs are from 90's use em until they burn out,165w ,sps dom tank old school will still grow anything
WP_20160405_001.jpg
 

B7Joe

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My controller is set to start and end the day with blue light but I enjoy a nice blend mid day. I like both. The fish look best under mid day sun and the early morning/late afternoon allow me to enjoy that nice glow from the corals. I personally don’t like the extremes though. Warm white light looks awful to me and pure blue all the time feels very artificial. I go for balance. I also ramp intensity up to mid day and ramp down, for a more natural experience. But to each his own - doesn’t bother me what anyone else does.
 

fishguy242

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agree sunrise to sunset 13hrs total
 

Bpb

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I use blue morning and evening lights. But it’s More to extend the photoperiod. If I had t5 retros with my MH instead of led, I’d use a full spectrum morning and evening. I like daylight better than blues.
 

Weller

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My el-cheapo reef lights ramp the blue and white together but the lowest blue ever hits is 5%, usually after 8pm the white is all gone; my wife loves the blue light hours and often waits to see it daily. Imo the corals look better under natural light.

I also don't believe running blue is frowned upon; just a matter of opinion.
 

Hemmdog

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I chose, "Other." I run 4 A36Xs over my tank with no other lighting. There's no other supplementation. That said, the Kessils do give off a very blueish light. I spend a lot of time on the web camera for work, and can see just how blue it is.

As for how people light their own tank? It's their money, their choice. So long as the livestock is getting what it needs, what does it matter?
Put a polyp lab lens on the camera.
 

lapin

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I grew up in SF in the 60's. The tank is a living black light poster. I call it The Lysergic Acid Diethylamide effect.
 

427HISS

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When you have so much blue the corals look fake, like the plastic corals that the TV show ATM in Vegas uses, they look florescent and stupid. More for children, not real. I've seen tanks so blue that the fish's color change and some that you can hardly see the fish !

Why would you want to change the real colors of fish & corals ?
 

H3rm1tCr@b

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Boy do blue lights sure make those corals fluorescence (POP)! But why is it frowned upon? If the whole purpose of a reef tank is for our viewing pleasure then why not use whatever colored light, tank props or whatever to enjoy it? With that is mind let's talk about it today!

1. Do you use blue lighting to make your coral colors pop?

2. What are your thoughts on using blue (actinic) lighting for your reef tank?


image via @Orphek
LED-light-coral-pop-orphek-1.jpg
Ah a chromis fan I see? I have three myself!
 

H3rm1tCr@b

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My lights normally stay around 12k or so... I think. I like to run a bit of blue for the corals to pop, and whites for the macroalgae (and it is so much easier on the eyes this way.) Although, my favorite time of day to look at the tank is late morning and early afternoon. The window is north facing, and tank right underneath it, so the light filters through and makes it look gorgeous. I wish I could replicate it with the cheapo lighting I have!
 

Bruce Burnett

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A second post here for me. I use to run 10k mh with actinics so no ramp blue for an hour morning and evening but run all day. I hated the blue color back then especially when people went with the all T8 and then all T5. After seeing the variety of corals people have luck with and seeing that almost Windex blue down 30 ft under water why would you not go blue. I still don't want all blue all day but who does not like coral color pop with their own eyes. What your eyes see is never the same as a camera. When selling corals it would be nice to have pictures under blue and also under white but not practicable. When people ask what something is on a coral, rock, plug in all blue light I have to pass it over most of the time. I have never seen a coral have the same color six months after being in my tank. It is always what is pleasing to your own eyes or the eyes of your better half as long as you have enough of the correct spectrum.
 

427HISS

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I actually really like high blue coming from MH lighting. I used to run my tank much bluer than most when I had Halides. The blue that halides gave off looked so much more natural than the crazy blue from LEDs.

Exactly...my nephew just said, "too much blue sucks" !
 

danieyella

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My lights don't have a ramp on/off function so I like to run the blues for about an hour on their own in the am before the whites come on, and for about an hour after the whites go off. Not sure it makes a difference to the corals, but I do know most of my fish are more active once the whites are on as well. As stated by others, I simply don't like spending so much time in a blue room haha
 

Phil D.

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OK, per Red Sea research.... corals use the 360-480nm spectrum to grow and not so much of the white. As a experienced diver, when you get past 10 feet the water begins to turn blue. I run my AI Hydra 26 HDs at 65% for the UV, Blues and 55 on the whites with ramping up and down on the blues 1 hour before and after the whites come on. My corals are growing very well.
 

Clint C

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My Red Sea Max 130D has both blue and white with a timer on it to run the blue at night and a combination of the two during the day. I have no idea what the spectrum of lighting is but both day and night settings are wonderful to view. It’s your tank, enjoy it however it makes you happy.
 

Phil D.

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

20200127_174141.jpg
Red Sea confirmed this with their research. They have 4 You Tube videos on lighting posted.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 75 37.7%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 68 34.2%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 12.6%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.6%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
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