Let There Be Light! Notes from a Tidepool

DRC Archive General Saltwater Discussion
1

a new observation on light and corals.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/9/aafeature?utm_source=nivoslider&utm_medium=slider&utm_campaign=clickthru

Iz our lights bright E-nough?

2

Good article!

3

Thanks for the link Ken, it was a good read. The graphs are useful for those who have the ability to control LED intensity. Easier to mimic nature. I hope you will post future stuff like this, I geek it. :GEEK:

4

Yes, i have always read that reef top light is much more intense than our old MH lighting. Not so sure about LEDs. but they can be focused better to be brighter. Just have to compare those micro einsteins per square meter readings.

5

Alot of info there.

I think that alot of the MH are bright enough but not sure about there intensity.

Looks like they were focusing on Porites and Pocilloporas 

  There is alot of SPS that doesnt need that high intense light and then when it comes to Pocillopora I think they could be next to the surface of the sun and still survive.  I will say that my green Pocillopora is the one SPS that I have had spawn in my tank.
6

[quote=“billrob71, post:5, topic:6841”]
I will say that my green Pocillopora is the one SPS that I have had spawn in my tank.[/quote]

I always wondered how many of us have had coral spawning in captivity. Did it follow the same schedule as wild corals? It usually is 2 nights after the full moon in August. But that is in the Indo Pacific. Maybe nothern hemisphere is different. Do you have moon lighting set in phases? I would love to learn more about captive spawnings.

7

I must have had a spawning recently. as i have some green pociillapora growing on a bulkhead and a corner of the tank . near the water line. so no contact with the residident corals on the sand.

8

[quote=“kaptken, post:7, topic:6841”]
I must have had a spawning recently. as i have some green pociillapora growing on a bulkhead and a corner of the tank . near the water line. so no contact with the residident corals on the sand.[/quote]
Thats really neat!!!
I have a few cool documentary movies that show mass coral spawnings. SPS release tiny spheres that travel currents and then grow when setteled, starting as just a single polyp. Also saw a neat time lapse of an acropora growing.