Lighting settings

[Jimfish98]

Converted a large reef tank to FW and have opted to keep the lights for now rather than drop hundreds on more. Any recommended light settings with the spectrum I have? 

[Zenzo]

On 8/17/2021 at 8:02 PM, Jimfish98 said:

Converted a large reef tank to FW and have opted to keep the lights for now rather than drop hundreds on more. Any recommended light settings with the spectrum I have? 

Is this for a planted aquarium, or something different like a freshwater cichlid tank? For plants, the blues are not really necessary (and would probably just grow algae). If it were me and I were keeping plants, I would dial down the blues and experiment with the whites and reds.

[Patrick_G]

I was thinking the same thing as @Zenzo.
I don’t think you need the much of the blue spectrum. It seems to grow algae. My planted tank lights have Red, green, blue and white. I have the blue turned way down. 

[CT_]

@Zenzo & @Patrick_G Are way more experienced than I am but if its me, I'd start with all cool white and then add colors until it looks the best to you.  Then scale the intensity as needed for plants.  IMO people worry about colors for plants too much. 

Pure blue and Pure red do give you way more bang for your buck in terms of photosynthetic usable light vs intensity.  As they have pointed out that can be a bad thing.

 

Since you have this light though it would be cool to experiment with UV (I presume its a UV-A LED light unless it cost you thousands of dollars and nuked all life in your tank).  I've always wondered if UVA would make plants more red that otherwise wouldn't be under low light.

[Torrey]

@CT_ you just answered why some of my plants are more red and I couldn't duplicate in another tank: the plants closest to the UVA & UVB light for the turtle have the most vibrant colors. 

 

As far as red and blue spectrum go, if people want to prevent algae growth, don't let the light exceed the CO2 availability. 

Either use a siesta after 4 hours, or use CO2 injection. 

 

[CT_]

On 8/29/2021 at 9:57 PM, Torrey said:

@CT_ you just answered why some of my plants are more red and I couldn't duplicate in another tank: the plants closest to the UVA & UVB light for the turtle have the most vibrant colors. 

 

As far as red and blue spectrum go, if people want to prevent algae growth, don't let the light exceed the CO2 availability. 

Either use a siesta after 4 hours, or use CO2 injection. 

 

Well there we go! 🙂

Thanks for doing the experiment!

It's tempting to put some UVA leds over my scarlet temple now...

[Torrey]

@CT_

My turtle light is a ZooMed that has to be replaced every 6 months. 

 

Is there an LED option that promotes Vit D production and doesn't have to be replaced every 6 months?