Coral color with led vs halides?

Thats not the same coral. That looks to be a green pocillipora. The coral Chris has is actually a pink birdsnest (seritiapora) but its changing under the colors. The color spectrum is not very wide with LEDs. Chris's biocube is different because it utilizes many different color LEDs including UV LEDs. Im guessing the unit you have only has cool white and royal blue LEDS because most units being produced right now feature only those colors. To get more colors and controlability you have to spend a lot more money. There are lots of variables in coral colors, but even in water that was pretty much right where it should have been I lost colors in my corals using a LED unit that only had cool white and royal blue LEDs. Thats just my experience though.

 

Mines a seriatopora guttatus. I'm absolutely sure.

Can I take the system apart and replace bulbs? I'd add a few violets if it was possible.

 

Hmmm. Did you buy it with that coloration? It looks like a damicornis now that I look like it more. I have one very similar. Birdsnests dont usually grow that way IME. They usually stay a bit more clustered together. Maybe you are right but its coloration looks a bit off. It could be getting used to the added light though. Getting a definitive ID on corals can be hard until it grows out a decent amount.

 

It looked a lot different when I bought it. Less polyp extension, thinner branches, darker skeleton. It started to bleach in my tank ( showing how strong LEDs are, it was at 25%) and now it's starting to color back up. The polyps are neon green and the skeleton is pink/ brown. My camera is pretty bad. I got it off of a huge colony.

 

Mine is a dark brown/purple base and really pretty neon purple polyps.

It's changing for the better.
Maybe these pics will help with your ID.

 

http://www.garretts-acropolis.com/Enlarged_picture_pages/Seriatopora_guttatus_lg.htm

This is exactly what mine looked like when I bought it. In actinics it is really neon green.

That's a really pretty coral biocube, gotta love birdnests.

Anyways, back on topic, what color temperature is best for corals and how are they different with each lighting type? Is a 20k mh the same as a 20k t5/ led?

 

Actually 20k MH vs different brand 20k MH or different ballast or reflector or water clarity can all make a major difference. 20k is used as a generic term for mostly blue.


Spectrum is a debate that is going on endlessly right now. We know that blue is the most important color to coral growth and color.

 

Oh, I thought a low temp bulb was good for coral growth and the higher the temp, the slower things grow? Things change so fast in this hobby...

 

LOL, Steve Garrett is a good friend of mine. Glad to see non locals know about his site.

 

To an extent yes. 10k-14k can grow faster with 20k being better for color. But that's not due to the kelvin ratiing as much as the ability for a metal halide bulb to produce more light in a lower kelvin. With leds, we can get equal amount of light in each color, when this happens, blues are more efficient for both.