How long of white light do I need for Acros??

[Zeal]

Title. I’m trying to dial in my lights and I’m wondering how long of white light do I need to properly bring out the colors of the acro?

personally I hate the way white tanks look but I’ll suffer for the acros.

right now I have the WWC 100G mixed reef template which is 100% schedule with 55 point intensity all blues all day with white light only from 9:45 to 1:15pm

 

[jmichaelh7]

I use 5% for 8 hours

 

[youcallmenny1]

I'm on the same WWC 100g schedule that was then adjusted for PAR with my PAR meter. I have kept it on the stock 4 hour white period and it seems like it's working great. My acro problems were coming from other issues, definitely not that schedule.

 

[Zeal]

I'm on the same WWC 100g schedule that was then adjusted for PAR with my PAR meter. I have kept it on the stock 4 hour white period and it seems like it's working great. My acro problems were coming from other issues, definitely not that schedule.

Mine is 10% for 5ish hours.

wonder if that’s enough..

 

[youcallmenny1]

Mine is 10% for 5ish hours.

wonder if that’s enough..

The photoperiod is fine. Having been down that rabbithole more than a few times, I'd be really, really, really cautious about comparing percentages to other people like that. The only answer for me is to set the schedule and then thoroughly test with a PAR meter, THEN adjust intensity of the whole schedule, not individual channels. They made it with those ratio's to create the correct spectrum. I also have AI Hydra 26 HD's and not Red Sea lights.

What I can tell you is that I aim for 250 PAR at the top of my corals and 100 on the sandbed. I feel this is the more useful measurement to compare.

 

[Zeal]

The photoperiod is fine. Having been down that rabbithole more than a few times, I'd be really, really, really cautious about comparing percentages to other people like that. The only answer for me is to set the schedule and then thoroughly test with a PAR meter, THEN adjust intensity of the whole schedule, not individual channels. They made it with those ratio's to create the correct spectrum. I also have AI Hydra 26 HD's and not Red Sea lights.

What I can tell you is that I aim for 250 PAR at the top of my corals and 100 on the sandbed. I feel this is the more useful measurement to compare.

Noted. Guess I have to get a par meter…

 

[Acroporaguy]

More white light the better.

 

[youcallmenny1]

Noted. Guess I have to get a par meter…

They're super pricey. I own an Apogee 510 and love it. BRS was renting them for a long time but it seems maybe like they've stopped for the time being.

 

[happyhourhero]

Here’s my schedule.

 

[Zeal]

More white light the better.

Why?

I personally hate the look of white light

 

[youcallmenny1]

Why?

I personally hate the look of white light

Jason Fox would also like a word with this opinion, I think.

 

[Zeal]

Jason Fox would also like a word with this opinion, I think.

Yeah yeah we have all seen that video but the T5 he uses I believe has white it in or something like that

 

[jda]

Please don't rope Jason Fox into this. The blue bulbs that he uses have more white in them than most LED setups on this board. They just have blue in the name and look somewhat blue to our eyes. This is one of the top-three most misused parroted things about light temperature along with that our corals come from super deep where only blue light goes or corals only need blue light (both totally wrong). On the converse, at 6500k T5 bulb has more blue than most LED setups too, it just does not look blue to our eyes.

Find therman's threads. He runs 100% or nearly 100% on all channels and if you can find me people whose acropora look as good as his, there will not be many. Full daylight (UV to the IR for true full spectrum lighting, or blue to red for cut spectrum LED) will render the best color in coral. If they look bad to your eyes, then blue it up to look at them or get better corals. I just use 14k on my tanks which I consider a crisp white with good pop and they look good if you want to check out my rebuild thread.

If you are new to lights, go and find Tullio's Facts of Light presentation from MACNA a few years back. It is a bit dry and hard to get through, but keep your focus and you can learn a bunch and have a good foundation moving forward.

 

[Marinexx]

Noted. Guess I have to get a par meter…

My Seneye is a reasonably priced PAR meter.