Looking for High CRI (95) Natural/Full spectrum 5000-6500K LED strip

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

UV is another consideration… The few debates I’ve come across didn’t convince me either way

UV has shown to be helpful in some ways (such as increasing the number of eggs produced by ghost shrimp), but not necessary. It does play an important role in a number of biological and social factors (including, for example, how clownfish perceive each other/rank each other socially), but what all it does aside from giving sunburns is not well studied at this point.

There are very limited studies that I've found on IR and marine life at this point, so I would assume it plays some sort of role for at least some critters, but I have no idea what that role may be.

Yellow and green light also play roles that aren't very well studied, but I know these have been shown to impact the development of reproductive organs in some fish, and the pre-birth development of some live-bearer fish.

 

[dansyr]

Keep in mind what "lumens" is and what is measured.. A pure 660nm red and royal blue unit may have really low lumens yet really high par.
The more red/blue in a light the less lumens.

That was CREE's "trick" Like 60-70 CRI (more green/yellow) units had 150-ish L/W.

It's not a good measure for high CRI lights.
Sort of misleading.

Proof..since Lux is just lumens/area put it into this calculator.

Convert Lux to PPFD - Online Calculator | Waveform Lighting

Online calculator to convert illuminance (lux) to PPFD (micromoles per second per meter squared).

www.waveformlighting.com

Set it to daylight then red/blue led
1000 Lux in daylight is 23 PPFD
Low cri led is 13.1 PPFD @ 1000 lux
red/ blue led is 88.73 PPFD @ 1000 lux
red/blue @ 250 lux is 22.18 PPFD

Yes for sure - I meant that more of as a way for people interested in lighting algae cultures, mangroves, plants etc. Maybe even cheap PAR booster for anemones, clams, etc.

Aesthetically bridgelux's medium/high CRI 80-98 'looks' a lot more full than comparable CRI Cree's I've seen and orders better than the red/blue grow lights.

Definitely PPFD is not equal to lumens for sure, but for people looking to light things up, it's WAY brighter per watt for a more pleasing spectrum than all the cheap home depot, amazon, etc fixtures, AND it doesn't need cooling. Wonderful for plant rack / algae cultures IMO.

 

[Doctorgori]

There are any number of " standard light sources" used .

So if I want the “best possible” photographic rendition that most closely matches sunlight, what combo of LED lights give me the best shot?

My goal here is to document and measure a corals growth and coloration under the best approximation to sunlight. I understand we can’t cover all possible spectra but I’d like to expose the subjects to whatever artificial emissions technology allows; whatever is available, whether proven useful by “study” or not

UV has shown to be helpful in some ways (such as increasing the number of eggs produced by ghost shrimp), but not necessary. It does play an important role in a number of biological and social factors (including, for example, how clownfish perceive each other/rank each other socially), but what all it does aside from giving sunburns is not well studied at this point.

that info is useful. Thank you…so are we gonna want a UV LED anyway? Will this UV LED’s spectra “caboose” up against the last blue LED in the spectral spread? or is there a gap between the last “visible” blue LED and the UV?
@oreo54 any ideas? Anyone?

There are very limited studies that I've found on IR and marine life at this point, so I would assume it plays some sort of role for at least some critters, but I have no idea what that role may be.

Thanks , this is a similar issue to the UV at the other end. Do these IR LEDs “butt end” against most lights red end or is there a spectral gap? Is there such a thing as a LED heat lamp?
I’m using a 40 breeder, tank is shallow so IR might be useful but I dunno how much “punch” a IR LED has in 18” of water
Still a broad spectrum is the goal here and I don’t want to leave anything out
Conversation and Input in this area appreciated

Yellow and green light also play roles that aren't very well studied,

I’m hoping whatever light we end up choosing has a flat spread from the needed blues across into IR, a pipe dream probably but the most graphs I’ve seen with the so called “full spectrum daylight” LEDs do have a nice fat green-yellow-red range without peaks and valleys…
I don’t think green and yellow should be a problem

 

[oreo54]

So if I want the “best possible” photographic rendition that most closely matches sunlight, what combo of LED lights give me the best shot?

My goal here is to document and corals growth and coloration under the best approximation to sunlight. I understand we can’t cover all possible spectra but I’d like to expose the subjects to whatever artificial emissions technology allows; whatever is available, whether proven useful by “study” or not


that info is useful. Thank you…so are we gonna want a UV LED anyway? Will this UV LED’s spectra “caboose” up against the last blue LED in the spectral spread? or is there a gap between the last “visible” blue LED and the UV?
@oreo54 any ideas? Anyone?


