Should I just light tank to look good?

[peterhos]

Good morning All

I am frustrated and confused with the best way to light my tank.

Early morning and late evening the tank looks brilliant and colourful under full blue light and 25-30% white light. The SPS frags all look excellent. During the day the white is at around 60- 70 % for 7 hours but the tank does not look so good. Also, has the white light been maybe too strong for my softies which have all shrivelled up, possibly under attack by a dwarf angel fish?

So, is the stronger white light washing out the colour? Should I go for less white light so that the tank is always looking ‘better’. Maybe I should gradually dial down the white.

The light is a TMC ilumenair+ which is not common in the U S.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks.

 

[TokenReefer]

Should I go for less white light so that the tank is always looking ‘better’. Maybe I should gradually dial down the white.

Sounds reasonable to me. I'd skip the gradual probably but idk

Edit : I feel like if the blues (uv included) stay the same the whites can be adjusted with maybe less if any detrimental affect. But again idk lol

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO if you want to turn down the whites then turn them down. On my led lights I keep the whites at only 20%

 

[crazyfishmom]

Good morning All

I am frustrated and confused with the best way to light my tank.

Early morning and late evening the tank looks brilliant and colourful under full blue light and 25-30% white light. The SPS frags all look excellent. During the day the white is at around 60- 70 % for 7 hours but the tank does not look so good. Also, has the white light been maybe too strong for my softies which have all shrivelled up, possibly under attack by a dwarf angel fish?

So, is the stronger white light washing out the colour? Should I go for less white light so that the tank is always looking ‘better’. Maybe I should gradually dial down the white.

The light is a TMC ilumenair+ which is not common in the U S.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks.

Corals don’t require as much white light as they do blue and indeed the white light may burn some of your coral. My tank only gets about 20% white light throughout the day and the corals are all thriving.

 

[TokenReefer]

Adding or removing white will increase/decrease par so I guess that's a consideration. Whites add a lot of par far as I understand....again idk though...just what I think

 

[crazyfishmom]

Adding or removing white will increase/decrease par so I guess that's a consideration. Whites add a lot of par far as I understand....again idk though...just what I think

This is true. However, the coral are unable to use most of the white light effectively so the gain in PAR is a bit nuanced if solely relying on white light.

 

[peterhos]

Sounds reasonable to me. I'd skip the gradual probably but idk

Edit : I feel like if the blues (uv included) stay the same the whites can be adjusted with maybe less if any detrimental affect. But again idk lol

Thank you. I may go for gradual though.

 

[peterhos]

Corals don’t require as much white light as they do blue and indeed the white light may burn some of your coral. My tank only gets about 20% white light throughout the day and the corals are all thriving.

Interestingly our local coral LFS expert has her whites at around 20%.

 

[peterhos]

Adding or removing white will increase/decrease par so I guess that's a consideration. Whites add a lot of par far as I understand....again idk though...just what I think

The light unit came with a PAR ‘map’ which showed 850 at the surface. Maybe the unit is far too strong anyway…

 

[peterhos]

This is true. However, the coral are unable to use most of the white light effectively so the gain in PAR is a bit nuanced if solely relying on white light.

Interesting. Thank you. The unit is powerful and gives 850 PAR at the surface according to the manufacturer. Think I will tone down the whites. Stupid question, but if a tank looks great at a given mix of blue/white then is that the way to go??

 

[crazyfishmom]

Interestingly our local coral LFS expert has her whites at around 20%.

This is very very typical since as you said, the corals all look much better at this % white.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Interesting. Thank you. The unit is powerful and gives 850 PAR at the surface according to the manufacturer. Think I will tone down the whites. Stupid question, but if a tank looks great at a given mix of blue/white then is that the way to go??

I think you can definitely hurt coral by going by the way the tank looks because this is based on very personal opinions however if you mean that the tank looks best because all the coral are happy and extending then that’s a good benchmark. Lighting is very nuanced and we can easily hurt corals if PAR is too high or if we don’t provide the right light spectrum. It does sound to me like reducing the whites to 20-30% max during your photoperiod will likely help.

 

[peterhos]

I think you can definitely hurt coral by going by the way the tank looks because this is based on very personal opinions however if you mean that the tank looks best because all the coral are happy and extending then that’s a good benchmark. Lighting is very nuanced and we can easily hurt corals if PAR is too high or if we don’t provide the right light spectrum. It does sound to me like reducing the whites to 20-30% max during your photoperiod will likely help.

Thank you. I will try a gradual reduction. Do you think polyps extend less under strong white light?

 

[crazyfishmom]

Thank you. I will try a gradual reduction. Do you think polyps extend less under strong white light?

yes, some corals will close up altogether if the lighting is too strong for them

 

[peterhos]

Thank you. I will try a gradual reduction. Do you think polyps extend less under strong white light?

yes, some corals will close up altogether if the lighting is too strong for them

I will try gentler lighting for a while. Maybe the gonioporia I bought recently will open up again.

 

[lbacha]

I would recommend borrowing a par meter. It is impossible to judge par by sight only. White light is not necessary for many coral but I personally like it because there are a lot of coral that do not look great under all blues (many of your old school corals look way better under a bit of white)

 

[peterhos]

I would recommend borrowing a par meter. It is impossible to judge par by sight only. White light is not necessary for many coral but I personally like it because there are a lot of coral that do not look great under all blues (many of your old school corals look way better under a bit of white)

I have not met anyone with a par meter, not even the LFS. Too expensive to buy to use once.

 

[Katrina71]

I have not met anyone with a par meter, not even the LFS. Too expensive to buy to use once.

You may be able to email your light manufacturer and give them your tank dimensions and they could give you a rough idea of your par. It's worth a try.

 

[TokenReefer]

I have not met anyone with a par meter, not even the LFS. Too expensive to buy to use once.

Agreed

 

[peterhos]

You may be able to email your light manufacturer and give them your tank dimensions and they could give you a rough idea of your par. It's worth a try.

The manufacturer has a PAR map on its site … but some of the numbers are unbelievable e.g. 850 at the surface…