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All I know is that not all corals are the same and not all corals like the same light. There is study by Mass et al. on spectral quality that shows that even a shallow water coral of species A shows improved growth and less stress under full spectrum light than deep water corals of the same species whilst deeper water corals of species A show improved growth and less stress under blue shifted spectral lighting than shallow water corals of the same species. You can expect the same when comparing shallow water species A with deep(er) water species B. It is why I always had little to no success growing deep water species like A. echinata or A. granulosa under halides when I tried but can grow something like a A. humilis or A.microclados like a weed under halides (and make them look better IMHO than under LED). So I stick to the 'right' species for my type of lighting (halides).
It is basically like putting a forest plant right into full sunlight in your garden, it can suvive and grow but not how it would grow if you had put in in shaded area of the garden similar like in a forest. I really don't think corals are that different from plants, the real problem is that aquariums are totaly different from oceans and you don't always know under what conditions frags/corals were grown/cultured, so your shallow water species might still be a deep(er) water coral that doesn't match your lighting.
It is basically like putting a forest plant right into full sunlight in your garden, it can suvive and grow but not how it would grow if you had put in in shaded area of the garden similar like in a forest. I really don't think corals are that different from plants, the real problem is that aquariums are totaly different from oceans and you don't always know under what conditions frags/corals were grown/cultured, so your shallow water species might still be a deep(er) water coral that doesn't match your lighting.