Thanks , this is a similar issue to the UV at the other end. Do these IR LEDs “butt end” against most lights red end or is there a spectral gap? Is there such a thing as a LED heat lamp?
I’m using a 40 breeder, tank is shallow so IR might be useful but I dunno how much “punch” a IR LED has in 18” of water
Still a broad spectrum is the goal here and I don’t want to leave anything out
Conversation and Input in this area appreciated


I’m hoping whatever light we end up choosing has a flat spread from the needed blues across into IR, a pipe dream probably but the most graphs I’ve seen with the so called “full spectrum daylight” LEDs do have a nice fat green-yellow-red range without peaks and valleys…
I don’t think green and yellow should be a problem

In the forgotten history ...

Corals don't require UV-A or UV-B to grow and many, if not all, don't need it to color up. We determined this back in the 90's at the coral farm, where we used metal halide lamps (Iwasaki 400w daylights) that had plastic splash guards which absorbed all UV (as determined by use of a UV radiometer). There is (or was) an aquarium LED light that used 365nm LEDs - I seem to think this was a BML lamp, but it's been a while. Many types of zooxanthellae can produce UV-B absorbing compounds (MAAs, or mycosporine amino acids). There are maybe a half dozen MAAs that absorb specific UV bandwidths, with the highest absorption at around 350nm or so. Hence, using lamps producing UV-B might be an exercise in futility.

LED’s- No UV? Do corals need UV for longterm health?

Just wondering how important UV is for longterm coral health, specifically Acropora. Somebody measured some LED fixtures and the conclusion was they lack UV. Personally I’ve never seen a tank with LED’s struggle that much. I’ve been watching closely over the last several years and from what I...

www.reef2reef.com

Now that said there is plenty of UV in nature at shallow depths.
To go to extremes there are plenty of other energy sources that aren't provided by any lamps ..

 

[Doctorgori]

Now that said there is plenty of UV in nature at shallow depths.
To go to extremes there are plenty of other energy sources that aren't provided by any lamps ..

So my argument is: feeding zooxanthelle is one thing, but as we know with terrestrial animals: you can’t eat sunlight, yet they still need it… I have my doubts that through the 300 million years or so this class of animals has been around that some need for wavelengths outside of zooxanthelle needs aren’t required (or exploited)
…is “growth” and color the sole measure that the environment is meeting all the animals biological needs?

Granted biology under water is absolutely different, I doubt whatever lives in water has evolved to need sunlight for vitamin C (or whatever) …
I dunno, most aquarium light seem to be designed to feed zooxanthelle and for color pop, but is that all we need?
Probably, but that is IMO a unanswered question…
I’d like to compare what happens if you give the coral a “broad spectrum” of light vs a zooxanthelle optimized lighting environment

 

[WvAquatics]

I have also been looking at other forms of lighting. A lot of hydroponic lights seem like a good option for your study. Here's one I see.

Vivosun AeroLight A100 Tunable Spectrum LED Grow Light 100W

Elevate your growth game with the Vivosun AeroLight A100! Experience the power of tunable spectrum LED Grow Light combined with an integrated fan for optimal plant health.

vivosun.com

 

[Doctorgori]

I have also been looking at other forms of lighting. A lot of hydroponic lights seem like a good option for your study. Here's one I see.

Vivosun AeroLight A100 Tunable Spectrum LED Grow Light 100W

Elevate your growth game with the Vivosun AeroLight A100! Experience the power of tunable spectrum LED Grow Light combined with an integrated fan for optimal plant health.

vivosun.com

Thank you, I just went over to check that out. I’ve bought Vivosun stuff; definitely better quality than most Chinese/Amazon stuff.

The positives being Vivosun and that adjustable spectrum
The negative is the spectral spread is a lil bumpy. I’m looking to add in the so called “waste”(i.e light spectrums with no clear or proven biological value)
This applies to both the visible and invisible spectrums (within practical/technological reason)

Appreciate the link as I might have to consider lighting that isn’t aquarium specific.
That salt environment over a tank can be hard on Chinese made stuff. They will use an aluminum housing et, but they absolutely will cut cost on screws and hardware. Sometimes aquarium specific gear takes the salt into account (big emphasis on “sometimes”)

 

[Doctorgori]

Added: I’m going through Why do people run 6500k…long thread now…might be relevance … pardon the ongoing evolution here
also..
Anyone reading this, please understand my knowledge here is limited and there might be some language inaccuracies…

