Is my Light suitable? White Or Blue light?

[CPdude]

Hi everyone, I am a noob here. I've been researching on coral lighting but I am really confused. I am planning on using my 32 watts LED metal strip light (white) shown in the picture (its brighter out of the photo.) But the thing is, I am not sure if it is enough for corals I want, mushrooms and LPS corals like brains, duncans and elegance. Also about the colour, I have no blue light, I have a clip on lamp with white and blue light that I use for my FW tank but it is only 3.2 watts. So is my light alright? Any help is appreciated! Thanks! (Going to start setting up my SW tank this weekend!)

[Ron Reefman]

Your choices for lighting are woefully inadequate. Sorry.

Coral uses mostly blue spectrum to do photosynthesis and this looks like it may have been some kind of grow light (plants like red spectrum and white leds can do plants OK but still not as good as you'd like). And yes your white leds have some blue in the white, but not nearly enough by at least 10 times. Also a 32 watt led won't penetrate light very deep into water. Oh it will look like it's got light, but it's not even close to enough unless the tank is only 12" deep, then it's close to strong enough but still seriously the wrong spectrum.

When the very first leds for aquariums were introduced about 6 or 7 years ago they were all white. They quickly became 50:50 blue and white and soon after that dimmers were added. Even the cheapest fixtures today use 1 or 2 shades of white, 1 or 2 shades of blue, some red and some green, and maybe some violet (which many erroneously call UV).

You say you've been researching aquarium lighting for corals. Every single thing I've ever read says you use leds you need blue leds in at least a 1:1 ratio, 2:1 blue to white is even better.

You didn't say how big your new tank is, but I think you need to look at new light fixtures that are made for coral. MarsAqua is as inexpensive as aquarium leds get at roughly $100 to cover a 2'x2' area. If your tank is bigger than that, you'll need a bigger fixture or multiple fixtures.

[CPdude]

Well thats disappointing but I understand. My tank size (in cm) is 65 cm for length, 40 for height, 37 for the width. Hopefully my marine aquarium stores have some affordable strong blue light about 40 watts or so. :/

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[mcgyvr]

IMO you want a minimum of ~60W light for LEDs for a tank that size..

A marsaqua/viparspectra,etc.. or similar (Chinese black box LED) as suggested by Ron (but not turned up more than 35-40% or so max) will be a good choice and can be had for ~$100 on Amazon,etc... Mount it maybe 8-10 inches (20-25cm) over the water level and see how it goes..

[kissman]

I don't think 40w or 60w is enough for Coral. I have a 55g and have a fixture with 102 3 watt LEDS so 306 watts. If you want to get Coral and want a cheap fixture but a good fixture look into Reefbreeders.com and find a light to fit your tank


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[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by kissman

I don't think 40w or 60w is enough for Coral. I have a 55g and have a fixture with 102 3 watt LEDS so 306 watts. If you want to get Coral and want a cheap fixture but a good fixture look into Reefbreeders.com and find a light to fit your tank

306W of LED is more than you need for that 55G tank.. (I doubt you have it at 100% either)
Plus your tank is almost twice the size of theirs..

I had no problems growing all sorts of corals in a 120G (6ft long) tank with only 240W of LED (and my channels were at maybe 60%)

[kissman]

I have it at 80 20


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[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by kissman

I have it at 80 20

So you are maybe using 150W of your 300W fixture for a tank twice the size...

So no less than 60W is perfect IMO...

[Ron Reefman]

You might gain some infor here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...&postcount=233

[CPdude]

Oh I see,Thanks guys! So an all blue light can be enough?

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[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by CPdude

Oh I see,Thanks guys! So an all blue light can be enough?

I think corals will survive in an all blue light environment, but I'm not so sure they would thrive. And although an all blue tank with corals that fluoresce (not all corals do) can be very cool to look at, but I'd get bored with the look. I want my tank to look more like a real reef most of the time and that requires some mix of blue and white light.

Most aquarium led fixtures have close to a 50:50 mix of white and blue. And then most reefers, but not all, set them with the blue channel at twice the power of the white channel. It doesn't take much white light to really over come the blue and create a cool bluish white light.

[CPdude]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

I think corals will survive in an all blue light environment, but I'm not so sure they would thrive. And although an all blue tank with corals that fluoresce (not all corals do) can be very cool to look at, but I'd get bored with the look. I want my tank to look more like a real reef most of the time and that requires some mix of blue and white light.

Most aquarium led fixtures have close to a 50:50 mix of white and blue. And then most reefers, but not all, set them with the blue channel at twice the power of the white channel. It doesn't take much white light to really over come the blue and create a cool bluish white light.

I know this is a very dumb question. I have my clip on 3.2 watt LED light with both blue and white. I tried it on the tank and yes it lit up the entire tank but I know it probably won't penetrate the water to ge to the corals. Will this work for low light corals?

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[Ron Reefman]

NO!!!

What looks bright or intense to your eyes doesn't mean anything to the coral that has no eyes. It's all about PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) and that light might work for 1 coral in a 5g tank.

