White vs Blue; Which grows coral better?

[Jakepen]

My buddy and I got on the topic of which color is best for growing coral. I always read that white light promotes growth, he read actinic is better for growth. What do you guys think?

 

[mikester]

It's really the spectrum or Kelvin of the bulb I have had luck with some 14 k spectrum bulbs but in reality the more yellow or white the bulb you will have growth. Also with yellow or white light u will have algae and the not good color of corals because of the intensity.

 

[Wilsoni]

You'd be surprised by what a single ReefBrite Blue strip alone could grow...

 

[lariat8099]

So if you have LEDs. Should I turn the white down a lot lower and bump up the blue percentage?

 

[zoomonster]

I still have not figured out the color temp correlation with LEDS and its mostly guess work. But I can say based off MH color temps which equates to white grows better and blue looks better.
6500k best growth but terrible yellowish color
10,000k very good growth but just ok white-slightly yellowish color
14,000k Best compromise IMO with good growth and good color
20,000k slower growth but best color

 

[zoomonster]

I still have not figured out the color temp correlation with LEDS and its mostly guess work. But I can say based off MH color temps which equates to white grows better and blue looks better.
6500k best growth but terrible yellowish color
10,000k very good growth but just ok white-slightly yellowish color
14,000k Best compromise IMO with good growth and good color
20,000k slower growth but best color

Of course MH is usually augmented with T5 or VHO. With my 14k's I ran blue plus and prior VHO actinics with 10k.

 

[Jakepen]

Sounds like this is a pretty debated topic. Seems like there should be facts out there, that prove which is superior.

 

[Jakepen]

Any other opinions?

 

[Jakepen]

I have two kessil 360s, and run mostly white during the day, than all blue once the sun goes down. Aside from the growth benefits of the color, either which way; I enjoy running my lights this way. In my opinion, it makes the tank that much more enjoyable at nighttime, to see the corals so lit up. I only get to see that for about two hours out of the day, so when I see it, it's pretty amazing. Sunny days wouldn't be so special, if it wasn't for rain.

 

[zoomonster]

I have two kessil 360s, and run mostly white during the day, than all blue once the sun goes down. Aside from the growth benefits of the color, either which way; I enjoy running my lights this way. In my opinion, it makes the tank that much more enjoyable at nighttime, to see the corals so lit up. I only get to see that for about two hours out of the day, so when I see it, it's pretty amazing. Sunny days wouldn't be so special, if it wasn't for rain.

I do the same with Kessils and ramping and yes I also enjoy the morning and evening hours the most. Consider it best viewing hours and best growth hours (when lights more white and color temp lower). With controller ramping you can have the best of both worlds and one does not preclude the other. What I said about color temps has been pretty much gospel for many years but LED's unlike bulbs don't have a fixed color temp so you can have it different during different periods of the day.

 

[Russ265]

what i subscribe to

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

what i subscribe to

Yup

I still have not figured out the color temp correlation with LEDS and its mostly guess work. But I can say based off MH color temps which equates to white grows better and blue looks better.
6500k best growth but terrible yellowish color
10,000k very good growth but just ok white-slightly yellowish color
14,000k Best compromise IMO with good growth and good color
20,000k slower growth but best color

Yup

This guy agrees.
Effects of Different Spectra Generated by LEDs on Growth of the Stony Coral Porites lobata
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/4/corals

Effects Of Narrow Bandwidth Light Sources On Coral Host And Zooxanthellae Pigments
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/11/aafeature

Feature Article: Lighting the Reef Aquarium - Spectrum or Intensity?
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/2/aafeature

Its this kind of reaserch that has influenced and semi confirmed MY approach, and that is set the color to your eye. Make it nice to look at every day. If it is a good quality fixture it contains all the colors needed in Russ's chart. I would bet it comes out in the 10 to 16,000k range(unless you like disco blacklight) and that is not actually a true kelvin temp if you want to get very technical, like white is not a color temp and 10k is not white either.

The best color for coral growth is the sun. 6500k. full spectrum plus the particles and uv it provides. Corals will pull what it needs from it and photo-inhibit(intensity specific) the rest. Manufacturers pull the Y O &R to slow green and brown algae growth in a 6500k tube(making it not full true spectrum now) . This increases the perceived(and sometimes marketed) color temp BTW.

If you think about that Chart and take only the best narrow band spectrum from it and mix only those frequencies into a fixture(photon Hydroponic feeeding?photponic?) it would be a really gross deep blue pinky purple, would you use it? Great growth, great colors ,of course you wont see it with your primitive eyes, but If you take it to your buddies house under a 14k or in the sun it would look great! And then the colors would change.