So this I think a LED a unit matching any of the below graphs would be ideal with some bookends in the IR and UV

Ideally the envisioned LED’s fixture would also emit with a similar spectral spread …

I then want to compare growth, color and whatever other meaningful biometrics that measure a subjective “bio performance” …however we want to define that ..
Additionally
I also want to photograph the corals under the both types of lighting:
A) “Natural” broad spectrum 5000K - 6500K
B) “Blue” 12k - 15k Reef tank “retail” lighting (AI Hydra spectrum below)

 

[WvAquatics]

Cree XLamp LEDs - XPL, CXA, XTE, XPE2, XPG2 & XML2 LEDs

I also looked into these 3up leds. This was the better site I found for individual led. Long story short cost to build a light is on par with manufacturer prices so I stepped back.

 

[Doctorgori]

This was the better site I found for individual led. Long story short cost to build a light is on par with manufacturer prices so I stepped back.

This is where I’m stuck also: off shelf vs custom build…
I’d like as many opinions and angles on this decision as possible…no clue which direction so far:

I want both IR and UV (I think) … no proven biological benefit, but I don’t want to leave out variables
I want a color rendition close to sunlight ( fully realizing you can simply photograph outdoors)
I want a broad spectrum in the visible light range without too many peaks and valleys

I don’t see any commercial units meeting all criteria and I’m clueless on LED components…

Just evolving the conversation but now wondering if I should get a commercial unit and build a custom unit for spectral fill in ?

 

[WvAquatics]

This is where I’m stuck also: off shelf vs custom build…
I’d like as many opinions and angles on this decision as possible…no clue which direction so far:

I want both IR and UV (I think) … no proven biological benefit, but I don’t want to leave out variables
I want a color rendition close to sunlight ( fully realizing you can simply photograph outdoors)
I want a broad spectrum in the visible light range without too many peaks and valleys

I don’t see any commercial units meeting all criteria and I’m clueless on LED components…

Just evolving the conversation but now wondering if I should get a commercial unit and build a custom unit for spectral fill in ?

This is all subject to your wants and needs. I think the Quanta Atlas is the closest to white spectrum of commercial lights. The led supply that i shared has all components to make a reef light. They even have a package that supplies everything. Worth a look through. But once you start adding your own leds to match a spectrum will be difficult without some form of meter to judge your spectrum. Love you are going down the rabbit hole a bunch of us have went down. From what I gathered when I was looking into it the price for led supply for a 6ft was around 1,500$. 750$ for each 3 ft kit.

 

[oreo54]

This is where I’m stuck also: off shelf vs custom build…
I’d like as many opinions and angles on this decision as possible…no clue which direction so far:

Well just to add WAY out of the box stuff for "completeness".
1) And I dare not look at the price.

Phytofy RL | Entertainment & Industry

Smart LED Lighting System for Horticulture Research

www.osram.us

2) And a "retro" t12 tube.

Grow Lights - OrchidSupply.com

NEW T5 Fluorescent Grow Light Fixtures The Next Generation of Horticultural Lighting Twice as Bright as Standard Fluorescents (5,000 lumens per bulb) More Energy Efficient (54 watts per bulb) Longer Life (30,000 hours) Highest Quality Fixtures Chrome Plated Reflective Hood (4 & 6 bulb lights)...

orchidsupply.com

 

[Doctorgori]

@oreo54 that thing is friggin crazy WOW …
Digging in now, thank you

 

[oreo54]

@oreo54 that thing is friggin crazy WOW …
Digging in now, thank you

Sure .. Except for the typical blue spike and no IR
the Mitras line is useable because of the number of channels

 

[Doctorgori]

LONG!!!!
OK evolving this, I read the entire thread:
Why do people run 6500K bulbs?

There is a LOT of useful info and relevance in this thread, I’ve highlighted some key post/quotes

Edit: I apologies for quoting members on an old thread. Please forgive the alerts. I was torn between grave digging or rehashing the same idea…Again appreciate the patience

Also, when you combine that coral need some IR to move energy between PSII and PSI, this is another reason why a 6.5K with a bit of IR could help with some growth.

HMMMM, As stated, Ive been thinking about this Hmmm maybe I want to add in IR

There is no doubt that a 6500k bulb contains a higher % of wavelengths that corals don't use than something like an ati blue plus.

THIS^^^^ is the question isn’t it? The question I ask is is this in regard to the symbiont zooxanthelle OR the host corals ? there is a difference….

