Lighting... do you think we OVERDO it?

[Dana Riddle]

And the nastiest seawater - Jerlov Type 9 Coastal water.

 

[jda]

Why don't hugely popular LED light Mfgrs have different PRESETS for different depths. I.E. Preset#1 = 3-10ft down in the reef water. Preset#5 = 50ft down in the reef water.

The manufacturers in the US are not reefers, but tech companies. Their BS "labs" and "research" are made to sell units with more garbage than reality. The Chinese ones are also not hobbyists... also in business to make money. Some of the manufacturers in Europe are hobbyists and do tend to do a better job with color rendition and stuff... but they are not always great a tech. There is no sweet spot here between hobbyists, tech and innovation. This is not limited to LED lighting... this is true of a lot of other types of equipment too.

Also, keep in mind that most people who are buying units are new to the hobby and they would not know a 10 or 50 meter look from shineola. They just want pretty and believe that new stuff is the best - they think that a $1 zoa under a blue light is how stuff looks (this does tend to wane for nearly all). Once some have been in the hobby long enough, there are many who get disenchanted or feel misled with the advice and manufactures that they believed early. Let's face it... EcoTech is not selling a whole bunch of Gen 4 Radions to people who have been in the hobby for 5 years... they either have no interest, moved past them or have some already (there are some, but not enough to support a whole brand) They are trying to "wow" newer people into getting them when they don't know much.

Some of the best LED acropora tanks that I have seen run their panels at 100% on all channels for most of the day. I am only really into acropora, so I admittedly know nothing about most other kinds of reefs. They raise the panels way up high, and crank them to 100%. Dr. Joshi, Therman, Adam at BC with his Photons. There are more.

Remember, full spectrum (more daylight) to get good color rendition... then blue it up to illuminate. Not all light that are good at rendering color are good at illuminating (6500k bulbs, for example)... and not all illuminating lights are good at rendering (heavy blue LED units). Only some certain kinds of Metal Halides are good at both, IMO... the rest need multiple bulbs or multiple programs, which is doable.

 

[ZoWhat]

And for a slightly 'dirtier' Oceanic-type water.

Wow... that's quite the peak in the green spectrum.

It's hard to say if I know more .....or less (by confusion) .... the deeper I read into all these threads.

 

[ZoWhat]

OP here...

I have mostly zoas/palys I my DT. I would say 80% palys, 20% zoas.

If the last 9 days, I've switched things up by providing a deep deep mix of uv purples/deep bkues and have limited greens and reds down to maybe 1-2%.

I would say my overall spectral shade is heavy purplish blue ...prob peaking out in the 420-440nm range.

I have also reduced the overall PAR down by 50% (turning down the brightness by HALF)

Sooooooo..... I must say my zoas/palys have never looked so big, extended, colorful. The fullness and extension of the polyp heads is wonderful to see bc they look to be 'livelier' and more 'engaged' in absorbing as much light as possible.

So although I want this thread to continue with great varying opnions....I believe I've answered my own question....that YES, I was overdoing my lights with too much white, too much brightness (PAR) across all spectrums. Now that I'm dimmer and hanging in the heaving purplish blue 420nm range, it seems like my zoas/palys are r o c k I n g.


.

 

[Hermie]

Wow... that's quite the peak in the green spectrum.

It's hard to say if I know more .....or less (by confusion) .... the deeper I read into all these threads.

pretty crazy right? even at 10 meters, there's a ton of green in that graph

 

[Dana Riddle]

pretty crazy right? even at 10 meters, there's a ton of green in that graph

There's a good reason why zooxanthellae contain the green-absorbing photopigment peridinin.

 

[Reesj]

I'm new to Reefing and salt water.
But myu openion after reading forums and as an Electrical and Electgronic engineer is that
YES . Mainly for overduing the amount of Lights wattage.
In my humble opinion people go after crazy expensive high wattage lights that are soo narrow focused. Then they go and hang them feets above the water and put them on 30-40% efficinecy.
what the heck seriously ?
Why would you waste soo much of the money you spend to not use the light or waste the light?
Do people know atleast what the heck is inverse square law ?

So in short imo people do thigns casue soem one else do it and others do it. Not becasue they think and do something.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I'm new to Reefing and salt water.
But myu openion after reading forums and as an Electrical and Electgronic engineer is that
YES . Mainly for overduing the amount of Lights wattage.
In my humble opinion people go after crazy expensive high wattage lights that are soo narrow focused. Then they go and hang them feets above the water and put them on 30-40% efficinecy.
what the heck seriously ?
Why would you waste soo much of the money you spend to not use the light or waste the light?
Do people know atleast what the heck is inverse square law ?

So in short imo people do thigns casue soem one else do it and others do it. Not becasue they think and do something.

Back in the nascent days of reefing in North America, we actually used 4-40watt T12 fluorescent lamps with success. The LEDs lights of today are indeed powerful, but allow tweaking, which is a matter of fashion and not utility.

 

[jda]

Your zoas are larger because they are trying to get more light. This is not always a sign of happiness.

Watch for changes. While some blue and purple can be good at illuminating, they might lose some color that got rendered under warmer light.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

And the nastiest seawater - Jerlov Type 9 Coastal water.

Interesting...

 

[Hermansvn]

Hi folks

Im new to this forum and from South Africa where we do not have easy access to PAR meters and so forth. But I do have a Radion XR15 3G pro on my little tank.

So what about the "natural profile" that Ecotech have in Ecosmart? The data for this profile was apparently collected from Sipadan in Malaysia. In this profile (either the deep or shallow water) one can specify the depth. Does anyone here use it? what are your feelings about this profile?

Herman