how lighting effects corals

anarchy

Well-Known Member
The UV in fixtures like a Hydra is just into the UV area and is there mostly to make the corals glow. It is not the short wave UV that is used in a UV filtration unit or like you get from HQI lighting,

With the Hydra, if you want to, you could set the UV off or way down, but it's not really needed.

Corals can grow slow for a number of reasons. Lighting is only one factor. Although in your case, you seem to be running the lighting with rather low output on the "green, red, and white" which might be a big factor. I run the Hydras on my tank with all the colors at about 85%. You might want to slowly increase the green, red, and white.

The other big factor is water quality, so make sure that is excellent also.
What's wrong with the hqi lighting? I only ask because on my selectable ballast there's the hqi feature

ANARCHY
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
What's wrong with the hqi lighting? I only ask because on my selectable ballast there's the hqi feature

ANARCHY

Nothing is "wrong" with it, but it must be used with special heat resistant glass that also blocks UV. Failure to do so will really destroy your livestock.

Regular mogul base MH bulbs have this UV protection built into the bulb, so you don't need an additional sheet of glass protecting your livestock.

The HQI feature on the ballast is because the two types of bulbs are started differently.
 

Walter Blair

New Member
There are many environments to change coral color. But in-home aquarium the most common cause of dramatic color change is due to lighting.
 
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