Led lighting

[Melissajk]

What led light do you recommend for my tank. I have a 24 inch Fluva. I bought in January. I got an anemone on monday and he is starting to bleach out. His green is not so green I want to get the proper lighting for him and corals Dow the road. My tank is 24x24x24. 50 gallon.

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[manbeast]

Full spectrum and inexpensive
http://bit.ly/1dUfb8h

Blue and white with built in timer, I use three of these on my 150,
TaoTronics? TT-AL16 Dimmable Timmer Led Aquarium Light Coral Reef T... http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00COG41H6/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_8VUptb1N7WRTN

For a 24x24 footprint tank one of this type of light should be fine as long as you make sure you get the 120 degree optics

 

[TheTodd]

Or for about half the price, get the eBay dimmable ones that a lot of people use here. Look almost identical. No timer but you can get those at Home Depot for cheap.

I just got the same aquarium (24x24x24 ) yesterday and that is what I plan to use. It's a 60g. The 20" tall cubes are 50g.

 

[manbeast]

Or for about half the price, get the eBay dimmable ones that a lot of people use here. Look almost identical. No timer but you can get those at Home Depot for cheap.

I just got the same aquarium (24x24x24 ) yesterday and that is what I plan to use. It's a 60g. The 20" tall cubes are 50g.

I looked for the blue and whites on eBay because they're cheaper but it looks like all the sellers seem to be trending toward the full spectrum's, the one I linked was from the seller supermart165 who seems to be one of the preferred sellers with the buyers on AA

 

[TheTodd]

That link did not work from my phone, but that is who I bought mine from over the holidays. No issues at all with them. I just looked and it does seem like the blue/ whites are tough to find now. I prefer the look over the fulls.

 

[manbeast]

Never seen the fulls in person I know it's a personal preference thing I was just putting out some suggestions, there is a thread on here somewhere with pics of tanks with full spectrum lights

 

[mr_X]

I looked for the blue and whites on eBay because they're cheaper but it looks like all the sellers seem to be trending toward the full spectrum's, the one I linked was from the seller supermart165 who seems to be one of the preferred sellers with the buyers on AA

Thats only because everyone's telling everyone that you need the multiple colors or your corals will not grow. I think this is perhaps the only forum that knows better.

 

[Autumnsky]

Thats only because everyone's telling everyone that you need the multiple colors or your corals will not grow. I think this is perhaps the only forum that knows better.

SW noob here, following along. So are they useful with colors or who knows for sure??? Tried and true... blue and White? If they have colors too, does it reduce the output of needed colors for the corals?

In outdoors there is sunlight with a broad spectrum of colors, but after the light gets down through the SW depths, is all that is left Blue since it is most penetrating?

Now with other color options increasing due to LED's in a rainbow of color options, could more range of color be beneficial to coral growth. Let me say I am not the scientist here, just a planted tank lover and gardener who (doesn't focus on the scientific data beyond trying to do the best for my plants and fish) likes plants, and it seems corals although they aren't plants use light similarly, mainly in regards to the light spectrum to obtain health and growth.

Since I don't really know anything about it, is the trend now towards more color, instead of only blue and white?

I didn't even know anything about this lighting stuff until about a year+ ago, and now that I am looking at SW, WOW is there ever more to learn!!!

 

[manbeast]

Blue promotes the photosynthesis in corals everything else is mostly for the benefit of our personal tastes

 

[mr_X]

Both the straight blue and white, and the multicolored units grow and color up corals just fine. No, corals don't even use the reds and greens. They are completely unnecessary.
Corals are photosynthetic like plants, but use an entirely different part of the spectrum.

Let me try to explain what I saw happen in the last few years:

LEDs were introduced, then after experimenting with different wattage the strong fixtures appeared. Folks immediately went out and bought them and put away their metal halides and T5's and cranked up these LED fixtures and they had all sorts of trouble. Bleaching, melting away, you name it.

Many folks went back to their old lighting, but some of them (myself included) hung on to the LEDs and kept experimenting. Just around the time we figured out really how potent these fixtures were (it's quite common to see fixtures that are dimmable now, and rare to see them not adjustable. This wasn't always the case) They came out with the multicolored units. I believe this was a sales tactic more than anything. LED fixture sales slowed, and they needed something to breathe new life into them.
Without a shred of research, people hopped on forums and started telling folks that you NEED the reds and greens, and even adopted a nick name for the violet colored LED- the "UV".
Like I said, at this point we were figuring out how strong they were and now the folks buying the multicolored units started having a little more success.
Meanwhile, all the while I and many others were growing coral under the blues and whites.

Now as you see, the multicolored units are more expensive. I don't see why...they take about the same money to build. You also see them more common than the blue and white models----because that's what the consumer thinks he wants.
I use the straight blue and white units today. I know folks who like the extra colors better. It's simply for aesthetics.

 

[Autumnsky]

Both the straight blue and white, and the multicolored units grow and color up corals just fine. No, corals don't even use the reds and greens. They are completely unnecessary.
Corals are photosynthetic like plants, but use an entirely different part of the spectrum.

Let me try to explain what I saw happen in the last few years:

LEDs were introduced, then after experimenting with different wattage the strong fixtures appeared. Folks immediately went out and bought them and put away their metal halides and T5's and cranked up these LED fixtures and they had all sorts of trouble. Bleaching, melting away, you name it.

Many folks went back to their old lighting, but some of them (myself included) hung on to the LEDs and kept experimenting. Just around the time we figured out really how potent these fixtures were (it's quite common to see fixtures that are dimmable now, and rare to see them not adjustable. This wasn't always the case) They came out with the multicolored units. I believe this was a sales tactic more than anything. LED fixture sales slowed, and they needed something to breathe new life into them.
Without a shred of research, people hopped on forums and started telling folks that you NEED the reds and greens, and even adopted a nick name for the violet colored LED- the "UV".
Like I said, at this point we were figuring out how strong they were and now the folks buying the multicolored units started having a little more success.
Meanwhile, all the while I and many others were growing coral under the blues and whites.

Now as you see, the multicolored units are more expensive. I don't see why...they take about the same money to build. You also see them more common than the blue and white models----because that's what the consumer thinks he wants.
I use the straight blue and white units today. I know folks who like the extra colors better. It's simply for aesthetics.

Of what you said probably the dimmable feature would have been the key to getting the light right. I just got finished reading an article from the reefworks UK about getting the most color from your corals and although much more complicated than I usually prefer to read, it was so very interesting about the behavior of the zooxanthellae with the light spectrum.

Thank you for helping me, hopefully the op was helped too. No reason to buy stuff you don't need. I will be looking for a dimmable feature for sure if I get a new light in the future.