Dana riddle did a study on a porites in a specific shallow tide pool in hawaii. It was getting way too much light (even though that's what it was getting in nature) and was shutting down photosynthesis for most of the day. Put that coral in a tank mimicking the light it was getting during the periods it was actually growing, and you've improved the lighting.

IMO Growth does not “exactly” equate to biological fitness or performance. What are the metrics ? Fast growth could equate to thin skeletons et et…

This is a long winded way of saying that all of the spectrum from 350 to about 800 is present in these waters where most of the corals are collected from. There is still a good amount of red at 10 meters... yellow and green down to 30 meters. These inhabitants get almost every bit of a 6.5K bulb.

I’ve been saying this for decades…you don’t need to get a tan but you do look healthier …I fully agree here: for all we know that useless “red” band might make the corals horny…I’m not exactly joking either

Just because a coral exists in a certain environment in nature, doesn't mean that we can't create a better one at home (The porites example) and just because they are exposed to all of the wavelengths of a 6500k light source, doesn't mean that they use it all. "full spectrum", doesn't mean it's more for the coral to use.

Similar to that last Amur leopard pacing back n forth in its pen, fed 3x a day on yak. …only 60 Left and this male won’t breed, what the h3ll could be wrong?

IMO a lot of it is wasted and it's actually a less efficient bulb at growing coral than others specifically tailored to their needs.

THIS^^^ mfgs are making bulbs that feed zooxanthelle and make the corals look good. What more could you want?
Any other included bandwidth is a waste of electricity if your goal is color pop and fat zooxanthelle

Take a look at this though. It's a quick dig and advertisement, but pretty close.
This is what we're targeting with light.

I'll throw this in too.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lighting-spectra-photosynthesis-and-you.100170/

I included this as a lighting template for the comparison tank “Blue”
I’d like to compare coral metrics of a 6500K bulb vs a bulb geared to these specs

Anyone remember Venture 5500K lamps? They made the Iwasaki lamps look nice...LOL.

back in the day my dad gave me “test bulbs” that I put on my tanks…there is a long semi related backstory with that

I think that it is OK to admit that we don't know as much about spectrum as we thought. A few LED iterations ago, UV was worthless and you were a fool for mentioning that it was handy. Now IR is making a comeback. Some panels are upping the red, yellow and green. With every new iteration, more and more elements of natural sunlight are being re-added. I know that it is easy to believe a LED manufacturer, supplier or the like with the argument that they can do better than millions of years of evolution and adaptation, but that probably is not the case as much as it is. What we are doing is tailoring the light to our needs since people like the colors under more blue conditions.

“I think that it is OK to admit that we don't know as much about spectrum as we thought”

Pardon the highlight but with emphasis this is one of the main purposes driving my study here…I’m prepared to do some research and funding on this topic

Those waves that people think that coral don't need or use sure do some cool stuff, huh?

My point exactly

Since LEDs have been around you can set up all kinds of wacked out Spectral distributions that the corals aren't going to thrive under.

bears repeating

Excessive peaks regardless of which color can be detrimental because it creates a wacked out spectral distribution across the tank. Some corals may get what they want and some don't get what they need to thrive and color. You can do this with rainbow combos in T5s but you aren't generally going to trash corals

As far as Echotech and BRS.............they're just trying to re-invent the wheel. The recommendations, how to set up.design ect. LEDs have been out there for 5+ years. People just weren't listening. It's always been more about spectrum than par.

Back in the dark ages (pun intended) we were pretty limited in lighting choices as far as metal halides went. The commercial coral farm I managed for a couple of years used only 6500K Iwasaki lamps and had great success. Many old timers to this day in the hobby still claim these lamps produced superior coral growth. I have some theories as to why and they are:
1. PAR meters don't measure the UV-A 365nm mercury spikes in these (or any) lamps. This energy is useful in photosynthesis. If we look at the pigments that protect against UV (the mycosporine-like amino acids, or MAAs) there are none that absorb UV energy at 365nm. There's a good reason for that.
2. The green light, what there is of it, borders on the absorption bandwidth of the accessory pigment peridinin. It's impact is positive, but probably minimal when compared to other bandwidths, but positive none the less.
3. The infrared energy relaxes pressure on Photosystem II by stimulating Photosystem I.
4. As far as coloration goes, we grew the Purple Monster Acropora successfully and it had magnificent color. Many of the other stony corals were quite colorful as well. Although not discussed much greenish-yellow/yellow light seems to induce non-fluorescent red coloration in those stony corals capable of producing this pigment.
In short, while PAR meters' estimations of PPFD are useful, it ignores the positive impacts of UV-A and far-red/infrared radiation.

