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

[Rüdiger Siek]

Dear Siviwe,

I am really experienced with LED lights.
I suggest 0.5 - 1 watts / litre. Do not use ultra violet LED.
The best configuration I experienced was a ratio of 1 (royal blue) : 3
(blue) : 16 (daylight 6500K) LEDs.
You can easily build your lighting by yourself, you just need a suitable
power supply (with 350mA constant current), a generous aluminium heat sink
(the cooler the LEDs are, the better is the efficiency and the longer they
live!), thermal adhesive (important to fix the LEDs to the heat sink!) and
1W high power LEDs. I suggest to use Cree MX6 emitter + starplate for
daylight LEDs (6500K), CREE XT-E emitter + starplate for royal blue LEDs
(450nm) and Cree XP-E emitter + starplate for blue LEDs (470nm).
Cree are a bit more expensive than other producer, but they have by far the
best light yield.

If you have a higher budget, just think about buying from a vendor like
Zetlight, Aqua Medic or Maxspect.
Personally I have experience with all three and can tell, that all three
vendors sell good products.
Maybe you can directly contact a vendor and ask, if they support your
research with a donation (that's how I got my Zetlight during my master
studies).

Cheers,
Ruediger


2017-05-25 17:58 GMT+02:00 SIVIWE ELVIS <siviweelvis at yahoo.com>:

> 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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