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Unread 04/17/2018, 09:18 AM   #1
RioReefr
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Do green-colored corals need green light?

I had originally set my AI LED lights with minimal "green" light...no more than 5% because I had read the green wavelength is just used by algae.
However after doing more reading, I have now upped the greens to 15% (peaking at 20%) and I swear I see more coloration in the green corals....green-star polyps, green hammer, green mushrooms, kryptonite trumpet, etc. all look noticeably better.


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Unread 04/17/2018, 09:22 AM   #2
Tripod1404
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Do green-colored corals need green light?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RioReefr View Post
I had originally set my AI LED lights with minimal "green" light...no more than 5% because I had read the green wavelength is just used by algae.

However after doing more reading, I have now upped the greens to 15% (peaking at 20%) and I swear I see more coloration in the green corals....green-star polyps, green hammer, green mushrooms, kryptonite trumpet, etc. all look noticeably better.


No. They are green because they reflect green. If they used green it would be absorbed and they would not be green. Photosynthesis do not use green light at any significant level, that is why plants appear green as well. It just gets reflected while other wavelengths are being absorbed.

When you increase green, they reflect it more that’s why they appear more green to you. Also human eye is very sensitive to green, so even small changes are noticeable.


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Unread 04/17/2018, 09:22 AM   #3
neilp2006
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Do green-colored corals need green light?

Something is a particular color because it reflects that wavelength and absorbs the other wavelengths.

So- if you throw more of that color at it, it’ll reflect more of it and look brighter. If that wavelength is missing from your ‘input’ lights, there’s nothing there to reflect, and they’ll look subdued and pale.

Algae don’t use green light- it’s all reflected. If they did, they’d be a different colour. For example- red algae photosynthesis’s with the green spectrum and reflect the red. That’s why they look red.

If something is a particular color- they don’t need it. They aren’t using it, and it’s all being reflected.


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Unread 04/17/2018, 09:37 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RioReefr View Post
However after doing more reading, I have now upped the greens to 15% (peaking at 20%) and I swear I see more coloration in the green corals....green-star polyps, green hammer, green mushrooms, kryptonite trumpet, etc. all look noticeably better.
Thats one reason why some "better" LED fixtures use a "lime" LED now too..
Its really about color rendition and increasing the CRI..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_CRI_LED_lighting

And quite frankly its also just your personal preference... You like what may seem like a more natural look to your tank as its not just all one "bluish" tank..
One can argue that in the ocean depths most colors but blue are so reduced that anything but blue is "natural"..

But yes.. before people had red leds in their fixtures we were complaining that red fish looked washed out.. Now chuck in a red LED and the red pops again..

As stated objects are the color they are because they are reflecting that spectrum..


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Unread 04/17/2018, 09:41 AM   #5
RioReefr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tripod1404 View Post
No. They are green because they reflect green. .....Also human eye is very sensitive to green, so even small changes are noticeable.
Ok, that makes sense to me! I actually did not know about the human eye being sensitive to green.

So, really it is the "red" wavelength being used by algae and that is the one that needs to be kept low?


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Unread 04/17/2018, 09:47 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RioReefr View Post
Ok, that makes sense to me! I actually did not know about the human eye being sensitive to green.

So, really it is the "red" wavelength being used by algae and that is the one that needs to be kept low?
In general...
Red is useful to algaes that aren't red..
Green is useful to algaes that aren't green..
Purple is useful to algaes that aren't purple..

etc...
Not all algae is green..


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Unread 04/17/2018, 09:59 AM   #7
RioReefr
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Not all algae is green..
Ok, in my case I just have mostly green algae. Long time ago, I did have red cyano that quickly went away.

I have some smaller rocks with pink-ish/purple-ish coralline algae, do you know what wavelength it would prefer for growth? Does it use "green"?


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Unread 04/17/2018, 10:08 AM   #8
Tripod1404
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgyvr View Post
In general...
Red is useful to algaes that aren't red..
Green is useful to algaes that aren't green..
Purple is useful to algaes that aren't purple..

etc...
Not all algae is green..
But zooxanthellae are brown algae that have ChlA and ChlC plus some other accessory pigments that are involved in energy dissipation.

Also red and purple algae also have either ChlA, ChlB and/or ChlC. These all have absorption spectrum within UV-Blue and Red-FR. Colors like red and purple are coming from accessory pigments.


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Unread 04/17/2018, 10:11 AM   #9
mcgyvr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RioReefr View Post
Ok, in my case I just have mostly green algae. Long time ago, I did have red cyano that quickly went away.

I have some smaller rocks with pink-ish/purple-ish coralline algae, do you know what wavelength it would prefer for growth? Does it use "green"?
In general anything relying on photosynthesis can utilize light across the entire 400-700nm range to some extent or the other..
There isn't much factual information on what coralline needs specifically..
Whats "optimal" to coralline is highly debatable..
same really goes for corals too for the most part.. If it didn't then companies would have 1 setting tailored specifically for exactly what a coral needs and leave it at that.. But they seem to do well in a variety of spectral ranges..
and yes there is some decent studies based on ChlA/ChlC,etc... as stated above.. but still no 100% right way to eat a reeses
And there is more to proper reef health than just light alone..

and cyano is a bacteria not an algae BTW..


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