I should have read this first, might have saved me 2 or three pages of post on this thread

Not all coral are found in the deep reefs.. Some of them are picked up right in the shallow lagoons where they are adapt to receiving full spectrum lighting not blue only.

This is why I cringe at the 78F, “the over sold “ stability is key” idiom, and white light causes algae ….All true and
None of it wrong per se, but without proper context; kinda dumb against reality …

YES you can successfully grow any coral with just a regular T5 6700 bulb as long as the par is at least 100. The color will appear more brown/dull to your eyes but that does not mean the coral is not very healthy and happy. Visual color is only a matter of which wavelengths are reflected back to your eyes Its not even necessarily the spectrum that is being used by the coral lol.

Very true

IMHO, color definition is more realistic when a tank is lit closer to our sun light spectrum. You can see almost all shades of color under warmer spectrum, but of course the majority of us don't like the way it looks.

Sunlight being the standard, but we light our tanks light a Spencer’s Gifts black light poster

I'm thankful that Reef2Reef discussions are civil, unlike the wild wet days on CompuServe's FishNet, where some of the flame wars got nasty and personal at times.

I also started on Fishnet, alt.reefs.org, et …allegiances were common, flame wars, name drops, totally unmoderated
I can’t be the only one to notice many of these argument have come circle 360

Those 5500K footballs grew some coral too. I had a lot of really interesting macros that popped out of the rock, wonder why .

I also enjoyed the surprise halmedia, oyster, brain coral of the old Fiji, MI and Tonga branch … This isn’t possible with dyed cement rock or dry Coral reefs from the Pliocene

People now realize you can get great growth and color under anything 6500K or very blue, or anything in between, so it mostly person preference. Personally, I love the look of coral under very blue lighting, but avoid it because I am mostly fish centered.

No they don’t realize that… these youngsters widely believe white light causes algae and to get rid of it, you get rid of the white light … all true but one day there will be no lighters to make fire, what will we do then?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

that info is useful. Thank you…so are we gonna want a UV LED anyway? Will this UV LED’s spectra “caboose” up against the last blue LED in the spectral spread? or is there a gap between the last “visible” blue LED and the UV?
@oreo54 any ideas? Anyone?

Thanks , this is a similar issue to the UV at the other end. Do these IR LEDs “butt end” against most lights red end or is there a spectral gap? Is there such a thing as a LED heat lamp?
I’m using a 40 breeder, tank is shallow so IR might be useful but I dunno how much “punch” a IR LED has in 18” of water

Yeah, UV follows right behind the violet end of the visible light spectrum, and IR sits just beyond the red end of the visible light spectrum. 365 nm and 395 nm are the UV lights that would be wanted; there are a ton of lights that claim to be these wavelengths that actually aren't, though, so I'd make sure any light with these (or IR) are from a legitimate light fixture company.

I definitely agree with oreo54's comment that UV is clearly not needed for coral growth, but I would personally love to see side-by-side setups of replicate tanks with a wide variety of corals to see if there's some measurable, meaningful difference between corals grown with UV and those grown without it (preferably, I'd love to see this studied with multiple different levels of UV to see what happens):

UV (and likely IR too) definitely plays a role in the wild; I think the largely unanswered question at this point is what impact do different levels of these wavelengths have on corals?

For example, we know too much UV is harmful, but are there measurable benefits to having a little bit of it? (I'd assume the impacts would differ between specific wavelengths and corals, so some may be beneficial while others are harmful).

I don't thinks that type of question has been answered yet with corals. There's a lot of speculation about it, but I don't know if we've tested yet with a broad enough sample of corals to really know.

For UV:

Surprisingly, they didn't have to use unnatural amounts and it actually would be likely within reef limits - at least according to the data I can find.

The study had UV levels of 0.2 and 0.4 W/m2; using a relatively conservative conversion metric to switch from μmole.m2/s to W/m2, UV levels of 0.4 can be found in shallow water (~6 meters or less deep) and 0.2 can be found pretty deep (~18 meters or less).* If you use Apogee's conversion metric, you could find levels of 0.4 to about 10 meters or less and 0.2 to about 22 meters or less.**

*Source (Figure 4 is particularly relevant):

https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.1989.34.8.1623

**Source:

PPFD to Watts Conversion

www.apogeeinstruments.com

This last link is here because it's relevant to the unit conversion, though not necessarily for UV wavelengths specifically:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can-I-convert-PAR-photo-active-radiation-value-of-micro-mole-M2-S-to-Solar-radiation-in-Watt-m2

