What, blue versus white, lighting combo gives the best coral growth?

What percentage of blue versus white lighting do you think makes the best coral growth combo?

  • All Blue

    Votes: 25 3.2%
  • Mostly Blue

    Votes: 486 61.4%
  • Even Balance

    Votes: 207 26.2%
  • Mostly White

    Votes: 58 7.3%
  • All White

    Votes: 2 0.3%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 13 1.6%

  • Total voters
    791

revhtree

Owner Administrator
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2006
Messages
47,553
Reaction score
85,879
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Back in the day we were always told that you needed the white light to make the corals grow and the blue was to make them pop. Today we know differently but what exactly is the BEST percentage combo to experience the best coral growth from a lighting aspect? Throw all the other variables out the door as if they were perfect. This is about Blue versus White! Let's talk about it!

What percentage of blue and white do you think makes the best coral growth combo?


image via @minus9 and their @Kessil and @Orphek lit reef tank!
A51E1BE7-4B92-420F-AAB0-45BEDAC34757.jpeg
 

LRT

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 20, 2020
Messages
10,196
Reaction score
42,133
Location
mesa arizona
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Brs reccomended program for my fixture is blue heavy. I have slightly modified white channel and elevated some blue channels to fit mount height of my lamp. I'm positive brs couldn't have gotten it better as far as coral health and growth. My corals tell me that.
 

minus9

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 13, 2017
Messages
5,347
Reaction score
6,375
Location
Los Angeles (SFV)
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Wow, thanks for sharing a pic of my tank. Those are OR2 blue plus (the front one is the 1st version with the cyan diodes at the ends). I primarily run my Kessil's whiter during peak hours and the Orphek's provide the blue pop. Pics always appear more blue than in person, even with the filters on my phone.
I'm currently running the Kessil's at 35% color, slowly working my way up to 50% color during peak hours.
 

stephj03

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
1,210
Reaction score
1,026
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I ramp up every LED I paid for to 100% and supplement with Reefbrite. This produces about:


60% blue/UV, 40% white/red/green/others (excluding MH supplementation)

In my tank, this gives about a 20k look fwiw.


Makes it a little harder to sell high end frags but that's another story.
 
OP
OP
revhtree

revhtree

Owner Administrator
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2006
Messages
47,553
Reaction score
85,879
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Keep the input coming!
 
OP
OP
revhtree

revhtree

Owner Administrator
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2006
Messages
47,553
Reaction score
85,879
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
I have my Hydra 32 HD's cut down to 30 for the Cool White. Supplemented by ATI Blue Plus (@ 35%) and ATI Actinic (@ 75%). Will probably adjust the Hydra 32 HD's down a little more...lots of PAR up top.

Thanks for sharing!
 

bg2311

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
May 25, 2021
Messages
71
Reaction score
178
Location
Atlanta, GA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Wow, thanks for sharing a pic of my tank. Those are OR2 blue plus (the front one is the 1st version with the cyan diodes at the ends). I primarily run my Kessil's whiter during peak hours and the Orphek's provide the blue pop. Pics always appear more blue than in person, even with the filters on my phone.
I'm currently running the Kessil's at 35% color, slowly working my way up to 50% color during peak hours.
Do you find the pair of Noctua fans usually sufficient to remove the heat trapped over the tank where the lights are mounted? I've done something similar in the past before we had a dedicated A/C in the the room with the display. It was for evaporative cooling and there was no lighting canopy though.
 

ReefGeezer

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 9, 2009
Messages
1,972
Reaction score
2,849
Location
Wichita, KS
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Not as simple as Blue vs. White. White light is made up of all the color spectrums that include the blue spectrum. Generally speaking, the most beneficial light for corals and their zooxanthella is light in the violet to blue green portion of the spectrum (that includes blue) and a little in the red orange to red spectrum. These colors are at each end of the visible light spectrum. Corals really don't use much of the yellow and green in the middle of the spectrum. Unfortunately, there is normally a lot of those in standard white lighting. It may be that the benefit of using white light is just to replace the red spectrum that is missing from blue lights.
 

BiggestE222

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 8, 2021
Messages
451
Reaction score
367
Location
carrollton
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Are those Orphek OR3 Blue Plus strips? Running a mix of Blue Plus, Day Plus. Our UV one is in the mail.
I have XR30 G5’s and turn the red to zero. Greens to 10s and white to 25. All other colors 100
 

Attachments

  • B2580FD8-807D-4B8C-8E91-16DD0BC45186.png
    B2580FD8-807D-4B8C-8E91-16DD0BC45186.png
    271.9 KB · Views: 276

minus9

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 13, 2017
Messages
5,347
Reaction score
6,375
Location
Los Angeles (SFV)
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Do you find the pair of Noctua fans usually sufficient to remove the heat trapped over the tank where the lights are mounted? I've done something similar in the past before we had a dedicated A/C in the the room with the display. It was for evaporative cooling and there was no lighting canopy though.
I actually have 3 fans now, one is the 24v version. I'll have to take an updated pic. Yes, they keep the tank cool. I leave the windows open until the outside temp hits the low 80's, the tank barely hits 78 when it gets that warm.
 

willieboy240

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 17, 2016
Messages
416
Reaction score
327
Location
San Francisco
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I suppose it’s who you listen too. If you follow the big boys. Sanjay runs all his lights at 100%. He believes that the corals get something from every color spectrum.
That being said. Old school reefers with MH. Don’t really get to pick a specific color. Just a general color. And MH are the best hands down for growing sps.
something to think about.
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 27 14.3%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 32 16.9%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 32 16.9%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 95 50.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.6%
Back
Top