Thanks guys for another great video! I've been doing this for more than 30 years and I never stop learning. Channels like yours are valuable for the hobby so keep doing what you are doing! I have some thoughts about "shadows" and what that means for a healthy reef. I find it interesting the obsession these days with blanketing your aquarium with light so you get it in every nook and cranny. I mean, the sun is a single point of light in the sky, not a blanket like many of these T5s and strip LED fixtures. Its intensity changes as it moves across the sky throughout the day, creating shadows and shimmer and an imperfect environment. I'm a diver and grew up in South Florida diving on the reefs. So it's kind of sad to me to see that so few people in the hobby seem to like what I would consider the "natural" look of a reef in the ocean. Maybe guys like Julian Sprung are old school I guess and prefer this look. But walk into a place like World Wide Corals and while it's impressive, it reminds me of a rave or something. You have tanks with minimal shimmer and blanketed in blue light to make everything "pop" as much as possible. Clearly Victor at WW knows what he's doing because the results are in front of your eyes to see. But I feel like what we are seeing now isn't what the ocean really looks like, but more of a human curated distortion of it. I'd say a huge percentage of people in this hobby have never had the opportunity to dive on an actual reef, likely because of where they live. I know a lot of reefers here in Florida that have never even gotten in the water! It's wild. I guess my point is that shadows are a natural thing on reefs in the wild, and I'm ok with that. I gave very little thought to shadows in my current SPS dominant 230 gallon setup in my living room. Places with less light have corals that require less light, places with more light have corals that like a higher par reading. Some corals may not grow as well in this environment, but that's ok. When I scuba dive off Sombrero Reef down in the keys the reef is imperfect. It's in competition with itself and mother nature in a lot of ways. And that to me makes it more interesting. Yes, we want our tanks to be as happy and healthy as possible. But I don't think some of these elements need to be as obsessed over as much as they are. I guess that's my point :D
I've never dived in the ocean, nor have I an experience in reefing, however I think most people are attracted to the color 'pop' some corals produce under a blue light. It's just that and not the desire to make a biotope style aquarium trying to recreate nature. That's why most shops do that- they just follow the trend. One can always do what one wants and not follow the trend and do a macro algae tank or try to recreate the twilight zone with those non photosynthetic corals. Preference of taste, my guess. P.S. many tanks are not so big, and real estate is a key factor too. Creating shadows is a waste of that space for someone who prefers fluorescence in colors.
@@potsmokeris Good points and you are correct. I just think these guys make blanket statements sometimes like assuming people are always thinking about shadows when the reality is, everyone has different ideas and techniques about how to create a successful tank. At this point it is trend chasing and BRS is at the bleeding edge of that as they should be. But for me, being 43 years old and having watched this industry go from giant T12 VHO, to Halide to power compact to T5HO to early LEDS to the insane lights we have now, it’s been quite a ride. The tech is great for the industry. But the coral rave trend just looks artificial to me. But hey, it’s gotten more people into the hobby so that’s a good thing!
@@zfunk007 I get your point, but as you say: they have to follow the trends. And this neon coral craze deffinitely got more people into this hobby. At least one- me. :D Always wanted a saltwater aquarium and when I saw videos with those corals under the blue light I was immediately hooked.
My lighting has changed so much over the years. Years ago I had 4 aquariums all lit by Radions now I have 4 aquariums all lit by Kessils. I am definitely a Kessil fan boy now.
Thinking of getting back into the hobby. When I had a reef tank before metal halides flanked by two blue spectrum bulbs were the way to go. Two different ballasts. Blue on all day, metal halides on mid morning throughout mid evening. It may not have been perfect but it was pleasing to the eye. Do LED fixtures age out like halides and fluorescent bulbs did? There was a significant recurring cost with replacing them. Is there no live for halides anymore? Have they been found to be inferior?
I think some of this is nonsense. For example I make tweaks to the lighting and can notice growth or color improvements within days. Also when we used to run daylight metal halides it was known to boost growth over color, and then we colored them up with radiums and t5's. Some of the best looking tanks, that get great growth, color shift light spectrums during the day. I think whats more of a factor is the type of light you are using for color shifting, if it's able to put out 400 par in warm daylight than it should be fine, but many lights like the radions, have 30+ blue/purple leds and only 4 warm white spectrums, so obviously that will impact the result of the color shift.
I have several tanks and different light set ups. On one of my 50 gallon low boys I had a set of AI Hydra's and all of my corals were just getting by. I made several changes trying to pinpoint the issue and finally changed the lights. I went with a reefbreeders photon 48 v2 pro and I am not exaggerating when I tell you......ALL of my corals reacted positively! all of the polyps popped out!!! After I removed the 2 Hydra 52's I noticed some of the bulbs were blown....so i'm thinking these corals weren't getting the spectrum they needed. I own a PAR meter so I know they had the proper PAR so it had to be the spectrum. I have a bunch of Radions and T5 hybrids as well as reefbrite hybrids but so far I am really digging the photon v2, I'm even thinking of replacing one of my other T5 and AI hybrids with one.
Thanks guys for another great video! I've been doing this for more than 30 years and I never stop learning. Channels like yours are valuable for the hobby so keep doing what you are doing!
