[Coral-List] Suitable lighting for coral maintenance in the aquarium

Wed Jun 7 20:18:46 EDT 2017

Dear Siviwe and listers,

It was suggested here to use blue light in order to maximize growth rates.
I want to draw your attention to a study we published recently (Cohen et al..
2016) that showed highest calcification rates under blue light compared to
red, green or light blue, but even slightly higher than the full spectrum
control. However, oxygen production was inhibited significantly and did not
reach the compensation point, although the absorption spectrum of
chlorophyll a peaks in the blue light. Therefore in order to maintain
optimal physiology of your corals I would suggest not restricting the
diverse photosynthetic antenna pigments to blue light.

You can look for more detailed explanations in Cohen et al. (2016).

Cohen, I., Dubinsky, Z., & Erez, J. (2016). Light Enhanced Calcification in
Hermatypic Corals: New Insights from Light Spectral Responses. *Frontiers
in Marine Science*, *2*, 122.‏

On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 3:24 PM, Rüdiger Siek <ruediger.siek at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Tim,
>
> If you need further information regarding DIY LED lighting / light spectrum
> or anything else LED related, you can contact me.
> On the weekend a friend of mine (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen) told me,
> that he is observing outstanding coral growth with red / infrared light,
> which is a real surprise for me.
>
> Kind regards,
> Ruediger
>
>
> 2017-06-02 18:35 GMT+02:00 Tim Wijgerde <wijgerde at coralpublications.com>:
>
> > Hi Ruediger,
> >
> > Too much (blue) light is too much, there's certainly quite some data to
> > support that view. Next to the action spectrum of zooxanthellae, it is
> > interesting to note that blue light seems to entrain the cell cycle of
> > zooxanthellae (for example see Wang et al. 2008). Without blue light,
> > corals
> > don't fare that well after some time (Kinzie et al. 1984, 1987, Wijgerde
> et
> > al. 2014).
> >
> > This certainly is an interesting topic! I am starting a new experiment
> > using
> > narrow bandwidth LED's soon, to look at a host of coral responses to
> > various
> > individual colors. Good times.
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> > Tim
> >
> > Kinzie III RA, Hunter T (1987) Effect of light quality on photosynthesis
> of
> > the reef coral Montipora verrucosa. Mar Biol 94:95–109
> >
> > Kinzie III RA, Jokiel PL, York R (1984) Effects of light of altered
> > spectral
> > composition on coral zooxanthellae associations and on zooxanthellae in
> > vitro. Mar Biol 78:239–248
> >
> > Wang L–H, Liu Y–H, Ju Y–M, Hsiao Y–Y, Fang L–S, et al. (2008) Cell cycle
> > propagation is driven by light–dark stimulation in a cultured symbiotic
> > dinoflagellate isolated from corals. Coral Reefs 27:823–835
> >
> > Wijgerde T, van Melis A, Silva CIF, Leal MC, Vogels L, et al. (2014) Red
> > Light Represses the Photophysiology of the Scleractinian Coral Stylophora
> > pistillata. PLoS ONE 9(3): e92781. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092781
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Rüdiger
> Siek
> > Sent: Friday, June 2, 2017 11:43 AM
> > To: SIVIWE ELVIS
> > Cc: Coral-List
> > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Suitable lighting for coral maintenance in the
> > aquarium
> >
> > Dear Siviwe,
> >
> > In your e-mail you mentioned, that you are looking for a lighting with
> > "natural daylight", but to be honest, it would be possible to keep your
> > corals with 0.3 watts / litre with 1:3 royal blue : blue LEDs without any
> > "white" light.
> > Blue wavelength have the highest emitted energy of all "visible"
> wavelength
> > (besides ultra-violet) and when you look at the absorption spectrum of
> > zooxanthellae, you can see, that the important wavelengths are between
> 430
> > and 470 nm.
> > In 2009 I build my very first DIY high power LED lighting and found it a
> > good idea to put a 3 watt royal blue LED for "moonlight" in the center of
> > the lamp. Two weeks later I found my Stylopora bleached due to the
> > permanent
> > light stress. You see, too much "blue light" is not healthy for corals
> > either.
> > >From my experience, the above mentioned mix 1:3:16 (royal blue : blue :
