How Much Can Lighting Spectrum Change the Actual Color of SPS?

gws3

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Ok, this was a rhetorical question. The answer is a lot. Check out these two chunks of pinky the bear I cut from a large colony that was shadowing other colonies. The colony is lit by a combo of Radion G4 Pro / Blue Plus T5 / Reefbrite XHO in my one display.

The top piece I cut a couple months ago and put in a tank lit only by Radion G5 Blues. The bottom piece I just cut last weekend. They were both cut from the same exact colony.

I was blown away by the difference. Figured I’d share.

1642038725746.png
 

Daniel@R2R

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Wow! Awesome!
 

Robinson

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Nice growing and observation. This make me think about what is contributing more to the difference on the bottom frag; the t5 or the Reefbrite?

Always have been a fan of Reefbrite and currently run some in my tank.
 

jda

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As you have found, it can matter a lot both in actual color rendering and also illumination.

Always found that more daylight made the best actual color in the coral. You gotta blue-them-up to look at 'em, though.

What is nuts is that some acros don't seem to mind different light and look near the same under many different types. This is why some will just never understand this since they have an acro or two where it doesn't matter and they assume that all act this way.

Then, you have arguments over which looks better - I am a contrast guy. I prefer the look of the piece on the bottom, but many others will disagree.
 

ceaver

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Ok, this was a rhetorical question. The answer is a lot. Check out these two chunks of pinky the bear I cut from a large colony that was shadowing other colonies. The colony is lit by a combo of Radion G4 Pro / Blue Plus T5 / Reefbrite XHO in my one display.

The top piece I cut a couple months ago and put in a tank lit only by Radion G5 Blues. The bottom piece I just cut last weekend. They were both cut from the same exact colony.

I was blown away by the difference. Figured I’d share.

1642038725746.png
Super interesting! Are you able to say which of these two is more representative of how this piece "normally" looks?
 

Bruce Burnett

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As you have found, it can matter a lot both in actual color rendering and also illumination.

Always found that more daylight made the best actual color in the coral. You gotta blue-them-up to look at 'em, though.

What is nuts is that some acros don't seem to mind different light and look near the same under many different types. This is why some will just never understand this since they have an acro or two where it doesn't matter and they assume that all act this way.

Then, you have arguments over which looks better - I am a contrast guy. I prefer the look of the piece on the bottom, but many others will disagree.
I agree prefer the bottom one but both are nice.
 

blstravler

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Ok, this was a rhetorical question. The answer is a lot. Check out these two chunks of pinky the bear I cut from a large colony that was shadowing other colonies. The colony is lit by a combo of Radion G4 Pro / Blue Plus T5 / Reefbrite XHO in my one display.

The top piece I cut a couple months ago and put in a tank lit only by Radion G5 Blues. The bottom piece I just cut last weekend. They were both cut from the same exact colony.

I was blown away by the difference. Figured I’d share.

1642038725746.png
Very interesting - do you run the G5 Blue all channels at 100%?
 

DannoOMG

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And both those cuts are completely healthy? Just different color?

I dont deal with acro's. I just lurk.
 

ClownSchool

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I have an acan that was moved from one tank to another.
In the first tank, it was in shades of green like army camo. Within 24 hours in the second, it turned bright orange and blue.
 

brahm

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Makes sense, I have the same corals often in different places under the same lights and they don’t always colour up the same. What this does for sure remind me is I need a frag of pinky :p
 

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

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