Coral Colors with 10K

Vodka.......

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.

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.

Edited by ryanj

Oh - and what coral in that link? I couldnt get past the sweet clams in the sand bed...

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...

Jake Pehrson wrote: I agree with everything Jon said.

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.

Sorry, but was that real about the human growth hormone?

You guys are nuts!  That's a beautiful reef tank (even if the photos are doctored).

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.

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?