Flake
Aquarium Advice Addict
The white AIs are pretty unpopular since they're TOO white, they make the tank look dirty. With the controller on the AI you can turn them down to nearly nothing but enough to give the tank a good color.
not if supplemented with blues.PAR vs PUR has not been an issue with MH due to the fact they offer such a broad spectrum.
In LED it is important to know exactly what spectrum is being given out. It is also important to know what is being left out. Specifically the spectrum that algaes use versus what corals use. We all want to feed our corals and if we can starve our algaes in our DT all the better.
It's important to note that most LED manufacturers do not manufacture anything specifically for the marine industry. We are a secondary market at best. They will sell us what they are making for bigger fish so to speak. If it works great...if not.....
Would you put 6500 k compact flourescents on your DT? Then why would we settle for 6500k LEDs?
Someone said the white only made their tank look dirty... well...a 6500 k bulb would do that.
not if supplemented with blues.
they sell 6500k metal halide lamps.
6500K Metal Halide Bulb - Iwasaki, Mogul Base
folks use them because they have very high PAR, and look fine if supplemented with enough actinic. the same goes for a 6500k LED. the right mix of blue and white and it looks good.
there are many LEDs out there that are full spectrum, and since you wouldn't use a single lamp to light your tank, you can get any color you like with mixing of white, blue, and even red, just like people do with T5 lamps.
Yes Doug, you are absolutely correct. My LEDs go form about 13.8k to 24k depending on the % white vs. blue. I run them at about 18k, though I ramp up for 2 hours and down for 2 hours leaving full lights for 8 hours a day.
i think you are confusing spectrum with color temperature.So you are telling me that by adding blue to a 6500k LED it will look and react the same as a 10k - 20k set of LEDs?
Isn't there a difference between a say....12k led and you Sol unit turned to 12k?
Putting a 6500k CFL and a 9000 CFL in a fixture doesn't give you 7700k light.......
light doesn't mix it overlaps so to speak.....
If you are giving your corals 6500k at 15% and 460nm at 100% the brightness will shift but the fact is that you are still giving 6500k and 460nm....
Is that not correct?
i think you are confusing spectrum with color temperature.
as far as the mixture of color goes, corals will grow and do well in both instances. people just seem to like the bluer lighting due to the way it makes corals appear more colorful.
color temperature is another way of saying kelvin.
Color temperature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
corals will grow under any lights with enough PAR.