Lower light = better color??

anthonywesty · Apr 21, 2018

Thanks!!

bubbaque · May 6, 2018

I was finally able to get a par meter so I figured I would let you know the par difference. I was amazed by how much par both corals were actually getting. The colony is receiving 550 par and the frag was 400.

Rakie · May 6, 2018

@bubbaque -- In this hobby, I think everything is relative to other factors. I've known people who get great colors in both lower and higher lighting, with LED, T5, Halide. It all works. and it can be directly correlated to nutrient levels too. Too little light with too much nutrient = brown. To much light with too low nutrients = scorched.

- So lighting alone doesn't solve the issue. But lighting + nutrients does help you figure it out.

But nutrient usage can be restricted by lack of proper water chemistry...

- So Lighting + nutrients alone doesn't solve the issue. But lighting + Nutrients + Water chemistry will help you figure it out.

But while water chemistry is great, it doesn't always factor in trace elements... which some people see explosive growth and color from alone...

- So Lighting + Nutrients + Water chemistry isn't enough -- But Lighting + nutrients + water chemistry + trace element monitoring and dosage will help you figure it out.

See where I'm going buddy? I'm sure randy-holmes could fill this in better with his more in depth knowledge of elements... But my point is this list never stops. It's all related one way or another. I say two things over, and over, and over again, like a broken record.
1) Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
2) It's always more complicated than that.

By "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" -- I'm saying there's no "right way", if there was, we'd all know it by now. Look at the guys with amazing tanks and high nutrients, or no skimmer, or low lighting, or high lighting. It all works. I've seen too many people be successful doing everything for there to be only one way for it to be done.

And the whole front part of the post is what I'm saying by "It's always more complicated than that." -- This hobby is full of large questions, and like all science, answering these questions leaves us with more answers. It's always more complicated, @bubbaque. Always.

bubbaque · May 6, 2018

Rakie said:
@bubbaque -- In this hobby, I think everything is relative to other factors. I've known people who get great colors in both lower and higher lighting, with LED, T5, Halide. It all works. and it can be directly correlated to nutrient levels too. Too little light with too much nutrient = brown. To much light with too low nutrients = scorched.

- So lighting alone doesn't solve the issue. But lighting + nutrients does help you figure it out.

But nutrient usage can be restricted by lack of proper water chemistry...

- So Lighting + nutrients alone doesn't solve the issue. But lighting + Nutrients + Water chemistry will help you figure it out.

But while water chemistry is great, it doesn't always factor in trace elements... which some people see explosive growth and color from alone...

- So Lighting + Nutrients + Water chemistry isn't enough -- But Lighting + nutrients + water chemistry + trace element monitoring and dosage will help you figure it out.

See where I'm going buddy? I'm sure randy-holmes could fill this in better with his more in depth knowledge of elements... But my point is this list never stops. It's all related one way or another. I say two things over, and over, and over again, like a broken record.
1) Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
2) It's always more complicated than that.

By "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" -- I'm saying there's no "right way", if there was, we'd all know it by now. Look at the guys with amazing tanks and high nutrients, or no skimmer, or low lighting, or high lighting. It all works. I've seen too many people be successful doing everything for there to be only one way for it to be done.

And the whole front part of the post is what I'm saying by "It's always more complicated than that." -- This hobby is full of large questions, and like all science, answering these questions leaves us with more answers. It's always more complicated, @bubbaque. Always.

I agree with most of what you wrote. I am just going by an example of my tank. Both tanks are plumbed together so the parameters are the exact same. I just wanted to show in my tank, lower par (even if the number is not low par) is giving better overall color to the corals. Another thing that made me think of this is in WWC 900, they said at the very top of the water the par is 350-400. When I go there they have coral growing with great color 18" below the water level, which I am sure is receiving way less par than whats at the top. I believe people are way over lighting their tanks than what is needed to achieve good if not better color.

Rakie · May 6, 2018

bubbaque said:
I agree with most of what you wrote. I am just going by an example of my tank. Both tanks are plumbed together so the parameters are the exact same. I just wanted to show in my tank, lower par (even if the number is not low par) is giving better overall color to the corals. Another thing that made me think of this is in WWC 900, they said at the very top of the water the par is 350-400. When I go there they have coral growing with great color 18" below the water level, which I am sure is receiving way less par than whats at the top. I believe people are way over lighting their tanks than what is needed to achieve good if not better color.

You're dead on with the par levels at WWC. They hang their fixtures upwards of 2' above the waterline.

I missed the part where your tanks were plumbed together though, oops!