> > 6500K) has been tried and tested by many aquarists.
> >
> > If you need more help, feel free to e-mail me.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Ruediger
> >
> >
> >
> > 2017-06-01 17:55 GMT+02:00 Tim Wijgerde <wijgerde at coralpublications.com
> >:
> >
> > > Hi Ulf,
> > >
> > > Fortunately, today's aquarium lights can easily replicate nature in
> > > terms of irradiance, at least up to 1200 umol photons/m2/s. It depends
> > > on the size of your wallet, and of course the depth of your aquarium.
> > > I prefer the LED lights made by a well-known Dutch manufacturer of
> > > home appliances :-).
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > > Tim
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > > [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Ulf
> > > Erlingsson
> > > Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2017 4:42 PM
> > > To: Capman, William
> > > Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> > > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Suitable lighting for coral maintenance in
> > > the aquarium
> > >
> > > The other week I was a searching for info on light level on natural
> > > corals and found an article saying that aquariums notoriously have too
> > > little light, so you may want to measure in the field and make sure
> > > you get the appropriate light level in lux or in energy per square
> meter.
> > >
> > > Ulf Erlingsson
> > > President and CEO
> > > Lindorm, Inc.
> > > 10699 NW 123 St Rd
> > > Medley, FL 33178
> > >
> > > http://lindorm.com
> > > ceo at lindorm.com
> > > +1-305 888 0762 office
> > > +1-305 888 0978 fax
> > > +1-305 308 6334 mobile
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > On 2017-05-30, at 11:28 , Capman, William <capman at augsburg.edu>
> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > People are having good results with both LED and T5 lights (and
> > > > sometimes with combinations of the two!).
> > > >
> > > > Personally, my favorite lighting for small polyped stony corals is
> > > > metal halide - this is tried and true lighting for stony coral
> > > > aquaria that can give really excellent growth.  I have used 6500K
> > > > bulbs as well as 10,000k bulbs - the 6500K bulbs give excellent
> > > > growth (some folks have told me they feel 6500K bulbs give the best
> > > > growth), though corals do fine under the 10,000K bulbs and when
> > > > appearance matters the
> > > latter look nicer.
> > > >
> > > > A rough rule of thumb from Delbeek and Sprung's wonderful book "The
> > > > Reef Aquarium" is 3 - 5 watts of light per gallon (those
> > > > recommendations were from the days of metal halide and fluorescent
> > > > lighting - I don't know how to translate that into LED lighting).
> > > > Personally, when using metal halide lighting I have tended to use
> > > > roughly 6 to 10 watts per gallon (e.g. a 250 or 400 watt metal
> > > > halide over a tank as small as 40 gallons), and have had excellent
> > > > growth with the likes of Pocillopora and various Acropora species (I
> > > > imagine this would be too much light for some deeper water corals
> > though?).
> > > >
> > > > LED lights have the ability to be dimmed, and colors can be
> > > > manipulated (assuming you have some basis for deciding what color
> > > > balance
> > > is good!).
> > > > Metal halides can create heat problems (not an issue though if you
> > > > have good temperature control in the room with your tanks).
> > > >
> > > > There are many different lighting options here, and what you go with
> > > > will likely in part depend on what you have available in your area.
> > > > Note that one needs to be careful about changes in light intensity,
> > > > in particular making adjustments to higher light gradually.
> > > >
> > > > If there are any good quality coral reef aquarium shops in your area
> > > > I would visit these and see what they are using and what they
> > recommend.
> > > >
> > > > Even better:  See if there is a local coral reef aquarium hobbyist
> > > > group in your area - in the U.S anyway, I have found some of the
> > > > members of our local marine aquarium society to be *extremely*
> > > > knowledgeable and experienced, and this would likely give you the
