Light and growth pattern

[Lasse]

I´m interested if anyone who have change from MH to LED (or the opposite ) has notice any change in growth pattern of the bird nest Seriatopora hystrix –especially according to how dense the branching is?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[jsker]

Good question. Lets keep this going

 

[Larry L]

I have never run metal halides, but I've noticed that the birdsnests I currently have growing under LED seem much more compact and dense than when I used to run T5. Unfortunately I do not have any that I kept under both lights - I lost the original that I gad under T5 some time along the way, and the two that I have now I have only had under LED. I will try to find pictures of the old vs new.

 

[Lasse]

Did your aquarium run warmer when you had T5 compared with now and LED?'

Sincerely Lasse

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm getting mixed search results innthe species. Some at thin pink birds nest. Some are the Ponape.
This one.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/birdsnest-corals-do-not-adapt-well-to-different-conditions

Edit , I have that one in the article generally called here, a tyree ponape birdsnest.

Pushed post too soon. Lol

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I've had this coral under Power compact, t5, ai sol, 14k Phoenix MH, 20k radium MH , maxspect razor led, sbreeflight led.

I've not noticed a difference in density with spectral changes , but they definitely change with intensity.

At the bottom of the tank under similar flow they appear like the photo in the linked article. Under higher light however , each branch takes on a very sharp and and angular appearance. Later growth is definitely less long wide branches
And more compact bush.

 

[Larry L]

Did your aquarium run warmer when you had T5 compared with now and LED?'

No, my Apex is set to keep things between 78 and 79.5. I had a chiller hooked up while running the T5s but it only came on very occasionally, and I got rid of it after I got the LEDs.

 

[ndrwater]

I went from Halide to Radions about a year and a half ago. Yes definitely the growth patterns of several corals changed. I sold off the monster Birdsnest I had just after making the switch, But can say, in my tank at least, Red Dragon, Hawkins Echinita, Pink Floyd etc made drastic changes. Definitely much thicker and more dense growth with the Radions. Color stayed about the same although I did notice a color shift in a couple no names. Specifically a neon green that I call the highliter. Polyps went from a similar green to the flesh of the coral to an interesting red/orange while keeping the neon green flesh.
I was also able to take my chiller off line for about 10 months after the switch to LED. Liked that part best as the lower electric bills paid for the Radions in a year..

 

[Lasse]

The reason why I rise this question is the fact that have 3 times take birdnest from a system there they are rather slender Put them into my aquarium and they directly change their way of growing to more like a ball with a lot of branches. The PAR value in my aquaria is lower, pH higher, nutrients near the same, flow more like waves in my aquaria – other values, with exception of Si, is nearly the same. However – the light differs a lot according to radiation > 700 nm. I have a PS Hyperion without phosphorus coated LED (White LED) – there they come from has MH and/or “white” LEDs.

I use red (660) but I have completely no IR radiation >700.

MH has a lot of IR and especially low Kelvin LED can have some radiation > 700 nm. It has been shown that far red has impact of growth pattern for many terrestrial plants. A question arisen in my head – could far red have the same influences on corals as in plants?

My light regime also differs according to green LED – I use the full potential from my fixture (green wavelengths is known for their ability to penetrate living tissues)

A couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to lend a research fixture from Heliospectra (located in Gothenburg) with 7 different LEDs including far red. Is nearly the same as I run now (but I have 9 channels) with exception of far red. In the coming months I will test this on my 3 colonies of bird nest.


Sincerely Lasse