White lights

courtneyhawkins

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 14, 2021
Messages
18
Reaction score
17
Location
michigan
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I've been through pages of posts in this forum and I'm not really seeing anything good about white lighting... I converted a freshwater tank to a salt water tank (with fish and live rock) and used the same lighting that was for the freshwater- once my tank is old enough I would eventually like to add some anemones but I don't plan on corals... Right now I have a Dogface puffer, a green chromis and a purple dotty back in a 45gal, so.... is white lighting bad for saltwater?! I had a salt water tank 10+ years ago but I can't for the life of me remember what kind of lighting I had ;Facepalm
 

oreo54

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
5,531
Reaction score
3,411
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I've been through pages of posts in this forum and I'm not really seeing anything good about white lighting... so.... is white lighting bad for saltwater?
If you look again, about the only bad thing is due to the " look".
Historically corals have been successfully grown in light from 4000k to pure blue.
Granted overall some seem to work better than others, for whatever reason..


Also keep in mind all white isn't the same either.
Like a 10000 kelvin mh has a different spectrum ie different individual wavelengths and different proportions than say an led @ 10000k.

The freshwater lights intensity is more questionable than its spectrum really.
 

Bpb

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
4,516
Reaction score
6,344
Location
College Station
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Outside of a little morning and evening time I dislike heavy blue or blue only. I prefer whiter light in the 10-14k range. Makes all fish look better, and develops more pigments in corals and anemones
 
OP
OP
C

courtneyhawkins

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 14, 2021
Messages
18
Reaction score
17
Location
michigan
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Outside of a little morning and evening time I dislike heavy blue or blue only. I prefer whiter light in the 10-14k range. Makes all fish look better, and develops more pigments in corals and anemones
This might be a dumb question, how do you know what range your lights are in?
 

Bpb

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
4,516
Reaction score
6,344
Location
College Station
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
This might be a dumb question, how do you know what range your lights are in?

Estimation really. I tend to kind of go off of what I rememeber from using metal halides which were actually labeled in a kelvin number. The seneye par meter will give a kelvin approximation if you have access to one of those
 
OP
OP
C

courtneyhawkins

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 14, 2021
Messages
18
Reaction score
17
Location
michigan
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Estimation really. I tend to kind of go off of what I rememeber from using metal halides which were actually labeled in a kelvin number. The seneye par meter will give a kelvin approximation if you have access to one of those
You've lost me lol. Would there be anything on the bulbs that I could google to find out if they're sufficient bulbs?
 

oreo54

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
5,531
Reaction score
3,411
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
You've lost me lol. Would there be anything on the bulbs that I could google to find out if they're sufficient bulbs?
First most bulbs rated higher than about 14000 k are err fake numbers.
Even lower bulbs in mh, things are better w/ t5's.
Best just to see the tone on a white surface and how much color other than blue you see.
Since k or more correctly cct for most aquarium lights is figured as an average even the actual same kelvins can look different.
Some are violet- ish, some blue as an example
Just pick the " blue" you like.
And get a general idea here:

 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 65 37.1%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.7%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.3%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 26 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
Back
Top