Chris Kelly
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Why do my blue corals always turn green?
Why do my blue corals always turn green?
- Thread starter Chris Kelly
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How blue is your light?
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Chris Kelly
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ecotech sps ab schedule 45%----not overly blue to my eye
Not a long blue ramp time or over long photoperiod?
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Chris Kelly
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running 12pm to 12am with max intensity from 3 to 9 ramping up ramping down
Do you know your par?
I've had greening on some acros and had suspected too long and high an intensity blue spectrum.
I had one go green right under the blue emitters.
I've heard to much light too.
Not sure. I know guys with more light for as long but it's metal halide.
I've had greening on some acros and had suspected too long and high an intensity blue spectrum.
I had one go green right under the blue emitters.
I've heard to much light too.
Not sure. I know guys with more light for as long but it's metal halide.
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
Don't know if it is true, but I have been told that blue is one of the hardest colors to keep under LEDs. I have had the same issues with every blue coral I have tried to keep (I have Radions also). I have tried different color spectrums, nutrient levels, intensities.....it never seems to matter lol.
kevlow
Active Member
For me, any color Acro changing or reverting to green means too little light or too much iron or other trace elements.
Regarding blue corals growing slow, dying, or changing color; I think we need to remember what color on an object is : unabsorbed reflected light.
A blue coral is absorbing all the spectrum of light except blue. The blue is being reflected. When you give a blue coral nothing but blue light , my belief is that you are light starving the coral. LEDs are extreme in this as their spectrum per each emitter is very narrow.
When I increase my percentage of white light my blue corals do better. They grow faster and stay colored better. I also noticed that when I increase par with white light I tend to need more nutrients in the water. Increased growth requires food energy.
This is all my opinion based on my experience in my own tanks through the years.
Regarding blue corals growing slow, dying, or changing color; I think we need to remember what color on an object is : unabsorbed reflected light.
A blue coral is absorbing all the spectrum of light except blue. The blue is being reflected. When you give a blue coral nothing but blue light , my belief is that you are light starving the coral. LEDs are extreme in this as their spectrum per each emitter is very narrow.
When I increase my percentage of white light my blue corals do better. They grow faster and stay colored better. I also noticed that when I increase par with white light I tend to need more nutrients in the water. Increased growth requires food energy.
This is all my opinion based on my experience in my own tanks through the years.
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
That actually makes a lot of sense and supports my thoughts that blue coral are harder to keep with LEDs. Most LED users tend to run a more bluer 18-20K spectrum.....my whites, greens, and reds are set very low in comparison to my blues. A good test would be for me to change spectrums....but that would result in my cooking my SPS, which seems to happen anytime I try to increase whites while using LEDs lol. I will just put a permanent ban on all blue coral in my tank.
Im working on that as well. I just lowered the blues a bit. raised the whites a tiny bit and reduced the photoperiod slightly. I'm going so slow but I have seen some recovery.
Im using a lux meter only.
Narrow band blues have less par than "whites", so I don't think the reduction warrants a large increase in whites to compensate.
and FWIW I think most folks with a lot of blues are running what would be considered much more than 20k. I have a 20k Radium MH that I color tempted with an actual color meter, its 20k. Just by eye I can tell you my tanks were bluer.
from what I have seen most led have a native color temp of 14 to 16k at full on all color channels. So it makes it quite easy to pass 20k by lowering the R Y O and increasing the blue..
kevlow
Active Member
I agree and this reflects my experience.
I tested with a par meter and can say that blues do not carry the same par as whites.
Before I added a second unit I wanted to change my spectrum to a lower kelvin temp but not raise my par. I lowered the blue channel from 100% down to about 70 or 75 % [can't remember exactly]. The white channel I raised from 50% to 60 %. Even this raised my par slightly.
When I hung a second LED unit I had to lower them even futher to maintain the same par. Blues to 60% Whites to 45 %. This gave me the exact par I had with one central unit at 75% and 60%.
I did an experiment and backed the whites down to 40% and raised blue to 65%. My blues lightened a little. I believe I will leave the blues at 65% but raise the whites back to 45%.
My conclusion is this: If I want saturated, healthy, blue corals but with a little more blue "look" to the tank; Do Not achieve the look by backing down the whites. Add more blue to the whites to get the look I want.
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
The coral in my tank seem extra sensitive to any changes in lighting for some reason. I have noticed negative reactions in the past just by increasing overall intensity by as little as 3%. I am curious to see how your tank reacts....I am running 18k per Radion settings, which means, based on yours (and kevlow's) observations, I am probably sitting at least at 20k. I will probably do something along the same line that you are with the reduction of blues and slowly increasing the whites.
odd. Are you running low nutrients and high alk?
@saltyfilmfolks, I have been experimenting with white and colored leds for a while and I can assure you that you will surprise to see shades of colors appearing on corals, especially SPS.
Waters
"...in perfect isolation, here behind my wall."
I was in the past....in the last 6 months I switched to a lower alk salt and have bumped up my nutrients. I know that was a major issue back then.....maybe I am just being gun shy now. Previously I would walk by my tank too quickly and something would start to bleach lol.
kevlow
Active Member
Since reading this thread Thurs afternoon, I made two changes to my tank. First I raised my whites by 5%. Secondly I began vitamin dosing. All colors are looking better which I attribute to the vitamin dosing. But the blues are the most dramatically affected. This I attribute to the raise in white lighting.
I am glad you started this thread. It prompted me to make this small change. Seeing positive results in this hobby is very gratifying.
I am glad you started this thread. It prompted me to make this small change. Seeing positive results in this hobby is very gratifying.
You will be surprised what a white and other color spectrum will do to coral coloration, especially on SPS. I have been playing around with colored led and delighted to see shades of colors appearing on most acros.
Dawsokj1988
Active Member
I've seen tanks that run 100% all blues for 8 hours a day and just add a little white/green/red near the end of the day for viewing pleasure. The coloration of the blue corals seemed to stay blue. Maybe trace elements or par related?
Dawsokj1988
Active Member
I'm referring to Dmitry Tumanov's Practical Reef set-up by the way. He discusses his spectrums in his videos on Youtube. He actually found that running 100% blues produced the best coloration for his corals. It's a shame what happened to his tank (a move took longer than expected).
I def believe you.
Once I understood what frequency was most effecting what cartenoid pigmentation I suspected an overdose)in my case(greening), and that increases and decreases would effect pigment production.
Mee too!
What light? Ther's some running kessil, but the blue is in fact not all blue
Gotta Link?
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