Can you have too much Blue light?
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Topic: Can you have too much Blue light?
Posted By: proskier101
Subject: Can you have too much Blue light?
Date Posted: January 30 2016 at 9:35am
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Ive had my 40g tank set up for over a year now. Its had its ups and downs. I started thinking about the struggles I have had with this tank... SPS stuggles some lps struggles thats basically it. coral troubles.  Here is my light set up 4 39w ho T5 lights from front to back Actinic coral plus blue plus actinic I randomly got the idea that I have too much blue light and found this "depends on exactly what kinds of corals you have. corals thrive at certain depths in the wild. the lighting you use simulates that depth. 10k lighting = corals that thrive 10ft or less in the wild. the light is bright white and can be yellowish. SPS generally fall into this category. problem with 10k though is it has too much of the red-light spectrum that algae thrive on. 14k lighting = corals that thrive in 10-20ft of water. the light is white with a bluish tint. most corals do well under this light. this is the most popular lighting that most people use. 20k lighting = corals that thrive in deeper water of 20+ feet deep. the light is mostly light blue with a slight tint of white. most of your LPS like brains, acans, zoas, chalices all do very well and color-up nicely under this type of light. SPS will not grow in this light bc its not enough intensity. The rule of thumb is the deeper natural sunlight penetrates into the ocean, the more white and red light spectrum is filtered out by the saltwater leaving the full blue spectrum to reach the corals. To have a tank full of thriving coral that have color and growth you need to match up the light requirement of the corals you have... in the depth that they found in the wild. The beauty of T5s over LED or MHs is you can mix and match different bulbs to simulate different depths. I'd do research on what depths your corals thrive at and place them closer or further away from your light source based on what you read. Also look at the color spectrum chart for each bulb to see at what "nanometer (nm)" the bulb peaks at and look at the bell curve to see what's it output is going from blue to red along the spectrum chart. Once you get an idea of what light your corals require then simulate that through mixing and matching T5 bulbs, you'll then hit that "sweetspot". Its both a science and an art to get the right balance within your tank.?" I now switched my blue plus out for a 10k to try and be more"balanced" so my new set up is Front to back Actinic coral plus 10000K actinic. What are yalls thoughts on this change?
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Replies:
Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: January 30 2016 at 10:03am
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Maybe change out an actinic for a blue + ------------- 90 gal reef w/refugium 24 gal softie tank 11 gal nano anemone tank 5 gal fresh water |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: January 30 2016 at 10:18am
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I would get rid of both actinics and put another blue plus and a purple plus in their places. The blue will add the additional needed blue and the purple will cover the actinic as well as provide some additional white. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: January 30 2016 at 10:24am
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Krazie is that based on his current setup or after adding the 10k. As you said add another blue + ------------- 90 gal reef w/refugium 24 gal softie tank 11 gal nano anemone tank 5 gal fresh water |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: January 30 2016 at 10:27am
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His original setup. So he would be running 2- blue + a coral + and a purple + It should give you about a 16-18k color so a little blue but not completely blue. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: January 30 2016 at 10:35am
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Like it ------------- 90 gal reef w/refugium 24 gal softie tank 11 gal nano anemone tank 5 gal fresh water |
Posted By: Fatman
Date Posted: January 30 2016 at 10:10pm
| Good information here. Thanks! |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: January 31 2016 at 11:23am
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In general no. It's hard to get too much blue. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 02 2016 at 7:26am
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Aloha, http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html At what depth do you think most of our hobby coral come from? These pics I scanned a long time ago from an old library book by Jacques Cousteau are very illustrative of light filtering:     ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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