LED Spectrum and Coral Responses

[The Wrong Reefer]

Got a DIY LED Fixture, just wanted to see if anyone else has had this experience...
LED colors:
450nm Royal Blues, 465nm Cool Blues, 420nm Violets, 495nm Cyan/Turqoise, 5000k nuetral whites, 660nm(?) deep reds
I've killed the reds, didn't see any positive effect. All other colors have been running ~75% capacity. What I've been seeing is when I ramp up my whites above 50%, a lot of corals start closing. If I cut them down and run a really blue light, EVERYTHING pops and I get full extension from LPS, Zoas and Montipora to name a few. I've tried cutting the blues significantly to compensate, thinking they just might be getting too much PAR, and still get the same effect. It seems there is something about the white LED light in my setup that irritates the coral. I've found a happy medium, and now run the tank a bit lower than a 20k look, but I see very little growth other than a few pieces. I'm wondering if the whites are the cause. Has anyone else seen this effect? I've noticed this same effect with running cool white LEDs in my nano as well. These results have only been short term and I am too afraid to go all blue for a long period. Plus, who wants to look at an obnoxious blue box with a few glowing pieces? Anyone else experience this or have any input? Thanks!

 

[Zippy69]

The time frame to get up to warp nine is geologic time! Mine was over the course of 6-7 months.

 

[The Wrong Reefer]

The time frame to get up to warp nine is geologic time! Mine was over the course of 6-7 months.

Yeah, I'm not denying impatience. I'm just curious... with whites off, all zoas open up, LPS looks incredibly puffy and nice, even more daytime polyp extension from a few of the acro frags I got. I mix more white than blue, regardless of intensity, polyps retract, zoas pucker up. Just getting skeptical about the whites is all. I'm ready to cut the wire and cram a 6500k T5 bulb or two under the canopy.

 

[redfishbluefish]

You need to acclimate your corals to LED’s. I’m assuming you switched from some other kind of light to LED’s. I think I spent somewhere in the area of two months acclimating my tank from T5’s to LED’s. Do a search on “Acclimating Corals To LEDs.” I know that some say starting at 30% or so and increasing 5% a week. Do the search and follow it!

 

[greybolt03]

i agree with paul when i switched from t-5 to Leds i started @ 30% and increased 5% every week till i was at 100% and still got some corals that whited out and took about 6 months to color back up..

 

[The Wrong Reefer]

Nope. Tank was started with LEDs, Under LEDs from the frag tank I got it from. Same goes with my previous tank... nano... LEDs. It's all I've ever owned since I gutted my nano hood 2 years ago
As far as acclimation, yes, I started real low and slowly ramped them up over the course of about 2 months. Nothing ever bleached... melted, yes... and I have the capability for LOTS of light in that tank, its way overkill. I can dial in each channel from 1-100. Many zoas just never really opened or would only peak, no matter the light intensity, some shriveled away to nothingness. LPS had similar responses. I was ready to give up and go T5 until one day out of the blue (no pun intended) i knocked my whites down and left my blues right where they were... a few hours later I was stunned. Everything started opening and expanding... Been running whites much lower ever since. No idea whats going on, just stating what I'm seeing. Very well could be I picked the wrong white LEDs, but thats been my experience with a couple different LED fixtures using 3 different white LEDs. Maybe the whites are throwing off incredible amount of intensity even at lower settings???
I just ordered a PAR meter today so I'll have a much better idea of what's going on in by next week.