Coral Colors with 10K
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: SPS
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions SPS corals.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=10519
Printed Date: August 31 2025 at 11:00pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Coral Colors with 10K
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Subject: Coral Colors with 10K
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 1:50pm
|
Why do you think these corals are so colorful with only 10K lighting? http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=586367 - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&thre adid=586367 Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Replies:
Posted By: tileman
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 1:59pm
Vodka....... ------------- 335G Reef TOTM. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month & |
Posted By: dnellans
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 2:22pm
sadly that doesn't look anything like a reel reef of any kind to me  that is like calling a veggie burger a hamburger, everyone knows the difference... anywho, the colors are great but i don't think that tank is even attractive.its certainly not the kind of tank i'm hoping to have with my new 180... (not to say mine will be any more "real" reef like) |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 2:24pm
|
I can't get into reefcentral from work, but personally I think the spectrum of the bulbs you have is only one of many factors influencing coral coloration. If the colony was collected from shallow water, I would think it would retain it's natural coloration with 10K (or even 6500K Iwasakis) and will darken up under 14/20K bulbs. Likewise with corals collected from deeper water. They'll lighten up under more intense 10/6.5K lighting. Also I think one of the biggest influences on coral coloration is water quality. Doesn't matter what lighting you have if you water quality is poor. There's a huge, somewhat argumentative, thread on RC which Eric Borneman participated in regarding lighting. Eric posted pictures of one of his tanks lit by Iwasaki 6500 K bulbs (I don't even think there was any actinic supplementation). His tank was stunning! He was of the opinion that intensity was more important then spectrum and water quality was paramount. ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: dnellans
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 2:25pm
| ha, didn't even read the RC thread before i posted... where other people make the same complaint as me! |
Posted By: ryanj
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 2:54pm
|
dnellans, When I saw it I kind of thought of the same thing you said before reading what you had posted, but it is cool. but my curosity lies in what are you planning to do with your new 180? and why do you think that tank doesn't look like a "real reef." I know the reasons why I don't think it does, but I curious to see if our opinions match. I seem to think many of us just throw corals into our tanks because we like how they look, i.e. color, shape, but I'm interested as to how you will try to make yours different than the majority of tanks out there. Most tanks have big mixes of corals, sps on top/ lps in the middle/ softies on the bottom/ clams on the bottom, (which is like that guys tank) which I must agree is nothing like a real reef. I have some ideas of how to move away from this trend, but enlighten me. What are some of your's and other's suggestions to move away from this thinking of a mixed reef? Ryan oh and i agree, not that I'm an expert, with jfinch that water clarity is at least one reason why the colors are so good. I have been reading a bunch on this topic lately and everyone, borneman, calfo, say the same things about having really really good water quality. I just wish I had good water quality. |
Posted By: ssilcox
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 3:26pm
| I would hazard to say that tanks under more intense 6500-10k lighting tend to bring out the "true" colors of SPS... whereas tanks under less intense lighting with more blue spectrum (14-20k) are artificially colored due to the natural fluorescence of the coral. |
Posted By: ssilcox
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 3:26pm
Oh - and what coral in that link? I couldnt get past the sweet clams in the sand bed... 
|
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 4:11pm
|
Dave, you need to be quiet. You sound just like me! Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
dnellans wrote:
Posted By: sshm
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 4:32pm
|
Are those their "wild" colors? If so maybe they are shallow water SPS. If its
not their wild colors then they probably adapted to the spectrum by shedding or growing new zooxanthelae. I am probably all ack basswards in my thinking... ------------- http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1157896 - Difficult and special care reef inhabitants |
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 5:16pm
|
I agree with everything Jon said. ------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 5:46pm
I'll second that and add high water movement as a likely factor. Although you may consider water movement a sub-set of water quality. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 7:27pm
|
I noticed that the greens were subdued and the red of the Flame Angel and the orange tail of the Achilles Tang were fluorescent. IMO these pics have been enhanced. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: Angel
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 11:25pm
|
Sorry, but was that real about the human growth hormone? ------------- Connie Tooele |
Posted By: MBX5
Date Posted: February 17 2006 at 11:57pm
|
I think the colors are great but I also think they may have worked the photo
a bit to bring them out even more than they should be. Look at the page it was on Looks to me like some PS was done. Just my .02 http://www.acquaportal.it/ARTICOLI/MadeInItaly/AcquariMarino /alexalbe ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/"> 
Joe Barnas Westminster, CO |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: February 18 2006 at 12:09am
|
You guys are nuts! That's a beautiful reef tank (even if the photos are doctored). ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: ryanj
Date Posted: February 18 2006 at 12:16am
|
Your right it is really cool, and you have to give the guy props for spending all that time (or money) on keeping it that nice.
