LEd color mixing

[Jaggerz]

Wife and are are getting back into reefing after a 5 yr absence. All the new LED fixtures are pretty different from the old days of running 50/50s, actinic, or MH. I knew my 8 bulb t5 would need new bulbs so I opted to spend a few extra bucks and get a new fixture. Trouble is I have no idea what to do with the red and green. For now I have the white and blue at 100% the red and green both at 50%. Tank has a few frags of lps so far. If it matters the light is the current loop which is lighting up my 48x18 90gal pretty well. May add a second fixture later if I think I need it.

[reefer1970]

I run most blue, some white and no red or green. I’ve heard red and green do nothing for corals and may actually hurt them. Corals get most out of blues and whites can nuke them if not dialed down


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[Jaggerz]

Thanks for replying. Not to worried about nuking anything with this dinky light. Never nuked anything with 2 150 watt MH.

[Reefpuck]

I'm considering removing some of the soft whites and red/greens diodes and replacing with purple and/or other blues.

What fixture did you end up getting?

[Jaggerz]

I got the orbit IC loop from Current USA. Probably not the best choice out there but it’s got nice features and it was right in front of me at LFS. So I bought it. Bonus is my lfs matches internet prices so I got it for a decent price.

[oreo57]

Originally Posted by Jaggerz

Wife and are are getting back into reefing after a 5 yr absence. All the new LED fixtures are pretty different from the old days of running 50/50s, actinic, or MH. I knew my 8 bulb t5 would need new bulbs so I opted to spend a few extra bucks and get a new fixture. Trouble is I have no idea what to do with the red and green. For now I have the white and blue at 100% the red and green both at 50%. Tank has a few frags of lps so far. If it matters the light is the current loop which is lighting up my 48x18 90gal pretty well. May add a second fixture later if I think I need it.

Snippet:

"Shown here are a couple of examples of corals that exhibit red fluorescent emission energy when given a green source of excitation energy. The enhanced colors seen on these corals when placed in aquariums, is due in part to the green light they are receiving. Light of about 510nm (green) will cause some proteins to emit light at around 584nm (yellow-orange) and 650nm (red). With this particular protein the red fluorescence can be about 100 times more powerful than the green fluorescence when excited by a standard 480nm blue light source.

Green light has not been shown to produce biological effects in terms of energy usage and growth. In other words the coral may not be getting anything useful from this light and it may not help the coral grow in any way. However, green light does produce a biological effect in terms of color. Using green light is completely for aesthetics at this point."
Special thanks- Charlie Mazel for his ground breaking work and continued support, Glen Mansker for his technical help and services, and Brad Syphus along with the WMAS for allowing us the opportunity to educate other hobbyists.

Blundell, A. (2010), “Going Green With Lights- not total energy usage, but as excitation fluorescent energy”, Reef Builders.

[Jaggerz]

Good read. Thanks,