Wanted to gather everyones thoughts on this... some day high uv can damage coral and some say high uv is needed to help coral growth.. i see led lighting schedules and some run low uv and coilets where as others run high etc.. can anyone here tell me what they have noticed when running high uv vs low uv and if you do run low uv why?
The use of UV light in LED
- Thread starter merereef
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I guess it depends on what one means by UV. UV in our leds is more purple than true UV. Anything below 380nm is going to be useless for our corals. Most LEDs also have very little to no lights at 380nm. True UV light would be damaging to our corals by damiging DNA and such similar to our sunburn. What light are you talking about if any that you had in mind.
merereef
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Hello i have the ai hydra 26... the reason i ask this question is an odd one.. see david saxby and stuart bertram who i believe own dd run the famous saxby lighting schedule.. they get crazy fast growth and any one that runs it will tell you the same.. if you look at their schedule the ly run low voilets and UV. The new red sea lights also use low uv and voilets, and everyone ive asked that uses the red sea lights also claims to have gotten faster growth and colour with these lights.. i have asked several shops and they have ALL said the same thing that when they switched to the red sea lights they noticed corals grew faster and had great colour compared to the ai hydras or the radions..
merereef
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So it makes me question if saxby schedule runs low uv and voilets and the new red sea lights use low uv and voilets... everyone using the saxby schedule and red sea lights is saying they are seeing faster growth and colour since switching tk the lights... do we need tk run high uv and voilets like we are being told to??
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Low violet (around 420nm I believe) is rather silly in my opinion since it is so close to the chlorophyll a peak at 430. Honestly I don't reallyy understand those presents with their weird fluctuations in color. That is not how the sun works, it doesn't mid day just decrease one color and raise another. Yes the color that reaches corals can vary by time of day with microchanges in between due to whatever could get between the light and the coral. This is probably an unpopular opinion but those presets with their fancy light variations probably have no actual value to the coral.
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Above is probably more right than wrong but a bit too simplistic. There are a host of other pigments/needs but the
spread of each is fairly large..
http://spectra.1023world.net/#save
People have been doing fine w/out UV...relatively speaking. Certainly w/ at most a little UV.
T5's have very little.
The biggest spectral difference is in the broad blue range of t5 phosphors vs LED spikes..
If you go thought the MH spectrums here you will note ranges from some to gobs of UV (<400nm)
See 6500k Iwasaki and AB 10000K in particular.
reefs.com
Think UV falls in a more want than need category.. but ???
T5's have very little.
The biggest spectral difference is in the broad blue range of t5 phosphors vs LED spikes..
If you go thought the MH spectrums here you will note ranges from some to gobs of UV (<400nm)
See 6500k Iwasaki and AB 10000K in particular.
Product Review: Spectral Analysis Of 250w Mogul Base Metal Halide Lamps - Part I
This is a 2-part series covering a number of new lamps that have recently hit the market.
reefs.com
UV above 350 is not damaging and nearly all corals that get collected for this hobby (one breath) are exposed to it in good numbers. Remember that UV energy is much more than when the frequency rises.
It is likely still one of the reasons why MH will outwork either T5 or LED in terms of pure performance, and again why the sun will outwork MH. Even though not necessary for most things, this does not mean that you will not benefit - kinda like a balanced diet is not necessary, but a good idea.
Lack of UV in LEDs is because of diode cost and life span - expensive and short lived. The next time that we have a MACNA, ask some of the vendors there and and they will flat out tell you that their fixtures would have more true UV (not violet labeled as UV) if it did not kill the selling point of not having to replace bulbs (diodes in this case).
It is likely still one of the reasons why MH will outwork either T5 or LED in terms of pure performance, and again why the sun will outwork MH. Even though not necessary for most things, this does not mean that you will not benefit - kinda like a balanced diet is not necessary, but a good idea.
Lack of UV in LEDs is because of diode cost and life span - expensive and short lived. The next time that we have a MACNA, ask some of the vendors there and and they will flat out tell you that their fixtures would have more true UV (not violet labeled as UV) if it did not kill the selling point of not having to replace bulbs (diodes in this case).
BTW - this has probably already been said, but the "UV" in your hydras is violet and not true UV.
Steven Garland
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When I had my last tank set up,when I added violets (400-430nm) I saw plumper polyps,more vivid colors and polyp sizes got a smidge bigger. Coincidence ? Maybe. I have always been a believer in them.
My new pico light uses 390-430nm diodes,on their own respective channel separate from everything else.
My new pico light uses 390-430nm diodes,on their own respective channel separate from everything else.
Most people cannot see true UV and have no idea what it looks like. The average human eye will see from about 400-700 nm, but some people can see slightly below this or above. Even the people that can see some UV do not see much and it just looks like violet. UV is below 400nm, technically. What you are seeing in nearly all UV diodes is violet diodes that the manufacturer brands (lies) as UV - most of them do it, so no venom or anything. Just look at the diode nanometer and you can tell for sure.
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Question- the ocean depth of the coral. Red light is filtered the deeper you go. So how much of what color is actually reaching that coral in nature? I think for optimum growth we would need to figure out and recreate the natural lighting scheme for each coral?
Steven Garland
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Just sharing my experience. Although we may not be able to visually see certain spectrums,corals especially sps love the spectrum and utilize it to its fullest potential.
I feel like this is a mixed battle. Everyone will say something different. But as for percentages,I usually run my violets (if they are separate from my royals) about 15-20% lower. Because,violets will burn coral and output A LOT of par so just be careful.
I like using the leds I have to have a broad range spectrum,regardless if its white,royals,violets. Broader of a spectrum,better colors !!!
It's an unusual looking spectrum on those lights, a really narrow peak, but you're right there is light emitted at 380nm. I'm really interested to see the output in person.
For ref, this is it compared to an ATI Blue Plus.
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