Anyone Else Sick of Actinic Only Pics?

[chicago]

blue spectrum or blue light to our eyes?

 

[jda]

You can take photos like this all over indo and coral sea - in some places, it is literally horizon to horizon. Microladus (shortcakes), austera, stags, lokani, gems, rosaria, all without getting your shoulders wet. The guys that we went out with collect shallow because it is easier/cheaper and the coral has more color when they illuminate them for their wholesale photos.

 

[Surfandturf]

You can take photos like this all over indo and coral sea - in some places, it is literally horizon to horizon. Microladus (shortcakes), austera, stags, lokani, gems, rosaria, all without getting your shoulders wet. The guys that we went out with collect shallow because it is easier/cheaper and the coral has more color when they illuminate them for their wholesale photos.

Hmm very interesting. So we should be exposing our sps to pure sunlight and no water to for a few hours/mins a day to fully replicate their natural habitat?

 

[jda]

Daylight will bring out the most colors...always has. Most people do not like it for illumination and use bluer lights for this. The best colored tanks always have some daylight in the spectrum. ...so daylight for color rendering and whatever-you-like for illumination. If you understand that 1). rendering and 2). illumination are different, then you are ahead of the game.

I use MH, which has a lot of daylight...and also blues to make it pop. This is a one-package deal. T5s can do the same if you mix in some daylight bulbs with your C+, B+, etc. which have some, but not as much. LED is hard since you have to turn up the daylight spectrum and not many do, but check out the colors that some folks get when they do (Dr. Joshi).

 

[Dom274]

It seems like some are starting to take advantage of the actinic 'color pop' to sell corals that don't actually look that great under daylight---which, by the way, is how I and I assume many others view their tanks at least 50%+ of the time.

Your assumptions are wrong, leading you to a conspiracy theory where the coral vendors are out to trick and take advantage of you. The coral vendors are simply businesses. Businesses in a free market respond to what the majority of their customers want by offering it more and more. Fun fact, contrary to what many people think, this is what the phrase "The customer is always right" actually refers to.


1 - Define the term "daylight" please. I have a suspicion that what I see and call "daylight" is quite different than what you would call "daylight".

2 - Most people work during the day, which coincidentally, is when the tank's daylights are on. I almost only see my tank during evening when the actinics are on. The same can be said about my brother, co-worker and boss's tanks.

3 - Why do you assume everyone wants a natural look? The look I'm going for in my tank is: "Willy Wonka on acid". I've lived in Honolulu, and I'd say that a "natural" looking reef would be almost entirely brown, green & purple.

 

[jda]

Some of them are out to trick and take advantage of people. Some lie about lineage, color and otherwise knowingly deceive people. This is not every vendor, but noobies especially need to look out for these sellers. I know of a very prominent coastal vendor that bought 10x rainbow 'nems from a friend of mine and sold them as Colorado Sunbursts under blue LED with doctored photos even after my friend called them to let them know that they were not really Sunbursts.

Lets do not lump the bad in with the good, but it is not bad for the community to watch out for those who do not know any different.

 

[Dom274]

You can take photos like this all over indo and coral sea

I'm flattered that you think I have good photography skills , but that image was taken by marine naturalist and underwater photographer Roger Steene. I'm willing to bet there was some post-processing involved there to "enhance" the color a bit. I could be using the wrong terminology, but the colors in the photo look more vibrant than they would be if you were standing there yourself. Maybe it's just me - being a computer nerd has made my eyes intolerant of natural daylight lol.

 

[Hal3134]

Jumping in late, but yes, I hate actinic only pics. For me, it is darn close to a seller committing fraud. Show me the coral under 6500k lighting.

I notice that live aquaria has plenty of stunningly beautiful corals and none of them are under actinic lighting.

 

[Surfandturf]

Jumping in late, but yes, I hate actinic only pics. For me, it is darn close to a seller committing fraud. Show me the coral under 6500k lighting.

I notice that live aquaria has plenty of stunningly beautiful corals and none of them are under actinic lighting.

Clearly, you have no idea what the definition of fraud is. If you are too ignorant to see that a picture is taken under blue lighting, then you need to get into a new hobby. Cheers!

 

[Hal3134]

Clearly, you have no idea what the definition of fraud is. If you are too ignorant to see that a picture is taken under blue lighting, then you need to get into a new hobby. Cheers!

Clearly, you did not read my reply or you would have seen the “darn close” modifiers in front of “fraud”. Clearly, you have not spent much time on the internet or you would be familiar with hyperbole.
Clearly, your post had no point but to try to insult me.
I’m done responding to you.

 

[Surfandturf]

Clearly, you did not read my reply or you would have seen the “darn close” modifiers in front of “fraud”. Clearly, you have not spent much time on the internet or you would be familiar with hyperbole.
Clearly, your post had no point but to try to insult me.
I’m done responding to you.

Good to hear. Cheers!

 

[jda]

Deception for the purpose of financial or personal gain is fraud - this is an actual definition. It is fraud whether the buyers should know better or not. Usually, for fraud to be a crime, it has to be intentional and cause massive harm. Caveat Emptor is not a legal defense for fraud. There are totally fraudulent coral sellers... there are many that are not. Not even the fraudulent ones are criminal. Civil suit might be possible for the few that lie, but who would waste enough time and money on this? ...just offer your opinion and vote with your checkbook.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Jumping in late, but yes, I hate actinic only pics. For me, it is darn close to a seller committing fraud. Show me the coral under 6500k lighting.