I have some thoughts about "shadows" and what that means for a healthy reef. I find it interesting the obsession these days with blanketing your aquarium with light so you get it in every nook and cranny. I mean, the sun is a single point of light in the sky, not a blanket like many of these T5s and strip LED fixtures. Its intensity changes as it moves across the sky throughout the day, creating shadows and shimmer and an imperfect environment. I'm a diver and grew up in South Florida diving on the reefs. So it's kind of sad to me to see that so few people in the hobby seem to like what I would consider the "natural" look of a reef in the ocean. Maybe guys like Julian Sprung are old school I guess and prefer this look. But walk into a place like World Wide Corals and while it's impressive, it reminds me of a rave or something. You have tanks with minimal shimmer and blanketed in blue light to make everything "pop" as much as possible. Clearly Victor at WW knows what he's doing because the results are in front of your eyes to see. But I feel like what we are seeing now isn't what the ocean really looks like, but more of a human curated distortion of it. I'd say a huge percentage of people in this hobby have never had the opportunity to dive on an actual reef, likely because of where they live. I know a lot of reefers here in Florida that have never even gotten in the water! It's wild.
I guess my point is that shadows are a natural thing on reefs in the wild, and I'm ok with that. I gave very little thought to shadows in my current SPS dominant 230 gallon setup in my living room. Places with less light have corals that require less light, places with more light have corals that like a higher par reading. Some corals may not grow as well in this environment, but that's ok. When I scuba dive off Sombrero Reef down in the keys the reef is imperfect. It's in competition with itself and mother nature in a lot of ways. And that to me makes it more interesting. Yes, we want our tanks to be as happy and healthy as possible. But I don't think some of these elements need to be as obsessed over as much as they are. I guess that's my point :D
I've never dived in the ocean, nor have I an experience in reefing, however I think most people are attracted to the color 'pop' some corals produce under a blue light. It's just that and not the desire to make a biotope style aquarium trying to recreate nature. That's why most shops do that- they just follow the trend. One can always do what one wants and not follow the trend and do a macro algae tank or try to recreate the twilight zone with those non photosynthetic corals. Preference of taste, my guess.
P.S. many tanks are not so big, and real estate is a key factor too. Creating shadows is a waste of that space for someone who prefers fluorescence in colors.
@@potsmokeris Good points and you are correct. I just think these guys make blanket statements sometimes like assuming people are always thinking about shadows when the reality is, everyone has different ideas and techniques about how to create a successful tank. At this point it is trend chasing and BRS is at the bleeding edge of that as they should be. But for me, being 43 years old and having watched this industry go from giant T12 VHO, to Halide to power compact to T5HO to early LEDS to the insane lights we have now, it’s been quite a ride. The tech is great for the industry. But the coral rave trend just looks artificial to me. But hey, it’s gotten more people into the hobby so that’s a good thing!
@@zfunk007 I get your point, but as you say: they have to follow the trends. And this neon coral craze deffinitely got more people into this hobby. At least one- me. :D Always wanted a saltwater aquarium and when I saw videos with those corals under the blue light I was immediately hooked.
My lighting has changed so much over the years. Years ago I had 4 aquariums all lit by Radions now I have 4 aquariums all lit by Kessils. I am definitely a Kessil fan boy now.
I kept my Apogee Par meter because I intend on upgrading my lights and getting more tanks 🙂
I'm going to be using 6 radian xr30 pros on my 260 and 4 vortec mp60,s..I can't wait to start using them
Thinking of getting back into the hobby. When I had a reef tank before metal halides flanked by two blue spectrum bulbs were the way to go. Two different ballasts. Blue on all day, metal halides on mid morning throughout mid evening. It may not have been perfect but it was pleasing to the eye.
Do LED fixtures age out like halides and fluorescent bulbs did? There was a significant recurring cost with replacing them. Is there no live for halides anymore? Have they been found to be inferior?
Wish more love was given to aquatic life t5 hybrid
I think some of this is nonsense. For example I make tweaks to the lighting and can notice growth or color improvements within days. Also when we used to run daylight metal halides it was known to boost growth over color, and then we colored them up with radiums and t5's. Some of the best looking tanks, that get great growth, color shift light spectrums during the day. I think whats more of a factor is the type of light you are using for color shifting, if it's able to put out 400 par in warm daylight than it should be fine, but many lights like the radions, have 30+ blue/purple leds and only 4 warm white spectrums, so obviously that will impact the result of the color shift.
I have several tanks and different light set ups. On one of my 50 gallon low boys I had a set of AI Hydra's and all of my corals were just getting by. I made several changes trying to pinpoint the issue and finally changed the lights. I went with a reefbreeders photon 48 v2 pro and I am not exaggerating when I tell you......ALL of my corals reacted positively! all of the polyps popped out!!! After I removed the 2 Hydra 52's I noticed some of the bulbs were blown....so i'm thinking these corals weren't getting the spectrum they needed. I own a PAR meter so I know they had the proper PAR so it had to be the spectrum. I have a bunch of Radions and T5 hybrids as well as reefbrite hybrids but so far I am really digging the photon v2, I'm even thinking of replacing one of my other T5 and AI hybrids with one.