> > > > opportunity to see a variety of fully functional coral reef systems
> > > > in person.  This is important because the lighting is only part of
> > > > what it takes to keep corals healthy and growing - the lighting is
> > > > important, but there is so much more to system design than just the
> > > lighting.
> > > >
> > > > Also, there are some wonderful online forums, such as
> > > > http://web1.reefcentral.com/forums/index.php?s=
> > > >
> > > > There is a wealth of information already in the discussion threads
> > > > at such forums (if you have time to wade through the many *many*
> > > > threads and posts and find the information relevant to you!), and
> > > > there are many helpful, knowledgeable people who could answer
> > > > questions. And you could probably find local coral reef aquarium
> > > > hobbyists in your area
> > > through such forums.
> > > >
> > > > Even though you are apparently wanting to grow corals for research,
> > > > *don't underestimate the value of making connections with the reef
> > > > aquarium hobbyist community, since quite a few of these people are
> > > > extremely knowledgeable, very sophisticated aquarists with great
> > > > skill in growing and propagating corals.*  Some of the most amazing,
> > > > sophisticated coral reef aquarium systems (with healthy, thriving,
> > > > live corals) I have ever seen have been in people's homes, and quite
> > > > a lot of what we know about how to grow corals in aquaria was
> > > > initially
> > > figured out by advanced hobbyists.
> > > >
> > > > I hope this helps (and I apologize for not making the metric
> > > conversions!).
> > > >
> > > > Bill
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, May 29, 2017 at 7:18 PM, Zachary Ostroff
> > > > <zachostroff at gmail.com>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> I suggest reaching out to the public aquarium industry. They can
> > > >> help you select appropriate equipment for the dimensions of the
> > > >> system you need to illuminate, and what you desire to grow in it.
> > > >>
> > > >> Zach Ostroff
> > > >> Marine Exploration Center, St. Petersburg FL www.mecstpete.org
> > > >> <http://www.mecstpete.org/> Facebook.com/MECStPete
> > > >> <http://facebook.com/MECStPete>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Message: 2
> > > >>> Date: Thu, 25 May 2017 15:58:11 +0000 (UTC)
> > > >>> From: SIVIWE ELVIS <siviweelvis at yahoo.com>
> > > >>> Subject: [Coral-List] Suitable lighting for coral maintenance in
> the
> > > >>>      aquarium
> > > >>> To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > > >>> Message-ID: <1657713927.1964449.1495727891410 at mail.yahoo.com>
> > > >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Dear fellow Coral Reef researchers
> > > >>>
> > > >>> I am interested in conducting aquarium experiments with corals
> > > >> (Pocillopora and Anomastrea species) to be collected from the wild
> > > >> (inter-tidal and sub-tidal zone). This is to inquire about the best
> > > >> lights to use which would produce the natural day light spectrum to
> > > >> mimic the natural coral environment, achieving optimal growth for
> > > >> these coral animals while in maintained in glass tanks.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> I am not good with lights but I seemingly need to make a choice
> > > >>> between
> > > >> either T5 (fluorescent tube) or T8 (LED strips tube) lights for
> > > >> coral maintenance. Any advice and suggestions or references in this
> > > >> regard will be highly appreciated.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Thank you
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Best regards
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Siviwe Babane (MSc Marine Biology student)
> > > >>>
> > > >>> University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) College of Agriculture,
> > > >>> Engineering and Science School of Life Science Biological Science
> > > >>> Department Westville, University road Durban
> > > >>> 4000
> > > >> _______________________________________________
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> > > >> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> > > >>
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-- 
-- 

Itay Cohen,

e-mail: 2itaycohen at gmail.com
Phone +972-(50)-7450404