|
Posted By: dkle
Date Posted: February 18 2006 at 12:32am
|
The color is unbelievable. If you guys follow the thread towards
the end, it says that the tank just crashed recently (the chiller
malfunctioned when the owner was out of town). What a sad news! With regard to wether the tank is beautiful or not, I think the tank is very beautiful. Granted, it doesn't resemble a real reef, but still very attractive, in a "flower festival" kind of way. I don't know if this exists for saltwater but for freshwater planted tank, there are two aquascaping schools: "Dutch" vs "Japanese". Dutch school focuses on the neat, compact arrangement of plants of contrasting colors and leafshape, whereas Japanese school emphasizes nature in its compostion of the tank. Regardless, you have to give the owner props for maintaining such exquisite colors and massive growths. ------------- If you can't bedazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bs! Dinhkim Le - Procrastinator extra-ordinare |
Posted By: MBX5
Date Posted: February 18 2006 at 1:02am
Not saying I don't like I actually love it and would like my tank to look like it. To me part of the reason I got into salt water was for color. I think he has great colors even without PS on any of the photos just think they may have used some PS to help out the color. ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/">
Joe Barnas Westminster, CO |
Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: February 18 2006 at 8:48am
|
Wow! Check out all that sexy pink!!
I think this tank is a gorgeous example of applying terrestrial gardening techniques to our underwater gardens. When we plan our terrestrial gardens, most of us are not thinking how to make it more natural looking. We want breathtaking, eye catching color, right? If we wanted our tanks to look natural, we would add one or two corals, some rock, some algae and a school of the same type of fish! Reef tanks are not about creating a natural reef! it's about finding exotic, colorful and fansy-pansy specimens, right? I have a 10k over my reef, and the actinic VHOs went out. I'm thinking maybe not replacing it? |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: February 18 2006 at 11:25am
|
I sure hope not As for Jon and Jake--- I think I agree with most of what you said. But I do disagree with Borneman on that intensity is more important than spectrum. Hmmm, I'll have to think about that. Currently I do believe that many corals get over-illuminated (in terms of photosynthesis) in our tanks. However maybe they still color up better. I guess I wanted to start this thread because I've seen several tanks run with only 10K in the past. However they all looked quite yellow to me. This tank, well it doesn't. Also- Whether or not those corals naturally have those colors in the wild is all about perception. I guess I'd say yes they do. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Philism
Date Posted: February 21 2006 at 2:33pm
|
In regards to 10K being too yellow�Marine Aquatics has some pure white 10Ks. Eric is running the new 10Ks on his grow-out tank by the live rock and he has some traditional 10Ks on his frag tank. It�s nice to see the side-by-side comparison and see how much crisper the pure white bulbs are. ------------- Phil Sandy, Utah |
Posted By: KeoDog
Date Posted: February 21 2006 at 3:05pm
|
What brand are Erics 10Ks? ------------- Kevin Kunz (Sandy, UT) 300g reef "A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud." Ayn Rand |
Posted By: Philism
Date Posted: February 21 2006 at 3:13pm
|
They are Marine Aquatics brand. I know he doesn't have
a bulb factory in the store so I don't know who the manufacture is. You�ll need to ask him those kinds of
details. Eric calls them Marine Aquatics
Reef Bulbs. ------------- Phil Sandy, Utah |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: February 21 2006 at 3:36pm
|
How does Eric's bulb look next to a 14K bulb? My father-in-law just bought a couple Reeflux 10K bulbs. The glow of his fish room viewed from the sidewalk looks like 20K or 14K bulbs (very blue tint). But looking into the tank they look pretty white. Definately more white then the XMs he replaced. But I think the color might be similar to the Hamilton 14Ks I tried. My eyes "make" it appear white, but when you take a picture with your digital camera it take a lot of white balance to get the blue out. ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: Philism
Date Posted: February 21 2006 at 7:45pm
|
I haven't seen it next to a 14K so I'm not sure how it looks
side-by-side. I also haven't seen a lot of 14Ks so I couldn't
really give you a "minds eye" guess either. If Eric sees
this post he might chime-in, otherwise if you're in the area sometime
just drop by and give them a gander.
------------- Phil Sandy, Utah |
Posted By: tileman
Date Posted: February 21 2006 at 8:17pm
|
His bulb does give off a very nice white, with a very small hint of blue. No yellow whatsoever. His tank has done incredibly well also after switching to these bulbs. He has some guy in New Orleans making them for him. I'm running the pheonix 14k and his bulb is no where near as blue as mine. ------------- 335G Reef TOTM. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month & |
Posted By: Kyle
Date Posted: February 21 2006 at 8:20pm
I`ve recently read that vodka has anyone else heard of this? it`s in a Coral magazine article. |