LED only vs LED/T5 Combo vs T5's only - Coral adaptability

[Cook]

One question I have wondered is whether frags from corals grown with LED only, an LED/T5 combo, or T5 only adjust to a color spectrum change more readily when transferred to another tank with different lighting conditions, ie when frags are sold to someone else. I'm straddling the fence with a hybrid system because I don't know the answer. What I do know is that the earlier generation LED lighting systems had gaps in color spectrum that T5's do not have. I believe that the latest generation LED lights have resolved this, but I would like to know what everyone's experience has been or whether it even matters?

Shadowing is another potential problem, but again the modern LED systems with their panel designs seem to be the solution for this as well.

 

[dball711]

@Cook , great question, my $0.02...

I don't think corals know or care what the light source is i.e. the sun, metal halide, T5, CF, LED or combo of any/all of these. My experience has shown me that 2 factors should be taken into consideration, intensity (PAR) and light spectrum/color (PUR). Once you have enough intensity/PAR you can look at the photosynthetically usable radiation of the spectrum/PUR and get an idea of the quality/usable light you're providing. For me and what I grow, mostly Acropora I've found the best spectrum for color and growth is between 380nm-550nm. Anything outside that spectrum mostly benefits (or hinders) me and how I see the corals.

Conversely I have found that light in the spectral range between 550nm-700nm can increase some algae (wanted, hair algae) growth. By limiting or greatly reducing this range I have seen a significant decline in unwanted algae growth. This is important to me because I do run higher nutrients to encourage coral growth.

For shadowing concerns since I'm using Gen5 BLUE Radions, I supplement lighting with LED strip lights. The LED strip lights are similar to how a T5 bulb distributes light helping eliminate shadowing. The panel systems do a nice job lot light distribution but none really run the length of most tanks.

I believe that it really does not make a difference to what lighting type(s) a coral is grown under vs what lighting type(s) a coral is moved to. In either case corals will adapt to the lighting (and other conditions like Cal, ALK, Mag, nutrients, temp, salinity...) they are provided. The most glaring difference you would notice taking a coral from say an all LED tank and placing it in a t5 only or t5 hybrid tank is that he coral color appearance will look different (unless the color spectrum is exactly the same in both tanks). Ever buy a coral at a frag swap or coral expo only to notice the color's not the same in your tank...

 

[Adam]

To add to what Dave said. If given the bare necessities needed to survive, coral will adapt to the parameters of the system they are in. That adaptation may not be desirable to you or I, but it's good enough to live for the coral. When I say "Parameters" I mean everything. Light is only one part, important, but still just one part. This is why a coral looked great in the store or in someone else's tank but looks washed out or even a different color in yours or mine.

I think there is plenty of proof at this time, that lightwise, systems can not only be successful but thrive under LED's only. The newest fixtures out at the moment have years of tweaking and research that went into them to make the results several orders of magnitude better than this type of lighting was five or ten years ago. The direction we go is entirely up to the scale and budget of the hobbyist. In Dave's case I could see spending $2K for the lighting approach he took. He's covering roughly 14 to 18 square feet with light between the tanks. My new display will be 32sf and at this moment $4k+ is just out of my budget. If I had resources throwing $6.5K at eight G5 XR30 Blues would be no big deal, unfortunately that's not the case
For the time being I will be going with the hybrid approach. As time goes by I will look into DIY leds more closely. I too don't want to waste valuable led space on spectrums that don't benefit the coral. I think there need's to be just enough whites, reds and greens so the fish look natural.

If you have the budget to go led only don't be afraid to do so, you'll do fine as long as you take into account what Dave said you'll do great. But if the coral still doesn't look the same as they do in Dave's tanks you won't be able to blame the lights anymore

 

[urbanknight]

Speaking of LEDs...How about 13 Radion G4 Pros five feet off the water! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-story-of-the-wwc-1200-gallon-mangrove-lagoon-tank.709614/

 

[NanCrab]

I have LED’s but I also use T5’s because I like the look a lot better and I have a lot of shadowing with LED only. I’m sticking with hybrid 72” tank 125g

 

[Cook]

I'll try to clarify what I am asking because I did throw a couple extra questions in my original post after the initial question that muddied the water. I know all three lighting options can get the job done and grow beautiful corals. I think @dball711 could light his tank with a shop light and still grow beautiful corals.

What I am curious about is whether the time it takes for a coral to adapt to a new lighting condition is any different depending on whether it was grown with LED only vs LED & T5 Hybrid, or T5's. There is a possibility that lighting itself doesn't matter because water quality parameters could be a larger factor, as an example, and override any slight differences in lighting spectrum when we move a coral from one tank to another with all the variables in play in making that move.

For LED's within the 380-550nm spectrum that @dball711 mentioned as an example, there can be gaps within the spectrum since many of the LED's themselves are tightly focused around a peak value usually somewhere along the lines of 10nm. With modern LED's, the spectrums are much better filled out by the range of LED wavelengths available and are also much better blended, so it's possible that a coral may not be that sensitive to those spectrum gaps or that the gaps left by these modern LEDs are inconsequential.

About me: I'm lighting my 40 gallon breeder with a 7206 Mitras and an Aquatic life hybrid with 4 T5 lamps, 2 blue Plus, 1 coral plus, and one actinic. When I switched from the standard Mitras lighting program to a custom Coral AB+ program (LED only), all my corals took a long time to adapt and went pale within a month (I did acclimate them). This wasn't a true test of my question though because it turns out that my corals were also not getting enough nutrients and it's likely that moving to the better AB+ spectrum only made the lack of nutrients worse. It's also not fair to say that T5's were the difference when my corals rebounded within 2 weeks of moving them to the new frag tank, both lighting and nutrient levels were changed at the same time.