Violets and Acropora

[Steven Garland]

How much is too much when it comes to Acropora and coloration and growth. Which spectra of violet do you guys recommend,broad spectrum 390-430 or just a narrower spectra of nm's say just 430 or 410 ect ect ect.

I'm in the early stages of a sps pico (yes I know most people say it can't be done but thats not what I'm looking for so lets keep to the topic at hand) set up,and still kind of messing with my lighting. I started out with a simple 5 led array (1 Semi NW,1 Viosys Hyper Violet,2 Semi Royal's and 1 Luxeon C Mint) which produced 400+ par at the top of my rocks 180-200 at the bottom,6" above the tank but that was with no water and no splash guard with a Quantum Par meter from TSA.

Now fast forward a few weeks and I have since tweaked the light,running a NanoBox v3.1 array (for those who don't know NanoBox its 2 Warm Whites,1 Neutral White,2 Mints,1 True Blue,1 Cyan,4 Royal's and 2 Violets).

So once again,would it be wise and beneficial to add a few more violets and royals on a separate channel for more punch,par and for sunrise/sunset parts of my schedule ? I have 430,410-420 and 405 diodes on hand and well as Cree and Semi Royals.

Here is now the array stands,I'm really looking for that sweet spot of 250-300 par at about 6-8" off the tank to provide adequate par for the most par thirsty acro's. I understand I have Chlorophyll A & B covered with the 405-455nm diodes but how much is too much when it comes to violets ?

Like I said,I'm not trying to start a pico sps debate,or stability battle or anything of that nature,just looking for simple insight from Acro guys using leds.

 

[C. Eymann]

Following/bump

 

[hart24601]

I think the whole SPS in a pico debate is over, plenty do it, myself included.

I do like violets, and I like the idea of adding some with blues on another channel. I use a seneye for PAR readings, I would just keep PAR on target of 300 ish and then tune to color of your liking.

 

[Steven Garland]

I think the whole SPS in a pico debate is over, plenty do it, myself included.

I do like violets, and I like the idea of adding some with blues on another channel. I use a seneye for PAR readings, I would just keep PAR on target of 300 ish and then tune to color of your liking.

I completely agree. This will be my 3rd SPS pico. I love them. My main thing is,do Acropora respond better to one specific spectrum or a wide spectrum. Is one spectrum more beneficial than another ?!

I would think a wider 390-430 spectrum would be more helpful than say just 430 or 410 ect ect. I may just add a 390 and have 390-400,400-410,410-420 and a royal.

 

[hart24601]

I still don't think there is any real consensus, just lots of arguing. In general the wider the spectrum the better, I don't know of any people that argue against that point. 390-400,400-410,410-420 and a royal sounds like a great plan. Similar to the orphek wide spectrum which I run.

Of course there were plenty of tank that grew acros fine with just blue/white 1st gen LEDs, so while the above may be overall better, it doesn't seem critical.

 

[Steven Garland]

I still don't think there is any real consensus, just lots of arguing. In general the wider the spectrum the better, I don't know of any people that argue against that point. 390-400,400-410,410-420 and a royal sounds like a great plan. Similar to the orphek wide spectrum which I run.

Of course there were plenty of tank that grew acros fine with just blue/white 1st gen LEDs, so while the above may be overall better, it doesn't seem critical.

Definitely a lot of arguing,that is for sure. Like most people say coral won't grow solely in 445-450nm spectra,when 95% of lfs's run their tanks just royals 90% of the time. We know it can be done but people still say it can't.

That being said,campanies like Orphek barley run any whites in their lights and things grow like weeds under them.

So I think I will aim for a fuller/broader spectrum on the violet/royal side of things,usig the supplemental violets and royals along side the 4 royals and 2 hyper violets already in the array and using very low percentages on whites for a even smaller boost,and mints to act as white.


I am aiming for 300 or more par on the bottom of the tank,which shoukd not be hard since the tank is 6" tall and the light will be hung 6" over the tank if not right on top of the tank with a diffuser (because I cannot stand shimmer).

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I remember seeing a local guys tank back just before he got the tabknof the month when it was still going. He had a few nice huge spawning colonies under white and blues only. So I don’t think you can get much better than that unless your really trying for certain coloration in your acros.
I just got some or2 strips and was suprised at there being no whites and kinda upset. Still gotta mount them though so they might be fine. I was wondering the same thing about the uv and violets though because I am running halides and supplementing them with these strips but got enough to actually grow coral ok with alone I would guess. I was wondering if I even needed the uv violet strip and never got an answer. I guess coloration is all it might help.

 

[Steven Garland]

I have read that the violet spectrum can help with metabolic processes,par,spectra and definitely coloration. All of which I'm okay with lol.

Since I can't get 110% answer on my question,I will go with a wide spectra of violets and see what the outcome is long term.

 

[Naturalreef]

I really like Red Sea's take on Spectra that allow coral to flourish. They hit on all the points you mention above Steven. You can read it on their facebook page or on their website. I also remember a while back Pacific Sun posted a bunch on a thread with specific wavelengths vs a broad spectrum. The gist is a narrow Blue/UV band for coloration and growth and white mainly for looks.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Is that concerning just led? Like they are saying white led doesn’t contribute to growth much?

 

[Naturalreef]

yes! White is full spectrum, so its contributes with the blues/uv But are more for the users preference. They are saying the other spectrums green/red cause heat tissue damage since they are not as readily available to the Zoox. I’ll have to dig the threads back up.

