What lighting makes corals grow fast?
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Yes and yes.
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I use a 250 watt 20k radium and my corals grow pretty fast with great coloration
The best thing for you to do is to research it. Read about PAR, it's the wavelength of light corals can use to make food. But to answer your question the wavelength of the bulb does matter.
A 10K bulb throws more photons than a 20K bulb. The blue 20K bulb's photons are larger though...but less of them. You can run a higher wattage 20K bulb and throw as many photons out as the lower wattage 10K bulb (why I run 20K 400W) and can grow SPS in the sand.
But really, you've got a lot of reading to do....
Happy Reefing
Jason
A 10K bulb throws more photons than a 20K bulb. The blue 20K bulb's photons are larger though...but less of them. You can run a higher wattage 20K bulb and throw as many photons out as the lower wattage 10K bulb (why I run 20K 400W) and can grow SPS in the sand.
But really, you've got a lot of reading to do....
Happy Reefing
Jason
yes...been reading and would like opinions of experts in this forum as well. I'm about to replace my MH bulbs (14K) and would like to buy a better one this time..something that will show off the coral colors and also helps with the growth rate.
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Ok, so what kind of wattage?
Double ended or single ended?
What ballast are you using?
How deep is your tank?
What kind of reflectors?
Do you prefer the blue 20k look or yellow 10k look?
How high off the water is the lighting?
What kind of corals are you looking to support?
Double ended or single ended?
What ballast are you using?
How deep is your tank?
What kind of reflectors?
Do you prefer the blue 20k look or yellow 10k look?
How high off the water is the lighting?
What kind of corals are you looking to support?
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Typically speaking all things equal the 6500k and 10k color are said to promote faster growth. I'm not sure that is always the case. They do typically produce higher par than 20k bulbs,there are exceptions. It can be argued that the zooxanthellae algae that converts that energy into a by product for their host can only process limited amounts of that energy regardless of how much you throw at it. I personally opted for the 20k bulbs due to the color being more pleasing to the my eye. I did not concern myself with coral growth when choosing lights. I concentrate more on the water parameters and their stability more than the lighting to promote coral growth.
Keep in mind that phosphate and nitrate levels will affect your coral color as well.
I did however choose an par efficient bulb/ballast combo .
Keep in mind that phosphate and nitrate levels will affect your coral color as well.
I did however choose an par efficient bulb/ballast combo .
250W
SE
Not sure of the ballast, but it's 6 years old and I bought it off Ebay, so obviously not the best one.
28" deep
Reflectors are the regular batwing kind (I think that's how people call it)
I prefer the 20K look...just more white and crisp. I had 10K once it looks ugly IMO (sorry I don't mean to offend anyone using 10K...just my own comment).
Fixture is 6" above water (I couldn't find the legs anywhere so I put the fixture directly on the tank....is this a bad thing?)
I have mostly LPS and a few SPS...although I am looking to venture into SPS more one day once I get the parameters more stable.
Lighting is a complex subject - it's like asking "what engine will make my car the fastest?" You can't easily answer it with a single answer or without gathering more information.
As grouper therapy said, 6500K and 10K bulbs typically promote faster coral growth, but will look pretty yellow.
As a general rule, the more light, the better. However, corals do reach a point where they can't absorb anymore light and convert it to energy (called photoinhibition - see Dana Riddle's article http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1/view">here</a>). So it's up to you to determine how to best provide that for your specific tank and corals.
You state that your tank is 28" deep - that's pretty deep. Water dissipates light very quickly. What will be fine for a 20" tank will be insufficient for a 28" tank. There's two ways around this- you can get a stronger bulb (400w or 1000w) or you can get more efficient reflectors (ie- Lumenbrights or Lumenarcs), which will focus the light down further, but have less spread. Or both.
I run 400w bulbs in Lumenbright Mini reflectors in my 26" deep tank with Reeflux 12kK bulbs, bulbs at ~16" over the water. I have mostly SPS, but with some LPS. I have to hide all my LPS's in the shade to keep from killing them, and not all the SPS's will tolerate that kind of light. I also have a 2hp chiller to deal with the heat buildup.
Your cheapest upgrade path is probably to upgrade your reflector. Just realize that he beam will focused more, so you may need additional bulb/reflector combinations to fill in the additional space. Also realize that you may end up burning some of your LPS.
Lighting is probably the most complex and critical role in your reef tank; batwing reflectors are pretty inefficient. Do your research and see what works for different people before changing your setup. And when you do change, introduce the new lights slowly and incrementally, to allow your corals time to adapt.
As grouper therapy said, 6500K and 10K bulbs typically promote faster coral growth, but will look pretty yellow.
As a general rule, the more light, the better. However, corals do reach a point where they can't absorb anymore light and convert it to energy (called photoinhibition - see Dana Riddle's article http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1/view">here</a>). So it's up to you to determine how to best provide that for your specific tank and corals.
You state that your tank is 28" deep - that's pretty deep. Water dissipates light very quickly. What will be fine for a 20" tank will be insufficient for a 28" tank. There's two ways around this- you can get a stronger bulb (400w or 1000w) or you can get more efficient reflectors (ie- Lumenbrights or Lumenarcs), which will focus the light down further, but have less spread. Or both.
I run 400w bulbs in Lumenbright Mini reflectors in my 26" deep tank with Reeflux 12kK bulbs, bulbs at ~16" over the water. I have mostly SPS, but with some LPS. I have to hide all my LPS's in the shade to keep from killing them, and not all the SPS's will tolerate that kind of light. I also have a 2hp chiller to deal with the heat buildup.
Your cheapest upgrade path is probably to upgrade your reflector. Just realize that he beam will focused more, so you may need additional bulb/reflector combinations to fill in the additional space. Also realize that you may end up burning some of your LPS.
Lighting is probably the most complex and critical role in your reef tank; batwing reflectors are pretty inefficient. Do your research and see what works for different people before changing your setup. And when you do change, introduce the new lights slowly and incrementally, to allow your corals time to adapt.
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hate to divert .. but there are a LOT of things that help your corals grow. flow.. alk.. ca lvls...and yes light.
to answer the question, though, i use ONLY T5 and grow all sorts of SPS at a pretty good clip.
to answer the question, though, i use ONLY T5 and grow all sorts of SPS at a pretty good clip.
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+1
+100. Yes...I had been trying my best to place corals properly, but not perfect though due to the weird shapes of some of the pieces I have. I have my sps and brain on top, candy canes and favia and hammers/frogspawn in the middle, and zoas, leather, fox, and rics on the bottom. They seem to be fine, all expanding well, and growth is most noticeable for mushrooms, xenia, and sps, and my trach brain added 2 heads in 2 months.
Got it. I had my brain on the sandbed before, and it was doing worse and worse. Then I googled and found that it prefers sand bed so it can inflate its body to get more light because it needs light, so I put it in container and hold it way up there and it loves it.
I'll try playing with the zoas next. Thanks for the input.
I'll try playing with the zoas next. Thanks for the input.
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