Corals under Blue Light only?

[mrg02d]

Hello all,
I was wondering the effect might be of giving corals only blue light, or mostly blue light?

Will they grow at all?

I was inspired to ponder this after looking at how pretty my corals look under my royal blue leds when the whites turn off.

Assuming these leds have more PAR than ever needed, will stuff still grow? Is PAR the only thing to consider when planning for corals? I could adjust the whites for 15% and the blues for 70% if that would be better.

My guess is that they would slowly begin to suffer from such a limited spectrum. Would they color up better?

Anyone have experience with this?I notice my LFS has all their ultra colored stuff under blue light only when I look. (Acans, chalice, rare zoanthids, ect).

Matt

 

[melosu58]

They would still grow but it`s not too pleasing to the eyes. I would try 50/50 bulbs that still have plenty of actinic lighting.

 

[thincat]

actinic light (blue) is associated with deep water, so if you have deep water corals they would do best. I think that if you have shallow water corals they my suffer and loose their color. corals have stunning colors as a protection to UV lights. In shallow water they need more protection and thus color up more. I hope this helps. In your case I would just play with the % of blue and white and log everything so that others can learn.

 

[mrg02d]

actinic light (blue) is associated with deep water, so if you have deep water corals they would do best. I think that if you have shallow water corals they my suffer and loose their color. corals have stunning colors as a protection to UV lights. In shallow water they need more protection and thus color up more. I hope this helps. In your case I would just play with the % of blue and white and log everything so that others can learn.

I do have some acans, so maybe they will like the blue light. Im not sure where chalice corals are found, but I imagine from deeper water as well considering their browning under bright white light. All the zoanthids LOVE the lights on high except for the nuclear green palythoas. (They are browning).

Matt

 

[thincat]

This New LED lights offer us a challenge and I have heard of long term browning of some corals under LED lights and I believe it is due to placement of the corals in relations to the light.

 

[mrg02d]

This New LED lights offer us a challenge and I have heard of long term browning of some corals under LED lights and I believe it is due to placement of the corals in relations to the light.

Yea, these lights are very bright even when dimmed! I made it worse by using so many over a 12in cube tank. I just wanted to use meanwell drivers and they require at least 6 leds in series. So I used 12 total leds thinking that dimming down would work. Even dimmed low (can go down to 15%) seems to be too bright. I will have to lift the light and use some eggcrate to relieve the corals. I was hoping the blue leds would have much less PAR and could get away with just running them for the majority of the time, but now it seems they also have extremely high PAR.

I will need to create more shady areas in the tank. Oh well, too much light is better than too little light.
Matt

 

[thincat]

You are so correct. Remember that eggcrates have a beveled edge to them. One side shoots the light straight down and the other side flairs it out.

 

[Jimbo7]

We are having very different experiences. I have the higher bin LEDs then you, and I'm running them around 50% with almost no issues. The only browning i'm getting is from my GARF Bonsai. Even my acans are enjoying being pummeled it seems.

 

[mrg02d]

We are having very different experiences. I have the higher bin LEDs then you, and I'm running them around 50% with almost no issues. The only browning i'm getting is from my GARF Bonsai. Even my acans are enjoying being pummeled it seems.

Yes we are having different experiences! Ive been trying for nearly two weeks to get my green birdsnest to respond well to the leds. Its now nearly completely bleached and going back to the 20g with t5 lighting. Im shocked at what its done and am scared it may be something other than lights.

My mystery purple acropora responded NICELY to the leds within minutes! It had a drab brownish purple color in the 20g t5 tank and now has a light blue "haze" about it. From what I understand, acroporas turn brown very VERY soon if they dont like the light.

All my zoanthids are doing good. Palythoas dont seem to like the lighting. Nuclear green palys (my favorite) are browning bad. Others are even opening. Its bizarre! I raised the lights up some and added egg crate to help block light. I then added this polypropylene material that is small holes drilled in it to further block the light.

I have the whites dimmed as low as they can go. I guess I will have to dim down the blues now to 30% or so. (50-60% right now for color reasons).

Matt