That and corals are from different depth have different light needs anyway, Ie needing more or less of those peaks in the chart as they have evolved to need or not need them. So all you can do is all you can do in a single tank, unless you have lots of tanks with different lighting for corals of specific depths. So the better question becomes what is the best color for for growth for my leptoseris that grows in 30 meters of water and my acro or zoa from 1 meter tidal so it looks good to me.

And thats why I dont really worry about it much.

 

[revhtree]

Nice topic!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You'd be surprised by what a single ReefBrite Blue strip alone could grow...

Most would be surprised what spectrum is actually being produced if you look at it with a spectrometer.
Kinda cool. In many fixtures, Its not just blue.

 

[shred5]

Depends on the coral and it depends on where they come from on the reef ie depth.
Coral from deeper water will do better with more blue and corals from shallower water that are subjected to a wider spectrum will do better under wider spectrum.

Corals have pigments and proteins that can either block or change spectrum to what the coral likes.. It is why some corals can grow at deeper depths and others would be fried at shallower depths.



Chlorophyll which is in the zooxanthellae also produces basically sugars for corals.

 

[Russ265]

dont really subscribe to the "depth" thing.

ive seen LE corals thrive under 150 par and the very same one thrive under 1000 par.
all of our lighting and color temp as well as timers are different.

even wild colonies we put in our tanks can come from deep depths and "adapt" to our glass boxes

 

[ChameleonCoral0279]

I still have not figured out the color temp correlation with LEDS and its mostly guess work. But I can say based off MH color temps which equates to white grows better and blue looks better.
6500k best growth but terrible yellowish color
10,000k very good growth but just ok white-slightly yellowish color
14,000k Best compromise IMO with good growth and good color
20,000k slower growth but best color

That's exactly where I was heading with this topic lol. More blue corals color up better for sure. Growth is also determined through stable parameters such as calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium as well as metabolic additives such as reef energy, zoo and phytoplanktons, marine snow, etc., as the proteins are used for tissue growth. Vitamins, amino acids, and protein flocks entice increased metabolic function to process minerals such as calcium carbonate for skeletal growth for stony corals, as well as tissue growth for all corals

 

[Bunkinator]

I run Actinic PC 12.5 hours and 14 K metal halide 9.5 hours per day I like the color, corals like them too

 

[WetWhistle]

I do agree with the before mentioned specs. (Below)

6500k best growth but terrible yellowish color
10,000k very good growth but just ok white-slightly yellowish color
14,000k Best compromise IMO with good growth and good color
20,000k slower growth but best color

To me I find it accurate for all three MH, LED and T5 and I treat them all the same. I have learned through experience that you can get around these K restrictions though because you need to factor in intensity to the equation. So you can get color and growth out of the higher K range. If you think about it the lower the k (6500) the higher the lumens you get out of it, so if you use say a 20k bulb you will not get near as much lumens as you would if you used a 6500 K bulb. At one time you had to stick to this rule but with the new bulbs and lighting options you can get around it by selecting the right bulb. Or in the case of LED turn up the intensity so you get higher output for the K. Look at the ATI Blue plus T5 for instance it is a high PAR bulb compared to a true actinic bulb. So you get more usable light out of it to make up for the lower K bulb.

At one time I used to have my peak time set to 10,000 k for growth and I would run 6500 K the rest of the time. But now I use ATI Blue plus T5 for my peak because it is a high PAR bulb and run my tank at 20,000 K. So I get growth and color in my corals now because there is more of it. Years ago the blue bulb were not as intense as they are today so at one time you could only use the 20,000 for deep water tank corals or soft corals unless you used a 400 watt then you could do stony so we stuck to the 6500 K range. With higher PAR blue around now you can now grow SPS with them even at the higher 20K range. Even with the proper K you still need to lock in all the other husbandry needs for proper growth.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

dont really subscribe to the "depth" thing.

ive seen LE corals thrive under 150 par and the very same one thrive under 1000 par.
all of our lighting and color temp as well as timers are different.

even wild colonies we put in our tanks can come from deep depths and "adapt" to our glass boxes

yea, my jury is still out. DEF some that adapt well as they have to and can in the wild and the same species come from different depths, but even w slow acclimation ive smoked some corals. macros and orchids too.
its cool the learning continues.
I wonder what other depths the 80m deep SPS is found at. and what the par is.