Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

Led, macro, coral and seagrass...


loyalhero90

Recommended Posts

loyalhero90

Hello,

trying to build a new fixture. It is for my 10 gal macro/coral/seagrass shallow tank. I had a 5 gal macro with cool whites and the macro grew like crazy but in my 10 gal under neutral whites they are barely surviving. But I want to keep healthy, colorful coral and from what I've been reading they do best under neutral whites. I have not tried my seagrass under cool whites but I would assume they would grow fine.

In an 8 gal I experimented with using a 3-up for cool white, neutral white and warm white and I added in spectrums that were missing from each white light. So, for example, with the cool white did a: cw, cool blue, deep red. Just to clarify I didn't make a single 3-up with all white lights but did separate 3-ups for each white light and added in different color spectrums. It was an experiment but I noticed that my corals grew better under a yellower light (finagled with my coral controller). But the corals had little color but the macro grew well.

 

So for those who keep leds with macro and corals what is a good ratio to you?

There seems to be a consensus for neutral white for coral growth but what about for macro growth?

Does anyone think cool white is better for coral growth?

 

Link to comment
phobos2deimos

I don't think color temp is your issue. I grow macros under 3000k LEDs and ~12-14000k LEDs, both with great results.

 

My perfect world would be 14k for corals, and ~8k for macros, which is the most natural look to me.

 

Pay close attention to the growth patterns of the macros under different lighting and placement - that may give you good insight as to how much light they're getting, which is I think the toughest thing about LEDs. It's very, very easy to give things way too much light, even by moving them just a 2-3 inches over. Narrow optics on LEDs make this an even tighter margin.

Link to comment
loyalhero90

I don't think color temp is your issue. I grow macros under 3000k LEDs and ~12-14000k LEDs, both with great results.

 

My perfect world would be 14k for corals, and ~8k for macros, which is the most natural look to me.

 

Pay close attention to the growth patterns of the macros under different lighting and placement - that may give you good insight as to how much light they're getting, which is I think the toughest thing about LEDs. It's very, very easy to give things way too much light, even by moving them just a 2-3 inches over. Narrow optics on LEDs make this an even tighter margin.

Hmm...I see what you mean. I wasn't paying attention but since you've mentioned it I moved my red macros to a darker part of the tank and they are slowly getting their deep red color back though they aren't growing as fast as I'd like. So maybe I am having a too much light issue...I'm designing a new light so maybe I'll tinker around with that and height adjustment.

Link to comment
phobos2deimos

Hmm...I see what you mean. I wasn't paying attention but since you've mentioned it I moved my red macros to a darker part of the tank and they are slowly getting their deep red color back though they aren't growing as fast as I'd like. So maybe I am having a too much light issue...I'm designing a new light so maybe I'll tinker around with that and height adjustment.

Growth pattern is the big indicator for me - many macros grow very dense/branched/short when under high light, and under lower light will spread out, with longer and less numerous branches, and taller. Macros that grow via runners tend to shoot out long runners with few leaves when they're searching for more light. It took me months to get placement dialed in after observing and moving macros many times.

Wish I had time to put together some DIY COB LEDs! I keep thinking about biting the bullet on some Kessil A160es but I'd love to DIY. Good luck!

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...