coral coral

hi all, currently my tank is lighted more for grow then for show... I am curious...although my colors do not show well until I turn down the whiter lights...which is 2, 2 hour sessions per day. Does this affect the corals color developement.

with my curent lighting 12 watts per gallon
2 400w MH @ 10,000k 8 hours
2 250w MH @ 20,000k 12 hours
2 96w PC 6,700 @ 12 hours
2 96w PC actinic 03 @ 16 hours
2 luner led strips @ 4 hours

currently in the full light...most of my corals look like a light brown and covered with polyps which mainly look brown....but when the light goes down the colors are very apparent...or when i look from the top with naked eye or i hold my scuba mask over the top they look super colored... Most all of my corals have colors other then the brown....sheshh half the time the polyps stick out so far color doesn't matter anyways but still curiuos if I am missing something do to light temp?

can you lose color by not drowning them in actinic..or am I doing fine while my frags grow into corals?

Bill

 

Corals and light coexist hand and hand! Without light...MOST corals will bleach and die. Full spectrum light is the way to go as far as keeping your corals alive and thriving(of course you also need proper water parameters as well) but for the sake of this thread will stay with light.
Many corals will adjust to light intensities OVER TIME!!! If light intensity is changed too quickly, corals and clams will stress and release zooxanthellae thereby causing bleaching. If an adjustment isn't made in a short period of time your coral, clam will die.
It is stated that corals grow quicker under say 10000k bulbs than under actinics. However corals and clams require all the colors of the spectrum for their continued success.
Coral will look completely different under different lighting arrangements and combinations. Also the brown/cream colors you are noticing on your corals are the zooxanthellae in their tissue.
Their is nothing wrong with your lighting scheme, IMO!!! You have a nice compliment of reds to violets in your light spectrum!
Hope this helps some.
To learn more about light and its importance and spectrum lighting etc. their are many great articles you can look up on line!