ok lighting advice please

[chukkieegg]

so my nano tank is now running

I have marine light 60% white and 40 %blue to pick up at weekend

 

but I have also been advised that I will need blue leds for the coral

 

I know at this point not got any coral or livestock tank has only been running sine Sunday and going to let it cycle properly and not rush it

 

so advise please on blue leds and if I need them or not

 

regards chukieegg

 

 

[Exodus]

Blues create actinic lighting in which fools your eyes into what your seeing, If you have heard people talk about colors "popping" this is because of the blues. So without blue LED's the colors will not be nearly as intense and many things look brown, opposed to the almost florescent neon colors.

 

here's a photo comparison

 

[chukkieegg]

Thanks that makes sense

 

as I am only starting out then although the colour would not be as intense and amplified I could get away with the standard lighting for the time being and think about blue led lighting at a later stage then

[Exodus]

You could do that but after doing reef tanks for many many years a tip I can give you, put the money down to get something that will suit "more" than your needs as of now. This way as time goes on you have room to grow. SW is a very expensive hobby and there is no way around it, best you can do is lower some of those expenses by doing it right the first time, the last thing you want to do is purchase an LED now, then Purchase another LED not to far down the road, you will never get your money back on selling any of it so no sense in paying for 2 lights when 1 is all you need

[CronicReefer]

The spectrum of blue LED are what is important for coral growth when looking at what spectrum of light the coral is using. The chlorophyll in the zooax in corals responds the most in about the 380-460nm (UV-A to blue) light spectrum and again in the 650-680 (red) spectrum. There is much more to it than just using blue LEDs but google has many articles available on this subject.