29bonsaireef · May 6, 2018

Any update on the frag vs colony? Frag still holding better color?

bubbaque · May 7, 2018

29bonsaireef said:
Any update on the frag vs colony? Frag still holding better color?

Yes, I believe the smaller one is holding better color in lower light.

ycnibrc · May 7, 2018

bubbaque said:
I agree with most of what you wrote. I am just going by an example of my tank. Both tanks are plumbed together so the parameters are the exact same. I just wanted to show in my tank, lower par (even if the number is not low par) is giving better overall color to the corals. Another thing that made me think of this is in WWC 900, they said at the very top of the water the par is 350-400. When I go there they have coral growing with great color 18" below the water level, which I am sure is receiving way less par than whats at the top. I believe people are way over lighting their tanks than what is needed to achieve good if not better color.

Haha 400 par is not low light......150 may be.

bubbaque · May 7, 2018

ycnibrc said:
Haha 400 par is not low light......150 may be.

I agree and that’s why I wrote “even if the number is not low par”.

reefkoi · May 8, 2018

Frags always look better than colonies

reefkoi · May 8, 2018

Frags always look better than colonies

vetteguy53081 · May 8, 2018

Took me a couple of years to come to this conclusion. Much happier corals !!

Ibn · May 9, 2018

The BC Spainbow actually grows and colors really well in lower light. I kept mine in ~150 PAR and it did well. Here's one of the mini colonies that I kept in that PAR value. This was part of a larger actual colony that I accidentally snapped into thirds and is ~2.5-3" around in this shot.

Zoomed out to give you a general idea of my white balance.

KJAG · May 9, 2018

jda said:
As you probably know, I am in the camp if NSW nutrients and as high of light as possible for best acropora color. I do have one or two that I can never do anything with (Rogue Mille... darned thing...), but otherwise, the best color and growth.

BTW - McDonalds is all that humans need, but you can do better than this. Porites is not my idea of a SPS that I want to keep... I had this stuff grow in a fuge under a 100w incandescent bulb once.

Nope! Didn’t know!

acanfor420 · May 9, 2018

Now what about light as far as shrooms and bounces perticually and a few hammers and zoas? Still think the lighting is still relavant to this topic? Just curious to see if anyone still thinks or sees a difference with these corals....any input on this would be greatly appreciated....and only asking this cause i cant grow acros at all i always bleach em or cant keep the chemistry up to their liking......so thanks in advance for any opions or factual results...as far as the corals i mentioned

markalot · May 9, 2018

I'm in the camp that it depends on the acro. I have a couple of colonies of the same coral in different light. A red milli must be at the very top for the best color, one down low has grown twice as fast but it a dull red brown. Another acro looks similar in 400 and 200 PAR, with 400 being a little more vibrant, as expected. Yet another, a tabling species, looks good at around 200 PAR, the parent was high up in a show tank at 500+ PAR. I think colors look better in lower par for this one, but it took forever to color up.

bubbaque · May 9, 2018

Ibn said:
The BC Spainbow actually grows and colors really well in lower light. I kept mine in ~150 PAR and it did well. Here's one of the mini colonies that I kept in that PAR value. This was part of a larger actual colony that I accidentally snapped into thirds and is ~2.5-3" around in this shot.

Zoomed out to give you a general idea of my white balance.

Your Spainbow looks awesome! I think I'm gonna move mine to the outside edge of the frag tank and see what happens.

ourcoralreef · May 9, 2018

Im curious i have heard flow is a big factor as well do you think the flow is similar in both tanks

It’s possible deeper tanks give better color because of less oxygen

I don’t have much knowledge on sps im learning here so detailed information if possible

wmwesty · May 10, 2018

bubbaque said:
I have the BC "Spainbow". The main colony is in my display where it is roughly 8" under the water and is being lit by 8 t5's and 2 SB reef bars. They are hung 11 inchs off the water.

I have been growing a frag that broke off the colony in my frag tank. The frag is 10" down under the water and is being lit by 8 t5's and 1 sb reef bar. The lights are hung 16" off the water.

The two tanks are plumbed together so the water chemistry is the exact same.

I feel the smaller frag that is receiving less light shows way better color. The tips actually show a nice purple to them instead of a very slight hue of it. I feel the main colony looks practically all the same color. I have also noticed this with other corals I have that have broken a frag off and I put in the frag tank have started to also show better color.

I know a lot of people like to "blast" their tanks with light, and I was one of them. After I have seen the color difference I might raise the lights on my display.

colony

Frag

This frag is showing more green which would indicate not enough light!