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

[BanjoBandito]

People smarter than me have been running 100% blue for a long time and never went back. Prob. the most "famous" person is Jason Fox.

 

[M Stein]

I'm no expert at lighting so I can't offer an opinion as to growth.
However I have noticed that there are advantages to both white and blue lighting. White lighting looks more natural and highlights the fish better. And blue makes the color pop more, but it washes out the fish's colors and it looks really unnatural. The best way to get the advantages of both is to go heavy on the blues and wear orange lenses to filter the light and make it look more natural.
The trouble is, when I look at my tank I don't want to have to put on special glasses that make the tank pop but everything else look weirdly orange.
So to the manufacturers and entrepreneurs out there, why don't you make plastic films that we can stick to the glass over our tanks and cover the whole thing in a light filter. That way we can have a natural looking light with the advantage of the corals popping.

 

[rtparty]

You don't get "white" light without blue sooooo....

This is a topic that you can listen to 2 hour talks on and still not cover everything. No way to properly convey the message on here with text. No one wants to read that much and it isn't worth typing it all out. The best source for all of this is Tullio.

Short answer is growth has always been best under a nice FULL spectrum halide (or the sun) so take that FWIW.

 

[ZoWhat]

First you need an understanding that White light is the entire visual spectrum of blue, green, yellow and red coming at you.

Second you need to know where along the light spectrum does the White light PEAK.

From the graphs above, cool white are most popular white lights bc corals thrive under 410nm to 520nm purplish blueish cyanish light.

Corals can benefit from white if the white light is heavy on the blue 400s nanometers

 

[BCSreef]

If your are into fluorescence, the more blue the better. If you are into the "true" reflected colors, then you need the the whites (blue, green, yellow, reds....) and/or separate greens & reds that show those colors. I like both so, my tank is around 14,000K to 16,000K with bluer early AM and late PM.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Purple

 

[ClownSchool]

Wow! These posts have been very helpful. I’m a newbie, just starting with a Biocube, so the instructions were limited to daytime/sunset/night and I was wondering why my first soft corals acted so sketchy by the end of the daytime cycle (I was running daytime ‘white’ for 12 hours with only a 30 minute ramp on each end, and nighttime ‘blue’ through the night). But, based on all the great feedback, I’ve realized I can schedule my timers to overlap nighttime (blue) that will limit full daytime (white) down to 7 hours, and hopefully start seeing results from my zoanthids closer to what others have shared.
I’m buying some components for my first ‘real’ tank build tonight and this topic was really difficult to research. You guys are the best! Thanks!

 

[minus9]

Just took this for quick reference about the fans and my preferred look. This is pretty close to what it looks like in person using the phone clip filters. Kessil's are at 32% color, so not quite at 35% yet. Violet is 100% with 5% green and red. I'm not a fan of all blue, mainly because I've never seen an all blue reef in person while snorkeling. I love shimmer and contrast, just like the reefs that I've seen in person. Just my preference, nothing more.

 

[Juff74]

More of a question than a comment... I have an IM 30L with ReefBreeder 24v2+ at 18" off the water, mostly LPS. I am currently running all blues at 35%, Red and Green at 3% and no white. My corals seem to be happy and are growing. Am I hindering growth by not running white? Thoughts?

 

[Kfactor]

I just hate the Intense blue look

 

[hey_hey_heeyyyyyy!]

Im running a modified Saxby on 2 Hydra 32’s in a T5 hybrid with the BRS recommended bulbs on my 75.

2:10 is my peak time where the upper levels get up to 450 PAR and the sand gets 120-225.

T5s run from 1pm to 7pm.

 

[ou12004]

More of a question than a comment... I have an IM 30L with ReefBreeder 24v2+ at 18" off the water, mostly LPS. I am currently running all blues at 35%, Red and Green at 3% and no white. My corals seem to be happy and are growing. Am I hindering growth by not running white? Thoughts?

 

[ou12004]

From the pictures you took it looks like all LPS and softies those are fine with all blue at 35% but I don’t think SPS will color up at that intensity. Not everyone runs whites and their corals still grow. I run my reefbreeders at max 60 on blue channels and 40% white max. I run the whites because I can see some colors on the SPS better than with just all blue. I run red and green at 3%

 

[Juff74]

From the pictures you took it looks like all LPS and softies those are fine with all blue at 35% but I don’t think SPS will color up at that intensity. Not everyone runs whites and their corals still grow. I run my reefbreeders at max 60 on blue channels and 40% white max. I run the whites because I can see some colors on the SPS better than with just all blue. I run red and green at 3%

Gotcha... Nice coral, thank you!

 

[Arego]

To start- I run 3 SBReef 18"s with 2 t5's on a 250g. I run them 70% whites, 40-50% blues and two 80w coral plus bulbs.

Suffice it to say, works spectacularly for me.

 

[BanjoBandito]

I'm no expert at lighting so I can't offer an opinion as to growth.
However I have noticed that there are advantages to both white and blue lighting. White lighting looks more natural and highlights the fish better. And blue makes the color pop more, but it washes out the fish's colors and it looks really unnatural. The best way to get the advantages of both is to go heavy on the blues and wear orange lenses to filter the light and make it look more natural.
The trouble is, when I look at my tank I don't want to have to put on special glasses that make the tank pop but everything else look weirdly orange.
So to the manufacturers and entrepreneurs out there, why don't you make plastic films that we can stick to the glass over our tanks and cover the whole thing in a light filter. That way we can have a natural looking light with the advantage of the corals popping.

This sounds like the window tint craze of the late 90s early oughts.

 

[DHill6]

G5 Pro on a reefer170, 34g dt. Running at 55% overall intensity with the diffuser. Blues , violet, Uv100%, whites 15%, red and green 3%. SPS and LPS, gorgorian, clam, anemone…seems to be working. No complaints from coral or fish. Ramping up slowly and watching for any negative reactions, you never know unless you try.

 

[fishface NJ]

crisp white with just a hint of blue

• 3 ATI Blue Plus
• 2 ATI Aquablue Special
• 1 ATI Purple Plus

 

[Shooter6]

Aquablue special are way over looked by most, but the colors and coral response should not be overlooked. I feel these give as close to bright daylight on a reef look as can be had with any t5.

 

[LCGoldman]

I have had the best results with running mostly blue with AI Hydra 26's

Could you share that lighting schedule file please?

How big is your tank?