U.V. leds

Cheddah93

Well known member
What’s everyone’s thoughts on running U.V. leds with sps? Any benefit besides coloring? Added growth?

Lookin at adding a U.V. led light bar to my photon which entails 420nm 405nm violets and 380nm uv
 
Sorry, I don't have an answer but would love it if some of the more experienced members would chime in.
 
Just kinda curious for knowledge right now, just switched to a photon v2 which runs the 420nm and has plenty of them and I’m letting the corals acclimate to the much stronger light, but noticed rb also has the bars including 405 and 380. Wasn’t sure if 405 and 380 are beneficial to just color pop or also growth.
 
My understanding is UV is not something we can see. So anything that claims Uv is just down to the bottom of the violet spectrum. I also remember hearing uv damaged coral tissue as well and the zooxanthellae don’t really process it as it doesn’t penetrate deep in the water column naturally. Let me go find an info graphic
 
1558822548578.jpeg


Looks like I was wrong. Looks like it would penetrate for some corals. It is strange to me that the violet spectrum closer to 400nm decreases rapidly in depth and yet uv jumps back down to 50m.

Another interesting thing is the green penetration. I am not sure why I don’t see more green in reef lighting. I know the zooxanthellae produce energy with different clorophylls, but they are not all green so that should mean they absorb that spectrum too right?
 
The white led produces a lot of green.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
0551670496d093091d4e61509dcaceb1.jpg
 
The white led produces a lot of green.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
0551670496d093091d4e61509dcaceb1.jpg
Can corals use green? I know plants don’t really. But that makes sense Dong, why create more disco when white does the job
 
Nice read. So not for survival but for red orange yellow color intensity. Thanks Josh!
 
I run the UV’s high on my AI Hydra HD’s over my tanks and the SPS’s have nice color and growth but it’s all I’ve ever down so have nothing else to compare it to, what type of other benefits were you looking for?

Top one on the graph is the UV setting at 118%
98d56695bc7d3449294d3d0d2ab0afc1.jpg


Some pics I took last night on iPhone
4fee73add8dd997e98098abec3787824.jpg


27c4e87b03a5a1256670106d2146dbff.jpg


2a15d4dcef40371cf388c8c683621a9a.jpg


979627b7ca93c5f39a0306dbe6eb929b.jpg


b2b4d531e3357958fd2da58809848d5f.jpg


56f43bd50d27e83ad09e11c7096d1207.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
My understanding is UV is not something we can see. So anything that claims Uv is just down to the bottom of the violet spectrum. I also remember hearing uv damaged coral tissue as well and the zooxanthellae don’t really process it as it doesn’t penetrate deep in the water column naturally. Let me go find an info graphic

Correct you can not see UV, I’ve never heard of UV damaging unless it’s way to much or not acclimated to the light slowly?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
View attachment 126560

Looks like I was wrong. Looks like it would penetrate for some corals. It is strange to me that the violet spectrum closer to 400nm decreases rapidly in depth and yet uv jumps back down to 50m.

Another interesting thing is the green penetration. I am not sure why I don’t see more green in reef lighting. I know the zooxanthellae produce energy with different clorophylls, but they are not all green so that should mean they absorb that spectrum too right?

That chart says it’s for Lake Superior??? I think the light penetration might be different in a reef were the water is a little cleaner lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
That chart says it’s for Lake Superior??? I think the light penetration might be different in a reef were the water is a little cleaner lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oops!

On the flip side ocean water has salt so that may also affect penetration. Well t was about the same for the other graphs I saw so mustn’t be that far off. Great pics btw! You should set up a booth at fragtastic show!
 
That chart says it’s for Lake Superior??? I think the light penetration might be different in a reef were the water is a little cleaner lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oops!

On the flip side ocean water has salt so that may also affect penetration. Well t was about the same for the other graphs I saw so mustn’t be that far off. Great pics btw! You should set up a booth at fragtastic show!

Very true. Thank you, been experimenting trying to get some nicer pics with the iPhone. I would but more of my personal collection, I have a hard time letting them go lol, maybe next year I’ll probably need the space or more tanks [emoji848]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nice read. So not for survival but for red orange yellow color intensity. Thanks Josh!
No problem, I remembered the article being about green light. Be neat to have a few different tanks with the same corals with different spectrums and see what happens
 
Upcoming Events

April 21, 2024
Paul B
Club Meeting

Back
Top