What are some Acro's that look great under full spectrum white lighting?

[JCOLE]

I just replaced my LED lighting with a 6 bulb T5 setup. It is a 50/50 mix of ATI Coral+ and Blue+. The light intensity and coverage is a night and day difference between the LED's and T5's. The shadowing is 90% eliminated with the T5's. I am getting light underneath colonies now. Also, the tank braces are no longer an issue.

What I did notice though is 75% of my corals are now brown turds. I am guessing it is because of the LED's causing a lack of spectrum, spread, and intensity. I am hoping for the best that everything starts to color up with the new lighting.

However, this is making me think that maybe some of these corals only look colorful in LED lighting and not high-intensity bulbs such as Halides and T5's. Kinda sheds some light(no pun intended) on the phrase "trick light corals".

I know of some pieces like Oregon Tort, Strawberry shortcakes, HOTO, Most tables, etc that have outstanding coloring in full-spectrum lighting. This leads me to my question, what is your favorite coral for full-spectrum lighting? Pictures of said coral in your full spectrum lighting would be great!

Blackbox LED's

T5's

 

[CCauthers]

Honestly, my homewrecker looks the nicest. I can get a pic later, but I actually like it better under whites than under blues. Call me crazy!

 

[JCOLE]

Honestly, my homewrecker looks the nicest. I can get a pic later, but I actually like it better under whites than under blues. Call me crazy!

You're crazy! I bet it does look great. What lighting do you have it under?

 

[CCauthers]

You're crazy! I bet it does look great. What lighting do you have it under?

Radions, I run a 12-16k spectrum throughout the day, with deep blue sunrise and sunset viewing periods. This one is just a frag, only 2 inches or so, but it's getting there.

 

[lemonade]

Honestly they all look great under full spectrum. Corals that are under heavy blues all day will always look a bit washed out in full spectrum lighting. I'd give it a month or two and you should see some real improvements in growth and color.

 

[CCauthers]

Vivid's confetti also looks amazing under whites as well, sadly I don't have one yet but it's on my wish list. Top ten imo

 

[CCauthers]

I'm sure @FarmerTy and @therman has some suggestions as well, even if they do have a limited selection to choose from

 

[NickC]

ORA pearlberry (really anything from them), shades of fall, and pc rainbow are a couple that come to mind.

 

[Privateye]

When it comes to T5, I tend to do 75% blue plus bulbs and 25% 10,000K. Helps a bit with color and doesn't blue-wash the tank.

Green anacropora and cap montis should have decent color under full spectrum.

Enjoy the boost in growth!

 

[JCOLE]

I'm sure @FarmerTy and @therman has some suggestions as well, even if they do have a limited selection to choose from

That is reassuring since about half of my corals came from @therman

 

[JCOLE]

ORA pearlberry (really anything from them), shades of fall, and pc rainbow are a couple that come to mind.

I don't have the Pearlberry but I have the Battlecorals Peril Betty version. I also have the ATL Shades of Fall and PC Rainbow so hopefully, those turn out great with these lights as well.

 

[JCOLE]

When it comes to T5, I tend to do 75% blue plus bulbs and 25% 10,000K. Helps a bit with color and doesn't blue-wash the tank.

Green anacropora and cap montis should have decent color under full spectrum.

Enjoy the boost in growth!

Right now it is 3 Blue+ and Coral+. I don't mind the whiter look as long as it benefits the corals. I am contemplating on replacing one of the Coral+ with another Blue+ or Actinic to see how that looks.

Really looking forward to the boost.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Oregon tort and purple monster. Sapphire and asd milli. Confetti, pearlberry. Unique tort, bonsai. Red planet, strawberry shortcake, rr Vihn, bali shortcake, rr firecracker, Walt Disney. Orange passion.

 

[therman]

Honestly I tried T5s once as an experiment on my system in one tank and the corals did not like it at all, lost a ton of color. I have difficulty when I get frags from friends with T5s, seems like they take a long time to acclimate between T5->LED. Not sure about the reverse. The "deficiency of spectrum" of LEDs is nonsense. The overlapping spectra and smooth spectrum of whites is just as good if not better than T5. That being said I dont know what black box emitters are like, so they may not be comparable to the Crees I have experience with in Reefbreeders and DIY fixtures.

