Tombones
Active Member
Pictures first.
My corals have finally grown into large colonies after lots of frustration and heartache and of course always critiquing my tank. I noticed the undersides of the corals turned whitish, devoid of color. In my Walter Mitty mind I have always thought about having my reef tank looking more like the sun. I put HO T5 bulbs tilted inward on each side of my LED array. Corals loved it but still had white undersides of colonies. I thought of putting high powered LEDs with highly focused lenses on the ceiling aimed at the side of the aquarium but gave that up due to aesthetics and the fact I would continually blind myself accidentally looking up at them.
Now this is the next step to see if I can at least make an improvement.
Amazon product
Blue LED strip lights(SMD 5050) around the base of 125 gallon peninsula aquarium. They have 120 degree view angle, 18 lumens/LED, 2-4 watts per foot. That totals between 40-50 watts. The tank 6'x6'x18" with lights spaced 1"apart. The light strips are clear so I used chalkboard tape to cover the outside to eliminate the glare of the strip. I have them come on first in the morning and go off last at night. That gives a very nice visual and as you can see the light illuminates fairly well under the colonies and the corals close to the glass. Will it help? I don't know but is was a nice little DIY project for less than $20.00.
My corals have finally grown into large colonies after lots of frustration and heartache and of course always critiquing my tank. I noticed the undersides of the corals turned whitish, devoid of color. In my Walter Mitty mind I have always thought about having my reef tank looking more like the sun. I put HO T5 bulbs tilted inward on each side of my LED array. Corals loved it but still had white undersides of colonies. I thought of putting high powered LEDs with highly focused lenses on the ceiling aimed at the side of the aquarium but gave that up due to aesthetics and the fact I would continually blind myself accidentally looking up at them.
Now this is the next step to see if I can at least make an improvement.
Amazon product
Blue LED strip lights(SMD 5050) around the base of 125 gallon peninsula aquarium. They have 120 degree view angle, 18 lumens/LED, 2-4 watts per foot. That totals between 40-50 watts. The tank 6'x6'x18" with lights spaced 1"apart. The light strips are clear so I used chalkboard tape to cover the outside to eliminate the glare of the strip. I have them come on first in the morning and go off last at night. That gives a very nice visual and as you can see the light illuminates fairly well under the colonies and the corals close to the glass. Will it help? I don't know but is was a nice little DIY project for less than $20.00.
