How do the different light spectrums impact corals?

[oreo54]

colors in the UV range are the best at penetrating water so depending on the depth corals prefer blue/purple Light because that is what they originally came from.

No....

https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/7/2019/05/figure6.5.2.jpg

 

[jda]

Nearly all corals that we have in our tanks are collected on one breath or in shallower water... 1-5 meters, or so. Not all, but most. I don't know that you want to go deep enough to where only blue penetrates - if you did James Cameron might want to film it. Most fish from 75-100 feet can fetch $20-100 (rare ones thousands) to a wholesaler whereas most corals bring pennies compared to that.

UV is filtered out by 25-50 meters depending on the type of water and clarity, depending on the source (publications vary)... but that is deeper than most of the corals that we have come from. All of the recreational scuba divers stop at 40 meters where nearly all light is still present in some quantities except for IR. Technical divers at 60 meters still have some red, yellow, green, blue, violet. You have to get below 150 meters before you go strong blue only.

 

[A. grandis]

6500K - 10000K look, colorful healthy corals all over, strong shimmer and tons of UV / IR! Fast growing colonies in very shallow water.

Want to look like in most tanks? Bring them home and put some actinic bulbs and you'll get that artificial reflection so called "pop".

 

[A. grandis]

Fresh collected Australian corals with real colors (formed under the sun) illuminated with artificial light:

Some more aquaculture corals with real colors from the ocean, under blue artificial light:

Will they keep those natural pigments without some real UV and IR radiation??

 

[Hans-Werner]

There may be some very specific effects like that of blue light to the coral polyp, not the zooxanthellae. Light not only supports photosynthesis but also carries Information (water depth, sun/shadow etc.) and controls physiological processes.

 

[Big E]

If you want good info on spectrum read Dana's 6 part serious on coral coloration.
Also, watch any videos of his presentations.

Tullio Dellaquila video presentations are excellent as well.

 

[SmugglersReef]

Turned my whites, red, and greens down and my cyano is under control. SPS love it when I crank up the lights. Hammers , acans, and mushrooms like med blue light. The best spectrum depends on what you have in the tank. The red and greens are just for our viewing to bring out those colors in our corals.

UV is important. I have the UVs turned up pretty high on my Hydras.

 

[Dr RBG]

Is the spectrum corals use for photosynthesis the same as the spectrum algae use? Can you control algae growth by adjusting the spectrum?

 

[jda]

Both the dinos in corals and algae are adaptable to a wide range of lights. High tide lifts all ships as well as lowers them.

 

[A. grandis]

Full spectrum (~6500K) will reach a wider range of species than say 20000K. Bottom line is that if nutrients are under control it will be eventually in balance. That might take a while, but works in every system within it's limits (depending on what species were actually introduced into that system). Because 65K will offer more PAR and a wider spectrum using the same wattage, it will offer better possibilities to a wider range of algae/ciano/dino species. That's why most say it's harder to control algae under 65K than 20K.

 

[jon2norris]

just a side note: I’m right in the middle of building a BRS style “reef Fantasy/Fiction” experimental frag tank: one side lit with Blue the other side @ 5500K-ish ...
I got some/most of the stuff
My initial guess is it either won’t matter much or slight edge to red ...we’ll see

What happened with this experiment?

 

[Doctorgori]

What happened with this experiment?

I want to say I took it down to drill the tank but can’t remember what I ended up doing