Have you measured PAR to compare how it has changed between the two lighting systems? That could make a significant difference.

There are plenty of corals that look great under full spectrum though. Most of the pinks, reds, purples, and blues look amazing if not better under whiter light. I have never run blue heavy on my systems, many of the tanks are full spectrum for the entire photoperiod so I dont even know what they look like under blues

RR Raven
BC Skinny Love
Tyree Superman
RR Olympus
Copps Calacali
GH Aquadelight
Swearwolf
RR Wolverine
any of the tortuosa
BC Battle de Fuego
BC Bleeding trees
BC Ultimate table
BC Firecracker or any of the tables with blue tips
Anything purple
GC Acroberry

Could go on and on.

 

[therman]

@FarmerTy and @Big E have a lot more experience with coloring things up under T5. They might have advice for you.

 

[kenchilada]

Right now it is 3 Blue+ and Coral+. I don't mind the whiter look as long as it benefits the corals. I am contemplating on replacing one of the Coral+ with another Blue+ or Actinic to see how that looks.

Really looking forward to the boost.

I'm planning on running all Blue+ and then 3-4 Kessil A360x to tune in the color and give shimmer. It helps get rid of that motionless flat look of T5. This is a T5/Kessil combo tank...




Have you thought about adding a LED bar and run all Blue+? The trick is it has to be something that can push through the T5 to actually make an impact.

 

[xiaoxiy]

Pink Lemonade always looks nice regardless of spectrum!

 

[jda]

Give it some time. They will likely look a lot different in a month or two.

I also think that Homewrecker looks better under 14k spectrum... so I am crazy too. There are a lot of Tenuis that need trick lighting, but HW is not one of them. Sexy Corals Orange Passion also looks great under any lighting.

 

[JCOLE]

Honestly I tried T5s once as an experiment on my system in one tank and the corals did not like it at all, lost a ton of color. I have difficulty when I get frags from friends with T5s, seems like they take a long time to acclimate between T5->LED. Not sure about the reverse. The "deficiency of spectrum" of LEDs is nonsense. The overlapping spectra and smooth spectrum of whites is just as good if not better than T5. That being said I dont know what black box emitters are like, so they may not be comparable to the Crees I have experience with in Reefbreeders and DIY fixtures.

Have you measured PAR to compare how it has changed between the two lighting systems? That could make a significant difference.

There are plenty of corals that look great under full spectrum though. Most of the pinks, reds, purples, and blues look amazing if not better under whiter light. I have never run blue heavy on my systems, many of the tanks are full spectrum for the entire photoperiod so I dont even know what they look like under blues

RR Raven
BC Skinny Love
Tyree Superman
RR Olympus
Copps Calacali
GH Aquadelight
Swearwolf
RR Wolverine
any of the tortuosa
BC Battle de Fuego
BC Bleeding trees
BC Ultimate table
BC Firecracker or any of the tables with blue tips
Anything purple
GC Acroberry

Could go on and on.

Hey Tim! Thanks for the list. I just felt my Black Boxes weren't cutting it. The spectrum had a very purple look to it and the lens are very narrow and creating a lot of shadows. Another thing was the inconsistency of PAR. I was creating Photoinhibition for awhile with 1500+ PAR at the top of the rocks. I would move down 2 inches and the PAR would be 900. That is a big drop in PAR over a couple of inches.

I measured PAR last night with all 6 bulbs and I am getting around 750+ PAR at the top of the rocks and 500+ PAR at the bottom near the sandbed. PAR is consistent now with a gradual loss of 50+ PAR over a couple of inches.

I wasn't unhappy with the black boxes. I just felt that I could give my corals more with a tried and true method of ATI T5's.

Thanks for the list. I have some of those pieces from you already. Can't wait for them to kick into high gear.

BC Skinny Love
Copps Calacali
GH Aquadelight
RR Wolverine
BC Ultimate table
BC Firecracker
GC Acroberry

 

[JCOLE]

@FarmerTy and @Big E have a lot more experience with coloring things up under T5. They might have advice for you.

Yes sir! @Big E has helped me more with lighting than I could have asked for. His tank is one of the main reasons why I switched to T5's. I am probably more of a thorn in his side about now. LOL