I notice that live aquaria has plenty of stunningly beautiful corals and none of them are under actinic lighting.

Most coral looks very bland under that lighting though. I WANT to see lighting under blue and actinic because that's the spectrum of my tank and the spectrum I prefer. I think if I was going to go with a more 6500k look i'd roll with a softy/mushroom/anemone tank. I just don't see the reason on going with vivid colored SPS corals like WD and those blueberry variants only to blast them with white lights.

 

[Bacon505]

Can you successfully run a reef tank with only daylight bulbs t5? like 12000k? or even 6500k?

yes, i ran my tank around 12-14k with my T5 for about a year to push growth on my acro. wouldnt recommend if its a high nutrient tank, you will have a faster algae growth.

 

[Bacon505]

this statement might offend some people so i apologized in advance. However, i think some people in this discussion aren't being honest to themselves. I rarely seen anyone or heard from them saying that they love the colors of their corals under 12-14k lighting and not under blue. most of us run long period of blue spectrum not just for the dawn/dust but it gives a viewing pleasure and rewarding feeling, that we did something right for our corals to show that nice colors. a brown/bleach corals will still be brown/bleach color doesn't matter how much blue/actinic you blast at them. some colors pigmentation from corals can only bring out by actinic lighting and thanks to blue/actinic we are able to do that. Vendor who took pix under blue is just to show the true potential of the coral colors, nothing wrong with it. Now, it would be totally different stand point with some vendor who took it to the extreme and start to Photoshop and saturate their photo. And those who's in the hobby long enough to identify a photo that was saturated because the colors is too animated and unrealistic. i think tidal garden did a video on identifying Photoshop photo with high saturation.

 

[rosshamsandwich]

this statement might offend some people so i apologized in advance. However, i think some people in this discussion aren't being honest to themselves. I rarely seen anyone or heard from them saying that they love the colors of their corals under 12-14k lighting and not under blue. most of us run long period of blue spectrum not just for the dawn/dust but it gives a viewing pleasure and rewarding feeling, that we did something right for our corals to show that nice colors. a brown/bleach corals will still be brown/bleach color doesn't matter how much blue/actinic you blast at them. some colors pigmentation from corals can only bring out by actinic lighting and thanks to blue/actinic we are able to do that. Vendor who took pix under blue is just to show the true potential of the coral colors, nothing wrong with it. Now, it would be totally different stand point with some vendor who took it to the extreme and start to Photoshop and saturate their photo. And those who's in the hobby long enough to identify a photo that was saturated because the colors is too animated and unrealistic. i think tidal garden did a video on identifying Photoshop photo with high saturation.

cool stuff

 

[Surfandturf]

this statement might offend some people so i apologized in advance. However, i think some people in this discussion aren't being honest to themselves. I rarely seen anyone or heard from them saying that they love the colors of their corals under 12-14k lighting and not under blue. most of us run long period of blue spectrum not just for the dawn/dust but it gives a viewing pleasure and rewarding feeling, that we did something right for our corals to show that nice colors. a brown/bleach corals will still be brown/bleach color doesn't matter how much blue/actinic you blast at them. some colors pigmentation from corals can only bring out by actinic lighting and thanks to blue/actinic we are able to do that. Vendor who took pix under blue is just to show the true potential of the coral colors, nothing wrong with it. Now, it would be totally different stand point with some vendor who took it to the extreme and start to Photoshop and saturate their photo. And those who's in the hobby long enough to identify a photo that was saturated because the colors is too animated and unrealistic. i think tidal garden did a video on identifying Photoshop photo with high saturation.

Haters gonna hate lol

 

[rosshamsandwich]

im with julian sprung on this one..i love the look of the metal halide 10000k

 

[Big E]

I love my 14k look and hate the windex blue look I see so common today by mostly dominant LED setups.
I like a tank that is very bright and with all the prime colors showing peak coloration. The more blue you go the less pop you'll see in purple, red, and blue. Greens, orange and yellow will show more prominently...........it's how our eyes perceive color as the tank darkens.

The 20k look which was/is still popular is nice but has way less blue than the cave like dark blue I see now.

My only defination of what I see today reminds me of Spencer Gifts retail stores and black light posters of the seventies. Most of that lighting is just reflective,fake & lipstick on a pig.

A lot of this is just personal preference, so I really don't care how people post pictures or light their tanks.
Like has been mentioned, if you have been around long enough you can figure out how corals will look under your lighting choice.

 

[rosshamsandwich]

I love my 14k look and hate the windex blue look I see so common today by mostly dominant LED setups.
I like a tank that is very bright and with all the prime colors showing peak coloration. The more blue you go the less pop you'll see in purple, red, and blue. Greens, orange and yellow will show more prominently...........it's how our eyes perceive color as the tank darkens.

The 20k look which was/is still popular is nice but has way less blue than the cave like dark blue I see now.

My only defination of what I see today reminds me of Spencer Gifts retail stores and black light posters of the seventies. Most of that lighting is just reflective,fake & lipstick on a pig.

A lot of this is just personal preference, so I really don't care how people post pictures or light their tanks.
Like has been mentioned, if you have been around long enough you can figure out how corals will look under your lighting choice.

i agreew tih you completely...the 14k look is the most natural imho...i love it... i could do without the windex look as well...desn't look natural... does it really look like that where the corals grow?