Color temperature setting for mixed reef

[Talisker]

I have 2 redsea g2 60 LED lights. I didn't really care about spectrum/color temp as I was fish only coming out of my cycle. I'm starting to add corals zoa, euphila, and now my first acropora stags. Some research on brs says run a ab+ spectrum so I set a color temp of 18.5 K for most of the day. But other sources say whites are good to. So I'm thinking of ramping my color from 10k to 18.5k during the day going to deeper blues before "sunset" for viewing when I'm home at night. It's going to be a mixed reef tank. Any guidance?

 

[TX_REEF]

As long as you have full spectrum present in your chosen settings, in my opinion your viewing preference is most important. Modern LED reef lights will grow coral regardless of your chosen visual spectrum, generally. I do basically what you're proposing - daylight during the day with a ramp up of whites during the first hour of the light cycle and ramp down of the whites during the last hour of the light cycle, so I get some time to view the fluorescence.

 

[paragrouper]

I’m using different lights (Orphek) over my mixed reef, but I am essentially doing the same thing. My wife likes the fluorescent look, so I run just blues for an hour and a half in the evening

 

[exnisstech]

I don't have the same lights but i have a few other brands of LED in use. What I usually do is set the light so it's visually pleasing to me then adjust the intensity to get the par needed for the coral I'm keeping. I've not had any problems with coral growth doing it this way.