[ScroogeJones]

Hey man
When you're talking about lighting a reef tank with LED's it can become very confusing very quickly. LED's have come a long way from where they started in terms of coral growth and some new ones (Kessil AP700, Radion G4) claim to be just as good if not better than Metal Halides. But because the technology is so new some of the better advice given would be if you didn't spend more then $200 to cover a 2'x2' area then it'd probably not strong enough to grow the higher light demanding LPS Corals.
All that being said, mushrooms and lots of LPS Corsls don't need a ton of light but the quality of light is still important. It's never as simple as talking about white or blue lighte it's about the Kelvin ratikg comparison they put out.
For instance Kessil (as far as I understand) put out anywhere from 10K-20K spectrum and every range in between. And it's important for coral to get light between that spectrum range.
Another thing to look out for is "actinic" which most people might confuse with 20K. It's definitely not the same thing and Actinic really won't do much for growth. But it will make certain coral look insanely pretty. Hopefully I didn't confuse you! I've read a lot about LED's for coral growth and I'm still confused.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by ScroogeJones

Hey man
LED's have come a long way from where they started in terms of coral growth and some new ones (Kessil AP700, Radion G4) claim to be just as good if not better than Metal Halides. But because the technology is so new some of the better advice given would be if you didn't spend more then $200 to cover a 2'x2' area then it'd probably not strong enough to grow the higher light demanding LPS Corals.
All that being said, mushrooms and lots of LPS Corsls don't need a ton of light but the quality of light is still important. It's never as simple as talking about white or blue lighte it's about the Kelvin ratikg comparison they put out.
For instance Kessil (as far as I understand) put out anywhere from 10K-20K spectrum and every range in between. And it's important for coral to get light between that spectrum range.
Another thing to look out for is "actinic" which most people might confuse with 20K. It's definitely not the same thing and Actinic really won't do much for growth. But it will make certain coral look insanely pretty. Hopefully I didn't confuse you! I've read a lot about LED's for coral growth and I'm still confused.

To say you are confused is putting it mildly.

1) There are a dozen led brands that sell fixtures starting from under $100 to $200 that will grow coral just as well as a $400 Kessil or an $800 EcoTech Radion. The light is the same, the fixtures options the owner gets to play with are different.

2) The Kelvin color temp is not the same as spectrum. 390nm UV, 410nm violet, 440nm blue, 670nm red, those are spectrum. Kelvin color temp is the difference between 6500K warm reddish white and 20,000K cool blue white. It's a mix of colors. People talk about MH in Kelvin because they are various shades of white. Colored leds carry very specific spectrum. White leds are done in Kelvin.

3) It is all about the blue and the white. Very few led fixtures talk about their Kelvin color temperature. Your corals will grow much better with lots of blue leds and 1/2 to 1/3 as many white leds. The zooxanthellae (algae) that lives inside your coral polyps does photosynthesis using mostly blue spectrum and some red. White is a mix of red, green and blue spectrum so white leds can help with the photosynthesis and they make the tank look like a real reef to the human eye. But it is far less important than 400nm violet to 480nm blue.

4) I don't know your definition of 'actinic' and I've never used anything but white t5's. So I don't claim any expertise. But there is no actinic in leds.

[ScroogeJones]

Let me say this before I respond about LED spectrums and temperature. The important thing is knowing what you'd like to grow. So mushrooms don't need much of any lighting haha. So you're probably good. And for LPS they might live. But if you're looking for growth and a thriving reef I'd look at investing in a quality reef light. Kessil, AI, Radion, even a Current USA Marine Pro is a decent light for a budget and can keep most any LPS alive and growing. Hope that helps answer your question.
I'm sorry. I'm not trying to start an argument about kelvin rating and spectrum. But unfortunately you're information is out dated. And I'm trying to make it as simple as possible to answer the original question without going into too much detail.
Corals need all ranges of spectrum. In terms of color white was known to be better for coral growth and that's till still true. But corals also need a mix of all colors.
The only problem with talking only color when talking about LED's is that not all blue LED's are the same and not all white LED's are the same. A good reef growing light uses a mix of all colors between 10,000K and 20,000. The closer you get to 20,000 the bluer it gets. It's also important to pay attention to the quality of light. How it cools itself. How it spreads the light. And any reputable coral light will give information on its temperature output.
Unfortunately LED lights that will grow corals like a Metal Halide or Good T5 fixture will just be more expensive.

[CPdude]

Ooo alright. Today I am going to check out a marine store to get some equipment like wavemaker because I did not get that yet. For now, I will just use that hang on light because I have no coral yet. But 1 coral I am really interested in recently, is a Pseudocorynactis, which i think is a NPS.

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[ScroogeJones]

Yeah when it comes to non photosynthetic corals it's pretty much irrelevant abut the light. I assume you've done your research on the Pseudocorynactis. I've heard some crazy things about those being highly predatory. But also very pretty!

[CPdude]

Hi, I just went to a fish farm which also sells corals and marine fish. They were using bright white light for corals such as zoanthids, leather corals, star polyps, sea fans and even anemones! And they were so well coloured and fully extended. I asked the staff there and yes they also said that white light can be used but its preferably white and blue. I saw their other tanks and most of it had white and blue lights. So I am not sure what this means, I am sticking with white and blue light, but does that mean white light is suitable? Like even some of my trusted LFS use white light for some coral tanks. Thanks!

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