Why the shift to a "purpler" spectrum?

[thamnasteroid]

I'm noticing from my (relatively few) years in the hobby that reef lighting manufacturers are trending towards not only bluer, but purpler lighting. Many recently released light fixturess seem to not just have more purple/UV LEDs, but also less larger-wavelength blue/cyan LEDs.

Take the new Hydra Edge (44) for example, which has 16 violet and UV LEDS compared to the 4 violet/UV LEDs in the previous generation Hydra, which is a 300% increase. Note also that AquaIllumination removed the green LEDs from the current generation.

Another example is the Radion G6 blue, which ditched all the cyan LEDs from its predecesor and had an increase in purple/UV LEDs of 83% (12 to 22).

Also look at the Hydros XHOs, whose highest-wavelength blue peak is at 450 nm.

Now, many people have pointed out the hobby's shift towards bluer lighting, with others pointing out that corals mainly absorb light in the blue spectrum. However, this is different, as a lot of that absorption spectrum is also in the 475-525 nm range.

Why are LED manufacturers doing this? Purple light does not make corals fluoresce any better than blue, and I personally don't enjoy purplish lighting.

 

[Miami Reef]

Not sure, but I dislike my T5 lighting because it had way too much green and cyan which washed out the colors and caused a green cast. I’m excited to move to LED now.

Most of the peaks from the absorption graph are in the blue range. Peridnin can absorb in the bluer range, too.

There really isn’t a biological need for the accessory colors IMO. They are mainly there to balance the blues and make the tank visually appealing. Some corals have chromoproteins which absorb and reflect at lower wavelengths.

I’m a fan of 660nm red. Not too much, but some can help corals.

 

[oreo54]

I'm noticing from my (relatively few) years in the hobby that reef lighting manufacturers are trending towards not only bluer, but purpler lighting. Many recently released light fixturess seem to not just have more purple/UV LEDs, but also less larger-wavelength blue/cyan LEDs.

Take the new Hydra Edge (44) for example, which has 16 violet and UV LEDS compared to the 4 violet/UV LEDs in the previous generation Hydra, which is a 300% increase. Note also that AquaIllumination removed the green LEDs from the current generation.

Another example is the Radion G6 blue, which ditched all the cyan LEDs from its predecesor and had an increase in purple/UV LEDs of 83% (12 to 22).

Also look at the Hydros XHOs, whose highest-wavelength blue peak is at 450 nm.

Now, many people have pointed out the hobby's shift towards bluer lighting, with others pointing out that corals mainly absorb light in the blue spectrum. However, this is different, as a lot of that absorption spectrum is also in the 475-525 nm range.

Why are LED manufacturers doing this? Purple light does not make corals fluoresce any better than blue, and I personally don't enjoy purplish lighting.

The marketing of the "broad blue" spectrum.
After "regular blue" and royal blue you have nowhere to go but into the violets.
Then there is the "UV thing" including 400/395 which are heavily into the violet range as well.

The make what sells and this is the "flavor of the day" so to speak.
There are outliers like AI Blade grows which go back to the old school Blue/rb/cool white
but add a "glow" bar to add your burple if you so desire..

Cyans always been a hard sell along with green though most mercury based lamps have a good deal of green.
A lot of t5 tubes also contain a good amount of cyan.

Absorption data corrected for solvent.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

This was one of the reasons I didn’t go with one of the budget LEDs like Noopsyche or Hypereef. I’m sure they are great bang for the buck but everytime I saw a pic of tanks running them, it was very purple. I’m with you OP, I dislike the purple.

 

[Miami Reef]

I also don’t like purple very much.

I have actinic T5 bulbs from 400-420 nm, and at best, only gives cyan fluorescence. Most of the corals don’t react to it.

I don’t see that spectrum any better for chlorophyll A over 430-440 nm lights.

The graphs don’t lie.

 

[VintageReefer]

I’m loving the Meridian + 14k edge bars. Wow. It’s like halides again, but with tons of fluorescence and pop like I’m used to from leds

 

[thamnasteroid]

The marketing of the "broad blue" spectrum.
After "regular blue" and royal blue you have nowhere to go but into the violets.
Then there is the "UV thing" including 400/395 which are heavily into the violet range as well.

The make what sells and this is the "flavor of the day" so to speak.
There are outliers like AI Blade grows which go back to the old school Blue/rb/cool white
but add a "glow" bar to add your burple if you so desire..

Cyans always been a hard sell along with green though most mercury based lamps have a good deal of green.
A lot of t5 tubes also contain a good amount of cyan.

Absorption data corrected for solvent.

Isn't cyan blue too? And looking at the graph, there does seem to still be high absorbance around 500, where cyan would be.

 

[oreo54]

Isn't cyan blue too? And looking at the graph, there does seem to still be high absorbance around 500, where cyan would be.

It's visually more green than blue at least in LEDs

 

[thamnasteroid]

It's visually more green than blue at least in LEDs

IDK; to me cyan just looks like light blue

 

[VintageReefer]

IDK; to me cyan just looks like light blue

I would agree and say it looks like a cool blue or light blue

 

[oreo54]

IDK; to me cyan just looks like light blue

Yea, somewhat depends on the nm..
Anyways I forget that most of the time I "see" it through a planted tank w/ a lot of green leaves.

Anyways middle one is just cyan leds.
bluegreen ,greenblue, light blue.. all good.

In RGB color space, cyan is represented as (0, 255, 255), which means 0 red, 255 green, and 255 blue.

For fun and only mildly related.. things that didn't survive the test of time..

Vital Wave Violet and Cyan are worthy color-boosting LED spotlights | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

The Vital Wave LED spotlights from EcoLamps include three different colors, two of which really hit the sweet spot for highlighting the colors of aquarium corals. Manufacturers of LED spotlights have…

reefbuilders.com