Is there any real benefit to full spectrum lighting?

[SilvermistInc]

Aside from looks, is there any benefit for the corals concerning full spectrum vs actinic? I hate the actinic look, so you'll never see me lighting the tank like it's supposed to play a show in Vegas next week. But I was curious. Is there any real benefit to going full spectrum?

 

[damsels are not mean]

There will be lots of opinions in this thread and very little actual data. That said I think there is reason to believe red light in moderation is beneficial. Other than that I don't see any reason to think green or yellow wavelengths would matter to corals at all.

 

[piranhaman00]

Sigh…

What wave length does the sun give off?

 

[t5Nitro]

Sigh…

What wave length does the sun give off?

Ay, multiple wavelengths.

 

[ekandler]

Sigh…

What wave length does the sun give off?

I get what you’re saying, but it’s more complicated than that. The deeper you go in the ocean, the more the sunlight is filtered out, until it’s dark without light. It makes sense that the easiest wavelengths to filter out would be the largest (reds, oranges, and yellows), letting the smaller wavelengths reach further down (blues and UV).

It is true that for optimal coral growth, you will generally want a full spectrum of light that includes some higher wavelength light like red; however, the spectrum should be skewed towards the blue range as that’s what they see most naturally in the ocean.

This may be stating the obvious, but most lights have individual LED colors (blue, red, green, etc.) and white LEDs, and white is a combination of all the visible spectrum. If you’re running 0% reds and 0%greens with 100% whites, your corals are still getting the red/green spectrum.

 

[Duncan62]

Aside from looks, is there any benefit for the corals concerning full spectrum vs actinic? I hate the actinic look, so you'll never see me lighting the tank like it's supposed to play a show in Vegas next week. But I was curious. Is there any real benefit to going full spectrum?

I do believe it looks good but adds par and pur. Without the full spectrum my tank would look like a blueberry. Lots of blue and red but running full spectrum in the mix washes out lots of the blue. The sps seem to do better in the tank with the blue/full spectrum combo. So yes. In my experience certain corals benefit from full spectrum light. Not all.

 

[SilvermistInc]

Sigh…

What wave length does the sun give off?

What spectrum actually reaches the corals though?

 

[Bpb]

Considering much of what we keep can be found in depths that only require a snorkel, I’d say they’re exposed to all the colors. But….much like the elements in the water, exposure doesn’t necessarily mean they use it. I’d prefer to offer as much as I can of full spectrum though.

 

[SamMule]

I seem to remember an article from @Dana Riddle (I think) about spectrum and pigment excitation that was very interesting.

 

[Bada Bing]

Indeed, it's ultimately about spectrum and penetration of that spectrum. Ultimately, we are often trying to keep species that occupy different levels of the spectrum penetration. In practicality, that means we are try trying to acclimate one species that likes sunlight at 30' below surface and another species that likes sunlight at perhaps at 1' from surface. Then we squish that likable spectrum penetration distance into a span of 24" or so. Obviously, stuff can and will acclimate but there is not one solution to the challenge.

 

[Bada Bing]

Indeed, it's about spectrum and penetration of that spectrum. Ultimately, we are often trying to keep species that occupy different levels of the spectrum penetration in nature. In practicality, that means we are try trying to acclimate one species that likes sunlight at 30' below surface and another species that likes sunlight at perhaps at 1' from surface. Then we squish that likable spectrum penetration distance into a span of 24" or so. Obviously, stuff can and will acclimate but there is not one solution to the challenge.

 

[Wtyson254]

I think coral depth and environment play a large part. A shallow water acro that’s found in less than 5m of water is going to have different requirements than a coral found in 45m of water. However, we put shallow water acros in blue heavy tanks all of the time. I am not aware of and published papers showing different rates of growth.

 

[Wtyson254]

Also, typically there is a decrease in Par/PUR in
Nature as the light spectrum is shifted blue (due to depth). I’m not sure the blue heavy par blasting some people do is found in nature (but I could be wrong).

 

[rckfsh44]

Also, typically there is a decrease in Par/PUR in
Nature as the light spectrum is shifted blue (due to depth). I’m not sure the blue heavy par blasting some people do is found in nature (but I could be wrong).

Of course. , isn’t the Sun full spectrum , Mother Nature at its finest

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Full spectrum is very important to maximize coral growth and bring out coloration. ReefWholesale has a decent write up on their conclusions for radion spectrums that worked best for each type of coral.

If you look up spectrums for the most respected coral vendors (WWC, jason fox, reef raft, battlecorals, etc) all of them use full spectrum in some way. There is significant variation in how much from (T5 equivalent) 30 FS 70 Act to 10 FS 90 Act.

Some of the best tanks I have seen in person use AB+ schedule radions or 14k halides with reef Brite strips or a T5 halide hybrid with actinics for some extra blue.

 

[atoll]

Ay, multiple wavelengths.

What wavelengths do your corals receive?

 

[ReefZombie]

Aside from looks, is there any benefit for the corals concerning full spectrum vs actinic? I hate the actinic look, so you'll never see me lighting the tank like it's supposed to play a show in Vegas next week. But I was curious. Is there any real benefit to going full spectrum?

My view is that full spectrum lighting in the natural reef environment is only incident at the shallowest depths, shallower than your average frag tank. If we want to keep corals that naturally inhabit depths of say 5-10 metres then the filtering effect of seawater is an important factor.
I USED to be a proponent of the full 400W MH setup.
Since the advent of LEDs I believe a hybrid LED/ T5 arrangement is the best option, all things considered.

 

[hart24601]

I have never seen any conclusive data showing a particular spectrum grows coral faster or produces other colors, I have asked brs to test this for several years now, however for our purposes in the hobby you can ask 10 reefers what full spectrum is and get 10 different answers from only sunlight to heavy blues with a hint of white and a huge host of other answers.

of course then one must bring intensity into it. Is x spectrum better than y at the same intensity? And how is one measuring intensity? Sunlight for example with a lot of green and UV, IR will not be as simple as matching part to royal blue and white LEDs for example.

overall it’s a seemingly simple question that gets quite complex and realistically probably varies depending on coral type.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Full spectrum is very important to maximize coral growth and bring out coloration. ReefWholesale has a decent write up on their conclusions for radion spectrums that worked best for each type of coral.

If you look up spectrums for the most respected coral vendors (WWC, jason fox, reef raft, battlecorals, etc) all of them use full spectrum in some way. There is significant variation in how much from (T5 equivalent) 30 FS 70 Act to 10 FS 90 Act.

Some of the best tanks I have seen in person use AB+ schedule radions or 14k halides with reef Brite strips or a T5 halide hybrid with actinics for some extra blue.

Is it full spectrum that is important or a certain few wavelengths? There is no logical reason that green and yellow would have any impact on growth, just based on what we know about chlorophyll.

 

[Bpb]

Is it full spectrum that is important or a certain few wavelengths? There is no logical reason that green and yellow would have any impact on growth, just based on what we know about chlorophyll.

While I agree just because exposure to green and yellow is present in the wild, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re used….on the flip side, can’t we all agree there is more to coral metabolism and health than chlorophyll a and c?