 

[Steven Garland]

I really like Red Sea's take on Spectra that allow coral to flourish. They hit on all the points you mention above Steven. You can read it on their facebook page or on their website. I also remember a while back Pacific Sun posted a bunch on a thread with specific wavelengths vs a broad spectrum. The gist is a narrow Blue/UV band for coloration and growth and white mainly for looks.

That is mainly why I am focusing on using the royals and violets in the main array for that main purpose and adding a wider spectra of violets to give more of a punch. I do have mint in the array so white isn't needed but the red from the warm whites will help bring out certain colors like reds,pinks maybe purples so I will have those at maybe 15-20% peak.

yes! White is full spectrum, so its contributes with the blues/uv But are more for the users preference. They are saying the other spectrums green/red cause heat tissue damage since they are not as readily available to the Zoox. I’ll have to dig the threads back up.

Please do I would love to read those articles.

Is that concerning just led? Like they are saying white led doesn’t contribute to growth much?

Maybe not so much growth,but coloration yes. Depending on the rendition of the whites it will definitely help with bringing certain tougher colors in sps out.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Maybe not so much growth,but coloration yes. Depending on the rendition of the whites it will definitely help with bringing certain tougher colors in sps out.

This is what I always see when I look at led tanks in person. People using barely any whites have a very hard time getting certain colors to show.
Even though, the best led tanks I have seen were 100% on all channels with many fixtures. Every time I see a tank with low whites and or fixture amount I feel like they are missing something.

 

[Steven Garland]

This is what I always see when I look at led tanks in person. People using barely any whites have a very hard time getting certain colors to show.
Even though, the best led tanks I have seen were 100% on all channels with many fixtures. Every time I see a tank with low whites and or fixture amount I feel like they are missing something.

This is why mint has became such a good spectrum to use,you can have your whites turn down low and have the mints at the same percentage and it looks like the whites are at 100%. I have my whites (nw and ww) and 1 regular blue and 1 cyan on 1 channel,my mints on their own,my royals and violets on their own. Then the extra violets and royals on another.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I just fired up our new micmol nano light and it has all the colors but whites and uses some lime looking bulb and a mintish bulb and the blue look is amazing actually! Very crisp sharp bright blue, not a deep neon black light blue which I wouldn’t like. It has a lot of very dim blue looking bulbs which I assume are the violet or uv or something. Very pleased with it. I hope it lasts because I have bought leds before only to have them burn out or not work right.

 

[Steven Garland]

I just fired up our new micmol nano light and it has all the colors but whites and uses some lime looking bulb and a mintish bulb and the blue look is amazing actually! Very crisp sharp bright blue, not a deep neon black light blue which I wouldn’t like. It has a lot of very dim blue looking bulbs which I assume are the violet or uv or something. Very pleased with it. I hope it lasts because I have bought leds before only to have them burn out or not work right.

Really ?! I was not aware of them using those diodes in their fixtures. Could post a led side of the fixture for me ? Maybe its just green as the mints and limes are very green to the eye. But yes the dim diodes are the violets.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Yea I am not good a picking up close colors so it could be. Honestly they look more yellow to me but there are so many different leds out now I wouldn’t know how to tell them apart. I have to learn how to post pics again now that photobucket is gone, I will give it a shot in the mourning.

 

[Steven Garland]

Uploading them from your phone to the forum is 10x easier.

As far as I know,NanoBox is the only manufacturer that uses Mints or Limes. Although I could be wrong.

 

[blasterman]

For the millionth time a cool white LED is just a royal blue LED with a little bit of green phosphor and a minuscule amount of orange red. For all intents and purposes you might as well call a cool white LED a royal blue because from the corals perspective that's what it is.

White is not a wavelength. Covered in grade school science class.

Theres been no scientific evidence that violet light or any blue other than 450nm has a darn thing to do with SPS growth. Back before the days of LED nobody lit their SPS tanks with 420nm actinic tubes with the intent of promoting growth. Just make it look cooler. If you were to average the spectra of every reef light over a showcase SPS tank that ever existed you would see mostly a 450nm spike and a smidge of everything else.

Basically you bought a light with a couple violet chinese diodes and are trying to create justification for them. The amount of radiation these lights emit between 400-440 is trivial anyways.

 

[Steven Garland]

For the millionth time a cool white LED is just a royal blue LED with a little bit of green phosphor and a minuscule amount of orange red. For all intents and purposes you might as well call a cool white LED a royal blue because from the corals perspective that's what it is.

White is not a wavelength. Covered in grade school science class.

Theres been no scientific evidence that violet light or any blue other than 450nm has a darn thing to do with SPS growth. Back before the days of LED nobody lit their SPS tanks with 420nm actinic tubes with the intent of promoting growth. Just make it look cooler. If you were to average the spectra of every reef light over a showcase SPS tank that ever existed you would see mostly a 450nm spike and a smidge of everything else.

Basically you bought a light with a couple violet chinese diodes and are trying to create justification for them. The amount of radiation these lights emit between 400-440 is trivial anyways.

How am I trying to justify "chinese" violets ?! I use Semi violets,I'm not spending $12-$35 on. Lux C violet to say I have it. I'm sure NanoBox and ReefBreeders all use Semi's because they are absolute trash quality diodes,correct ? I asked a question about broad spectrum 390nm-450nm and their affect on coloration,growth,metabolism of Acro's and was looking for a constructive input and instead I get you waltzing in here swinging weight around..

I also don't recall myself personally saying anything about cool whites. I don't use them,I use NW and WW..smh. why would I use a poor quality CRI whites in conjunction of high quality kelvin/spectrum whites which is what my array consists of.

If you have something constrictive to add to the topic,by all means please add it. But I would perfer if you would just not add to the convo if you don't.