My Wife hates my Blues, Can’t be the Only one???

[txmaverickmh]

Hey Fellow Aquarists,

My wife absolutely loves the tank, but she’s also an interior designer, and hates my deep blues…especially at night thru front window!

She understands that this is what corals like, but hates the aesthetics.

I run my lights from 11am to 8pm, 3 Radion XR30 G6 Pros, currently run the AB+ template.

I am curious to your thoughts of running normal AB+ schedule from 11am to 5pm, then a user made more “natural” light with whites from 5:30-8pm?

Am I opening myself up for disaster with algae growth?

I know I am not the only husband with these feedback from wife that the neighbors “must think we are growing some high power marijuana?”

Thank you in advance, curious to your thoughts!

MH

 

[Midrats]

I think it looks rad from outside! Mine complains it ruins her photography.

 

[Raul-7]

No, plenty of people alternate between blues and whites. As long as nutrients are kept in check, algae should not be a problem.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Just turn the blue channels up and then adjust the white to suit your (and your wife's) preference. The presence of whites doesn't magically negate the blues...

 

[Ef4life]

Embrace the white light. Your tank doesn’t need to look like windex all the time

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hey, we're neighbors!

 

[littlefoxx]

Hey Fellow Aquarists,

My wife absolutely loves the tank, but she’s also an interior designer, and hates my deep blues…especially at night thru front window!

She understands that this is what corals like, but hates the aesthetics.

I run my lights from 11am to 8pm, 3 Radion XR30 G6 Pros, currently run the AB+ template.

I am curious to your thoughts of running normal AB+ schedule from 11am to 5pm, then a user made more “natural” light with whites from 5:30-8pm?

Am I opening myself up for disaster with algae growth?

I know I am not the only husband with these feedback from wife that the neighbors “must think we are growing some high power marijuana?”

Thank you in advance, curious to your thoughts!

MH

I run mine more white but have blue for the corals. I also hate the all blue washout and only have it for 45 minutes as its going to night cycle

 

[Adamc13o3]

Even at like 10,000K it's going to look blue from the window. You my friend need some 6,500K USHIOS. If ya know ya know....

 

[Bpb]

Chloraphyll A has a dominant absorption in the blue/violet range. That isn’t where it stops though. Corals are able to absorb, use, and/or reflect most all of the visual spectrum and then some. It’s a fallacy that has been spread for years that you need pure deep blue only for coral to thrive. It just isn’t true.

As mentioned above, the addition of other wavelengths to create white light does not negate the blue that is present. And your white diodes are also primarily
Blue anyway, so when you add white, you’re adding more blue.

In my experience algae tends to be the product of how many herbivores you have present, moreso than what is going on with lighting and testable nutrients. Our test kits available aren’t all that great to begin with and the ability of algae to use all of the various forms of phosphate and nitrogen in the water will far eclipse anything we are able to test for.

Use a par meter and adjust the lighting to something you
Both can agree on, while maintaining your current intensity levels, and you should see little to no change within the tank. As you turn up your whites you’ll likely need to reduce your 450nm channel in tandem with that. It’ll be a net zero par change if done correctly

 

[chipchipbro]

I think it looks rad from outside! Mine complains it ruins her photography.

wow, exactly what my wife complains about

 

[Mr_Knightley]

I hate blues on my own aquariums. As others have said, having more white won't necessarily negate your blues. In nature, the UV index is actually highest during the "whitest" part of the day due to direct sunlight, so the ramp up in UV at night that a lot of folks do is actually less natural than full spectrum all day. Algae grows no matter what and has more to do with nutrients IME.

 

[14 foot reef]

My wife dove and snorkeled with me in Hawaii as we ran our collecting station there. So I run my tank very white and warm to the eye. If I don't she says it doesn't look like the ocean, and I totally agree with that, Can't stand blue tanks. I run G6 Radion Pro's also at a modified AB+ do you have an Apex ? I can share my schedule. My tank grows corals......HeHe

 

[jda]

If you turn up the whites, the blue will still be there. You only need heavy blue if you have ugly corals. Daylight renders the best colors and you can use a bit of blue to color them up a bit. Blue is like heavy makeup, photo filters with ears and noses, hair extensions, and spanx. White light is like exercise, diet, skin and body care, etc. Both work great together, but if you slack on the second, the first will not be able to keep up in time.

A 5500k Metal Halide bulb that looks yellow to us has more blue in it than a handful of Radions. It just has the other spectrums too.

I don't like windex tanks either. I run 14k halides and my windows from outside of the house look a little blue.

The farse that blue light is the only thing that corals need is one of the largest jokes played on the hobby... that an white light causes algae growth. There are plenty of proteins that excite out of the blue range, but people focus on a few. ...and if you can grow coral, you can grow algae and spectrum does not really matter. There is a form of algae in your coral, you know?

 

[naterealbig]

You only need heavy blue if you have ugly corals.

Hey wait a min-----

Blue is like heavy makeup, photo filters with ears and noses, hair extensions, and spanx. White light is like exercise, diet, skin and body care, etc. Both work great together, but if you slack on the second, the first will not be able to keep up in time.

Best reefing analogy since the dawn of man. Adding to my signature (with credit, of course).

 

[19Mateo83]

I run a Ap9x with blues in the morning transitioning to whites during the peak of the day then back to blues for the evening. I also did the same effect back in the day with actinic t5’s in the morning and evenings supplementing my halides. It gives a very natural light cycle.

 

[Miami Reef]

I like about 14K to 18K spectrum.

I dislike very white tanks. The corals look more brown IME.

 

[jda]

You do need some red to develop reds, pinks, purples and some blues. Yellow helps with yellows. Green helps with photosynthesis in colonies and also to show reds, blues. There are more than 85 known pigments (probably more) that excite and illuminate from all colors of the rainbow. The continued posting that blue is all that matters for a few pigments is a farce stared by people trying to sell and promote LEDs. All colors in a light are fair game to just get reflected.

Look at the corals below under daylight. Some of them look amazing with the pinks and some purples. Some look yellowish and would look better under more blue. Some of these would shine under heavy blue, but they lose their luster over time. Some are just ugly and brown and don't get collected, but still have amazing shape and growth. Something in the 10-14k range is a good compromise where all of these would look good, but they also got all of their true color under the best light around...

Yeah, there are ugly corals in the ocean under whiter light. Those don't get collected. There are ugly birds, lizards, dogs, etc. that also are just left in the wild and were never domesticated. That doesn't mean that their lighting or environment sucked.

 

[907_Reefer]

wow, exactly what my wife complains about

+1

Same spousal complaints here with the AB+ schedule (XR15s), I've been playing with a ~10k kelvin period but I get annoyed with the tank flashing as I try to adjust things live, and haven't settled on a new schedule.. Wonder if anyone has a modified AB+ Mobius template with more whites to share..?

 

[jda]

Therman runs all channels at/near 100%. Find his threads and see if you can live with his colors and look.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Sounds like the plan is working and u have a lot more u time atleast til 8pm. Good work.