Will corals grow under 4300k MH lighting?

[Corndork2]

Will corals grow well under 4300k MH lighting? The reason I ask is I ran into a bunch of free 4300k bulbs and am thinking of setting up a coral propogation/frag setup with them.

[A.T.T.R]

they should just be ugly as hell

[silverwolf72]

No expert but I'm going to say that for growth it's a great option but it will cause the corals to be more brown so don't expect them to be pretty until they get put into a tank with a higher K rating.

[A.T.T.R]

i used 5.5k till heat killed everything ( now the tanks are emtpy till the ac unit takes effect ) first time on today WOOT

[Toddrtrex]

I am sure that they would grow, but like said, the color of them might not be all that great.

And IMO, color is more important then growth.

[jerryz]

LOL color more important than growth. Not in a frag tank. You finish them in a finishing tank with different lights to get the coloration you want and let them grow out under the cheap/free lights.

[Toddrtrex]

Originally posted by jerryz
LOL color more important than growth. Not in a frag tank. You finish them in a finishing tank with different lights to get the coloration you want and let them grow out under the cheap/free lights.

I said in my opinion that color is more important, even in a frag tank, esp with a 4300K bulb, that is really going to effect it.

[carman9941]

you can always supplement with act. n.o. would work fine

[kysard1]

Originally posted by Toddrtrex
I am sure that they would grow, but like said, the color of them might not be all that great.

And IMO, color is more important then growth.

This is a myth, these bulbs will be ideal for frag growout.

[Toddrtrex]

I had no idea that an opinion could be a myth.

And the question that I have, it what type of ballast do you have, and where did the OPer get the bulbs..

[cutegecko3]

ive used a 250 watt G.E. bulb i bought from lowes when my m 58 ballast burned up a 10k bulb.the light was very yellow but it produced the brightest coloration and fastest growth rates of any bulb ive ever seen.i havent used the iwasaki 65k bulb before but i would suspect the G.E. bulb whooped it pretty good.

[stony_corals]

As someone who has used 4300k halides in the past, I'll tell you from experience, that you'll get growth and color. It won't be the best color, as the yellow will make the blues look brownish... but it can work. This was cutting edge back in the day

[musty baby]

Question: is the color still "there" when grown under the 4300K bulbs? I know that the lighting doesn't bring out the colors; for example if you pull a colorful coral out of a display and put it under the 4300K lighting it will look nothing but brown, but if you take a coral grown under 4300K lighting and stick it under display lighting will it still be *nearly* as colorful? I know that they will brown out, but my question is really to what EXTENT do they brown out? Does everything grown under yellow lighting still look completely brown under higher K lighting?

[stony_corals]

There are two things happening, one) what pigments the coral develops under specific spectrum, and two) what your eyes.....

Can you have colorful corals under 4300K, yes. If you look at a lot of T5 tanks, they are adding bulbs such as GE 3K, KZ Fiji Purple, and ATI Pro Color due to the spikes in the red spectrum. A 4300K halide has this, I don't know what bulb you're using, but the yellow color of the bulb could be hiding the blue color of the corals.

When I think brown out, I think my nutrients are through the roof and the coral turns poopy colored. Having a yellow light is different the colors will be there, but due to the yellow, you're eye may perceive them to be brown when in fact the coral is blue, say under a 10K or above....

[Caragol]

Originally posted by Toddrtrex
I had no idea that an opinion could be a myth.

This is also a myth. Stop spreading myths Todd!



It's worth a shot, but how many bulbs would be over the tank? If it's just the one on a smaller tank it may be worth just buying a bulb so you can show more accurate color to others when you're selling/trading. Everyone will see a different color in their own tank with their own lighting, but the difference with a 4300K is more dramatic. If you've got multiple bulbs running and/or you're planning on growing frags to full colonies before selling, then start with the 4300K I'd say and move to a finishing tank like jerryz suggested.

[Tech Diver]

Won't such a low color temperature promote the growth of algae?

[ArgonDreams]

Originally posted by stony_corals
There are two things happening, one) what pigments the coral develops under specific spectrum, and two) what your eyes.....

Can you have colorful corals under 4300K, yes. If you look at a lot of T5 tanks, they are adding bulbs such as GE 3K, KZ Fiji Purple, and ATI Pro Color due to the spikes in the red spectrum. A 4300K halide has this, I don't know what bulb you're using, but the yellow color of the bulb could be hiding the blue color of the corals.

When I think brown out, I think my nutrients are through the roof and the coral turns poopy colored. Having a yellow light is different the colors will be there, but due to the yellow, you're eye may perceive them to be brown when in fact the coral is blue, say under a 10K or above....

There isn't much scientific evidence of Kelvin rating will change the coloration of a given coral. Usually it's a factor of intensity that a given bulb will produce at specific wavelengths.

So... The best thing for growth and color is high intensity across the light spectrum (there is something like this... "the sun") that being said. for growth lower kelvin ratings have been found in scientific studies to produce not only superior growth rates but good color. So yes, those bulbs are fine for growing and color.

However, to the naked eye it will probably look like crap. I also would add actinic for phosphor based pigments. There have been some studies showing that blue wavelength so induce coloration in phosphor based pigments in corals.

[stony_corals]

Originally posted by Tech Diver
Won't such a low color temperature promote the growth of algae?

No it won't, nutrients do...

[Flint&Eric]

spectrum does effect coloration (pigments).

i will be using 5000k, 6500K and 4200k bulbs to highlight certain corals in my new system... like stony said they have lots of red and yellow spectrum in them. i've used venture 400w 5000K bulbs before, i see no reason why 4300K wouldnt work. perhaps you'd want to supplement it with blue bulbs not necessarily for asesthetics but to be sure the corals will get the specific wavelength for proper growth...what those wavelengths are exactly i dont know, but it cant hurt

[stony_corals]

Oh, it'll work, I've used them before... like in the early 90s

[gatohoser]

To answer this question exactly as you ask it and give you some general knowledge so that you understand why the answer is what it is: will corals grow under 4300k MH lighting?

Yes.
What makes a coral grow? Largely, it's the symbiotic algae contained in their tissues. And what makes that algae grow? Light and nutrients. As for the light part, the algae have the ability to absorb a broad spectrum of light. Pretty much from just beyond the blues that we can see to the redddest light we can see. There are areas of the spectrum where the light is more effective in stimulating photosynthesis, but pretty much if you can see light coming out of the bulb then it will cause growth for your coral. All the discussion about color is simply aesthetics and how fast you want the corals to grow. Hope that helps you to understand why you are getting the answers that you are.

[stony_corals]

Thanks gatohoser... nice summary