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

Mon Jun 5 17:08:19 EDT 2017

Dear Coral reef researchers

I would like to take this opportunity and express my genuine gratitude in this forum to all of you for your supportive and informative responses (suggestions, comments and inputs) in making a choice on the lights most suitable for coral maintenance indoors. 

Thank you for prompt sharing your knowledge and experience with me as it has been helpful. I will definitely share the findings of my research work, once completed. 

Best regards

Siviwe Elvis Babane
MSc Candidate (Marine Biology)
UKZN, Biological Sciences

Tel. 0312601634

--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 6/5/17, Jeremy Simmonds <59pickup at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Suitable lighting for coral maintenance in the aquarium
 To: "Tim Wijgerde" <wijgerde at coralpublications.com>
 Cc: "Rüdiger Siek" <ruediger.siek at gmail.com>, "SIVIWE ELVIS" <siviweelvis at yahoo.com>, "Coral-List" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
 Date: Monday, June 5, 2017, 1:28 PM

 Hi 
 If you are
 looking for good solid information on coral lighting and
 husbandry in closed systems. 
 It would be
 well worth talking to jcraggs at horniman.ac.uk 
 Jamie Craggs at the Horniman "Project Coral" 
 who is doing some great work replicating
 natural lighting and husbandry to close off the life cycle
 of
 Scleractinian corals in captivity
 synchronising with mass spawning events from their
 collection zones, settlement etc.
 The
 protocols he is developing would be a good place to start.

 regards jez

 > On 2
 Jun 2017, at 17:35, Tim Wijgerde <wijgerde at coralpublications.com>
 wrote:
 > 
 > 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
 >>>>
 _______________________________________________
 >>>> Coral-List mailing list
 >>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
 >>>> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
 >>>> 
 >>>
 _______________________________________________
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 >>> 
 >> 
 >>
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