Pics of sps. Daylight or blue light preferred?

[vetteguy53081]

I do best with blues

 

[Rakie]

Full spectrum daylight. Natural or bust.

 

[Chris04]

Having been in this hobby for 20 years, I do not quite get the recent uptick of sps pics under heavy actinics. Nobody grows sps under such light longterm. It looks cool in a scifi kind of fashion, but the value of actinics pics stops right there.

Have to disagree respectfully, I run full actinic all day long. My corals grow fast and look great. But just my opinion

 

[bubbaque]

Have to disagree respectfully, I run full actinic all day long. My corals grow fast and look great. But just my opinion

Are you using an orange filter on pics?

 

[Chris04]

Yes. Plus a good camera.

 

[lolgranny]

Have to disagree respectfully, I run full actinic all day long. My corals grow fast and look great. But just my opinion

“Fast” is all situational though. It’s proven to grow faster under more of a daylight spectrum.

 

[bubbaque]

Yes. Plus a good camera.

See I think the problem with actinic pics is the use of the orange filter. The filter changes the color of the coral and adds color you don't even see under actinic with your own eyes.

Example is the WD. Looks great under actinic with your own eyes but take a pic with an orange filter and it adds so much more that aren't really visible.

If you can white balance your camera to take pic under blue with out a filter things are more accurate.

 

[Chris04]

See I think the problem with actinic pics is the use of the orange filter. The filter changes the color of the coral and adds color you don't even see under actinic with your own eyes.

Example is the WD. Looks great under actinic with your own eyes but take a pic with an orange filter and it adds so much more that aren't really visible.

If you can white balance your camera to take pic under blue with out a filter things are more accurate.

Disagree. Camera can’t handle the actinic lights and does not know how to filter it. The orange filter adds the balance if need to see the turn color.

This coral a perfect example of this. Look just like this in my frag tank. Now if I take off the orange filter it will just wash out my camera and look all blue.

 

[Chris04]

“Fast” is all situational though. It’s proven to grow faster under more of a daylight spectrum.

But again do I want super growth or do I want to enjoy my tank the way I like it. But to say they won’t grow or color up is false statement

 

[bubbaque]

Disagree. Camera can’t handle the actinic lights and does not know how to filter it. The orange filter adds the balance if need to see the turn color.

This coral a perfect example of this. Look just like this in my frag tank. Now if I take off the orange filter it will just wash out my camera and look all blue.

not sure if you’ve ever checked out my thread. I post pics everyday and an orange filter changes how a coral looks.

You need to white balance your camera with a white card under blue lighting to get accurate pics under blue, not with an orange filter that makes a coral look radioactive.

 

[Chris04]

not sure if you’ve ever checked out my thread. I post pics everyday and an orange filter changes how a coral looks.

You need to white balance your camera with a white card under blue lighting to get accurate pics under blue.

Thanks. Have to try that today. Thank you very much

 

[lolgranny]

But again do I want super growth or do I want to enjoy my tank the way I like it. But to say they won’t grow or color up is false statement

That’s usually why most have a couple hours of a daylight spectrum. To give them that boost of growth they want. But, I do agree, of course they will grow and color up under all actinic. Just wanted to clarify that you get better growth under a spectrum closer to the sun and not the moon

 

[29bonsaireef]

The only thing I have against actinic shots is that it gives a bad representation of what reef tanks/corals look like to newbies coming into the hobby. Many new reefers will run the wrong spectrums and lighting to get these popping colors all day. When really corals grown under a more daylight spectrum will fluoresce much brighter once viewed under actinic lighting. I think the daylight shots are good for promoting better success in the hobby, jmo.

 

[sawdonkey]

not sure if you’ve ever checked out my thread. I post pics everyday and an orange filter changes how a coral looks.

You need to white balance your camera with a white card under blue lighting to get accurate pics under blue, not with an orange filter that makes a coral look radioactive.

My camera (LUMIX GX85), which is a fairly decent micro 4:3, cannot handle heavy blue light. I’ve tried the white card white balance. Doesn’t get it right. I have a hard enough time working under just slightly blue light.

Not a big deal for me anyway since I like a more natural look. Not yellow, but not Windex.

I do hate the orange filter look though. It just looks fake....because it is. It looks cool, but not true to the actual color of the coral.

 

[jda]

Just be honest with what it is and how it was shot. The Reefbrite-only XHO shots with orange filter represented as 14k just to sell or trade an item is misleading - most of us can spot these in an instant, but not everybody. IMO, it is the intentional deceit that really makes people mad.

For those with real cameras, shoot them in raw and adjust to 14 to 20k in some software. This works pretty good. I have a few Canon 5ds and while they are great cameras, they only will white balance adjust up to about 10k worth a darn, so you have to post process.

 

[thaveteran]

The poll is worthless. Actinic is a guilty pleasure only a few of us are brave enough to admit we like out in the open. You can tell how people really feel based on the response to the pics. I'm being careful with my words here as to not offend. I recently saw someone say let's see those tanks lit only with sunlight or ambient light. HUH? Why?????

 

[Chris04]

The poll is worthless. Actinic is a guilty pleasure only a few of us are brave enough to admit we like out in the open. You can tell how people really feel based on the response to the pics. I'm being careful with my words here as to not offend. I recently saw someone say let's see those tanks lit only with sunlight or ambient light. HUH? Why?????

Agree with you totally. I run full blue I enjoy the corals glowing and seeing the bright colors , and for people to say I want to see the corals color. Well most coral we have are not going to show what color the coral has when you show them with 6500k

 

[happyhourhero]

Daylight.

 

[jda]

I recently saw someone say let's see those tanks lit only with sunlight or ambient light. HUH? Why?????

While not a big trend anymore, there are some corals that actually look better under 5500-6500k. Legitimately better with better colors AND pop. These are not all that popular anymore, but just about any blue acropora will look better under 6500k after a while... even better than with just blues. Strawberry Shortcake looks amazing under sunlight type of spectrum. This is certainly not for the masses, and not really for me, but for those who have seen it, it is not an unreasonable request.

 

[bubbaque]

The poll is worthless. Actinic is a guilty pleasure only a few of us are brave enough to admit we like out in the open. You can tell how people really feel based on the response to the pics. I'm being careful with my words here as to not offend. I recently saw someone say let's see those tanks lit only with sunlight or ambient light. HUH? Why?????

Agree with you totally. I run full blue I enjoy the corals glowing and seeing the bright colors , and for people to say I want to see the corals color. Well most coral we have are not going to show what color the coral has when you show them with 6500k

I don't think there is anything wrong with viewing your tank in all blue. I even enjoy my tank when it's lit with all blue leds. The poll is for pictures of all blue, as all blue pics aren't really realistic to what you see with your eyes in all blue.

I was more curious if people preferred unrealistic but pretty pics or realistic but doesn't blow you away kind of pics.