Lighting for Daylight Look or Yellow Coral

[JustaSunday]

This may have already been dicussed somewhere here so please direct me if that is the case. I currently use two quanta light bars (the meso blue and reefcrest) as the only lights for my 20g long tank. They look great and put out enough par for my purposes from 12in away. I however have some coral that I believe would look better under a more daylight look (most importantly a fiji yellow porites). Currently the coral is still yellow so it is not browning out or turning green but personally I would love to see it without as much of the blue washing it out.

So really what I want to know is, are there any good reccomendations for accompanying light bars that might make yellows, pinks and other daylight esk colors look a little less washed out?

So far I have looked at the daylight spectrum from quanta and the freshwater or4 from orphek, I feel the orphek may do more of what I want but also do not want to go too far one way.

Amy thoughts would be great!

 

[mcarroll]

Are you trying to change the lighting on the tank or just to spotlight that coral?

Can't say I'd change the whole tank to serve the unique needs of one coral......sounds like a good way to wind up with one (and only one) happy coral by accident.

Spotlighting one coral is more possible, but not sure about the lights you're considering.

 

[JustaSunday]

Are you trying to change the lighting on the tank or just to spotlight that coral?

Can't say I'd change the whole tank to serve the unique needs of one coral......sounds like a good way to wind up with one (and only one) happy coral by accident.

Spotlighting one coral is more possible, but not sure about the lights you're considering.

Thank you for the response!, I neglected to really specify what I was looking for, what I want is somehting that I could add in addition to my lighting to essentially change the overall hue so that certain colors are a little nicer to look at. This could turn on via smart plug or other method to only be on during peak lighting or whenever I wish but a spot light effect is not something that really interests me.

 

[mcarroll]

Well, adding whiter light is trivial to accopmlish whether it's a spolit coral or the whole tank.

But changing the whole lighting scheme of the tank for one coral isn't too wise though....be prepared for trouble with the other corals if you do try it. To limit the downside, make sure phosphate levels are plentiful and the flow is STRONG for the corals in the tank.

(Frags are better at adapting than mature corals.....which sometimes don't adapt well at all.)

 

[Science/G]

You're on the right track a lack of the yellow spectrum in your lighting output is why the yellow coral appears dull.

 

[Science/G]

Your meso blue is outshining your reef crest bar. Combined you're getting heavy blue. A tropic sun might give you what you're looking for

 

[JustaSunday]

Your meso blue is outshining your reef crest bar. Combined you're getting heavy blue. A tropic sun might give you what you're looking for

Thank you for the response, thats a good point and somehting that I am considering doing, I originally purchased the meso blue because some I wanted some of my greens like my trumpets to have a litle more pop but it seems it has done a little more than I bargained for. At any rate I was thinking of running a three bar set up so they could all be ran a little lower (and thus last longer) but I am unsure If I should go with a second reef crest or have one of each. Either way I imagine it will look nice.

 

[Science/G]

Watch this video before you decide

 

[Science/G]

 

[xiaoxiy]

Is the reefcrest bar's spectrum by it's self still too blue for your yellow porites to shine? The reefcrest is a fairly white spectrum.

 

[JustaSunday]

Is the reefcrest bar's spectrum by it's self still too blue for your yellow porites to shine? The reefcrest is a fairly white spectrum.

By itself the reefcrest looks great, I got the meso blue because I felt like the hue lacked a little depth with greens and oranges, the meso fixed that issue as well as got me to better par levels so ideally I would keep it. I need at least 2 bars going for sure but I end up running them at almost max power to maybe achieve 130 par on the sand bed. With three bars I would be able to run them all weaker so Im looking to ahcieve that while also tweaking the spectrum so some colors are a little less washed.

 

[MasterClassReefs]

If you add or swap lights just start low and slow and adjust them over time. It gives the coral and their zooxanthellae time to adjust without shocking them ending up with undesirable changes.

 

[xiaoxiy]

By itself the reefcrest looks great, I got the meso blue because I felt like the hue lacked a little depth with greens and oranges, the meso fixed that issue as well as got me to better par levels so ideally I would keep it. I need at least 2 bars going for sure but I end up running them at almost max power to maybe achieve 130 par on the sand bed. With three bars I would be able to run them all weaker so Im looking to ahcieve that while also tweaking the spectrum so some colors are a little less washed.

If it were my setup, I'd probably grab another reefcrest in that case then.

 

[Science/G]

Tropic Sun: A full-spectrum light designed for warmer, cleaner white light, ideal for bringing out reds, pinks, and yellows.