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Unread 02/12/2012, 11:23 AM   #119
nineball
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Oakville Ontario Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dave.m View Post
Something I am curious about with the new lighting regime: I know that Peter was fascinated with the glowing fluorescent colours he got from his corals in the early morning and late evening hours with the previous lights. Do you still get these colours with the new LEDs?

I remember Peter had despaired of ever being able to capture the fluorescence on camera. Did you ever work that out or is it still the holy grail of photographing the tank?

Thx,

Dave.M
Actually I get even better results than before. As great as Mr. Wilson's photography is and its the best yet, I still can't describe just how fantastic the morning and evening settings are. There is a favourite time for me that I really enjoy now and that is around 8:50 pm my time. The best summary I can make is that it is like turning up the contrast on the tank. Its dark outside so I can eliminate all ambient light. The tank lighting at that time consists of the two outside tracks only having the royal blue lights on (4 in each unit) for a total of 16 units covering the 24 linear feet. Add to that 9 more units running down the centre of the canopy with 10% for 30 whites, four reds, 4 UV, 4 royal blues and 18 standard blues and you get a phenomenal result of normal coloration for the corals under subdued white light with a dramatic increase in reef florescent colours that we all hope for. Although subtle, the red LED's do have a measurable additional aesthetic impact that is very pleasing for those of us with a critical eye. The UV's are in the visible range but extremely subtle. We experimented with all the lights off with just the UV's and only certain corals became visible with colours that we had never seen either under the white or the blue lights. What we don't know yet is whether the UV and or red LED's actually cause a pigmentation change in the corals that is observable under white light but we are determined to follow this closely.
Sorry to be so long winded but the answer to your opening question as to the florescence is that I believe it is actually increased in the sense that we can observe it better. This is due in part to the fact that the dimming of the white lights actually causes the white lights to be even bluer due to the fact that the lights are a 2 watt rather than a 3 watt LED which means they are not being overdriven giving us a bluer light when dimmed.

The true colours the eye sees under these conditions will continue to be in my opinion the holy grail for photographers. I am working at the moment with a videographer who is determined to try and crack the code with a video of the tank comparing all the various states the lights go through in a 24 hour period. Hopefully we will be able to share the results when its completed. Before that can be done we have to swap out the one remaining MH/T5 aqua medic unit. and we will be running the entire display tank canopy with LED's exclusively. The section over the Bonsai reef near the fish room has been running on LED's for at least 9 months with absolutely no compromise in coral health, growth and colour. I have reached the point in this build where I can honestly say, based on practical experience and research that LED's are a 'Best Practice' for marine reef display tanks of up to 30"s deep. The results I am getting with this brand of LED have encouraged me to consider putting SPS corals on the ground as our experience so far has suggested we can do without compromising the health, the growth rate and the colouration of the corals.


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