Mike have you totally shut down the whites?? I was at Andy's yesterday and noticed he was really into the blue glow. He didn't go into deep detail about useing only the Blues. I rember back in our MR days everyone thought I was nuts running just all atentic T5's. In my experience with my LED's turning all the whites off really reduced the PAR values dramatically . I also believe still that the strong Blue really is beneficial to the health and coloring of coral pigments but still need the ( lack of better terms) 10K bands for light penatration and health of the algae's that corals hold. I have been useing what I call the 30% rule of hand. I set my whites at 30% of my blues percentage value. In doing this we are able to get the pop of the strong blue and the benefit of it for the pigment development and yet still produce strong PAR for the SPS without frying delicate soft corals. We presently get 150 Par in non over lapping areas at the bottom of the tank and around 240 to 250 in overlapping areas. Of course this is due to haveing two rows of modules . For taking pictures I have been setting the whites at 50% which really helps in setting the white balance. Looking forward to when you can make it out. I think you will be surprised in how much things have grown! Ttyl.
Last edited by schminksbro; 01-02-2014 at 02:39 PM.
First tank challenge of 2014 met, my FIFTH return pump from Reeflo has died, and been replaced. I am now running an old Blueline Velocity T4 that I had in the basement, No more Reeflo pumps for this guy... Rust is not a good thing in a reef tank.
Mike have you totally shut down the whites?? I was at Andy's yesterday and noticed he was really into the blue glow. He didn't go into deep detail about useing only the Blues. I rember back in our MR days everyone thought I was nuts running just all atentic T5's. In my experience with my LED's turning all the whites off really reduced the PAR values dramatically . I also believe still that the strong Blue really is beneficial to the health and coloring of coral pigments but still need the ( lack of better terms) 10K bands for light penatration and health of the algae's that corals hold. I have been useing what I call the 30% rule of hand. I set my whites at 30% of my blues percentage value. In doing this we are able to get the pop of the strong blue and the benefit of it for the pigment development and yet still produce strong PAR for the SPS without frying delicate soft corals. We presently get 150 Par in non over lapping areas at the bottom of the tank and around 240 to 250 in overlapping areas. Of course this is due to haveing two rows of modules . For taking pictures I have been setting the whites at 50% which really helps in setting the white balance. Looking forward to when you can make it out. I think you will be surprised in how much things have grown! Ttyl.
I have found corals to grow and color beautifully under all blue and royal blue. Most of the other colors get filtered out by the water in the ocean. Most corals likely never see anything but blue and violet in the wild. I get plenty of par from my AI sol blues and I only run blue at 50% and Royal Blue at 60%. White at zero. That's over the acro tank. Corals may acclimate to other colors of light but most don't need it. Everyone has a different personal opinion of the look that appeals to them. IMO corals just look better when you can see their colors. White just washes them out for no benefit that I can find. Besides, I like basking in The Blue Glow
I have found corals to grow and color beautifully under all blue and royal blue. Most of the other colors get filtered out by the water in the ocean. Most corals likely never see anything but blue and violet in the wild. I get plenty of par from my AI sol blues and I only run blue at 50% and Royal Blue at 60%. White at zero. That's over the acro tank. Corals may acclimate to other colors of light but most don't need it. Everyone has a different personal opinion of the look that appeals to them. IMO corals just look better when you can see their colors. White just washes them out for no benefit that I can find. Besides, I like basking in The Blue Glow
I didn't mean that I disagreed. Thought the store looked sweet in the blue glow! I actually have taken yours and mike suggestion but did leave some white. I am now running both blues on all 6 AI's @100% the whites are now @23%. To my surprise the par levels have actually gone up! It has only been six days but no ill effects as of yet. Like my wife says,when your snorkeling or diveing what color do you see?? Blue!
I didn't mean that I disagreed. Thought the store looked sweet in the blue glow! I actually have taken yours and mike suggestion but did leave some white. I am now running both blues on all 6 AI's @100% the whites are now @23%. To my surprise the par levels have actually gone up! It has only been six days but no ill effects as of yet. Like my wife says,when your snorkeling or diveing what color do you see?? Blue!
I didn't take your post as disagreement. I just wanted Mike's tank thread to be a little "bluer" I would like to add that in a nutshell light is just photons. The blue and violet colors penetrate the deepest so actually they are the strongest. You can definitely have blue light that is too strong.
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Originally Posted by binford4000