For IR:

With the ocean life and IR, there doesn't seem to be much research there, but this is what I've found:

-Near-IR (700-1400 nm) can only penetrate a few meters into water; mid- and far-IR (1400-10000 nm) seem to only penetrate less than 1 mm of water. Water seems to absorb IR very quickly; organics in the water absorb it even faster; generally speaking, higher salinity seems to cause it to be absorbed faster as well.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-absorbance-spectrum-of-water-from-the-IR-to-FUV-region-assuming-a-path-length-of-100_fig10_233705443

Light in the Ocean | manoa.hawaii.edu/ExploringOurFluidEarth

manoa.hawaii.edu

-Some fish (like salmon) and inverts (like mantis shrimp) can see infrared.

Freshwater fish, amphibians supercharge their ability to see infrared light

Salmon and other freshwater fish and amphibians supercharge their ability to see red and infrared light. Scientists at the School of Medicine have shown that this evolutionary adaptation hinges on the activity of an enzyme that converts vitamin A1 to vitamin A2, enabling the aquatic creatures to...

source.wustl.edu

https://www.science.org/content/article/new-form-vision-discovered#:~:text=Mantis%20shrimp%20eyes%20can%20see,in%20mating%20or%20secret%20signaling&text=When%20it%20comes%20to%20versatile,its%20color%20vision%20tops%20ours. -The only research I can really find on IR and corals is about the coral tissue/tissue thickness and IR; these studies indicate that corals seem to basically ignore IR/IR seems to basically ignore corals; 400-700 nm light intensity decreases in coral tissue (being reflected, bounced around/redirected internally, etc.) while IR light (700-800 nm were tested in the two studies I could find) stays basically unchanged (it basically just passes through unimpeded).

The engine of the reef: photobiology of the coral–algal symbiosis

Coral reef ecosystems thrive in tropical oligotrophic oceans because of the relationship between corals and endosymbiotic dinoflagellate algae called Symbiodinium. Symbiodinium convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into organic carbon and oxygen to fuel ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Lateral light transfer ensures efficient resource distribution in symbiont-bearing corals

Coral tissue optics has received very little attention in the past, although the interaction between tissue and light is central to our basic understanding of coral physiology. Here we used fibre-optic and electrochemical microsensors along with variable chlorophyll fluorescence imaging to...

journals.biologists.com

I wouldn't be surprised to find IR has some sort of biological impact on corals, but it doesn't seem any impact has been researched at this point that I can find.

 

[Doctorgori]

@ISpeakForTheSeas I truly appreciate you dropping by ….
this information being particularly useful:

365 nm and 395 nm are the UV lights that would be wanted; there are a ton of lights that claim to be these wavelengths that actually aren't, though, so I'd make sure any light with these (or IR) are from a legitimate light fixture company.

I have near zero knowledge on LEDs and who’s who…
I shamelessly begged @oreo54 to be on consulting retainer and I’m in debt. I’d think He should know which UV pucks or whatever are legit…

I was vexed about IR and never knew a LED could radiate any heat. I have seen IR LEDs but figured it was a gimmick like a white light with red cellophane (for example). I figured water absorbed IR pretty fast given how quickly a clear glass of water gets warm. But 1mm ? If I can do it, on they go anyway

I would personally love to see side-by-side setups of replicate tanks with a wide variety of corals to see if there's some measurable, meaningful difference between corals grown with UV and those grown without it (preferably, I'd love to see this studied with multiple different levels of UV to see what happens):

Exactly…
This is the whole point here (besides the desire to see corals with the naked eye as nature meant) .
I want to give one tank as broad a spectrum as technology and resources allow. I’m thinking the other tank set to WWC standard lighting
This isn’t the forum for a build thread but It’s the best forum for the lighting end…
Appreciate the input

 

[lbacha]

Only really shallow growing coral will be exposed to the lighting you’re trying to replicate. Water is an amazing filter and the colors you see with natural unfiltered sunlight quickly get stripped away at depths over 3 feet.

If you want to mimic the sun there are lots of good options I grow tropical plants and honestly some of the best fixtures are just 6500h high CRI and lumen shop lights.

The issue you will run into with the spectrum you are looking at is it will grow algae (which can use much more of that natural sunlight spectrum) than coral. This is not an issue as we do it all the time in our tanks when we run algae reactors and refugiums under much higher red spectrum lighting. My large frag system has a mangrove and cheato growing under 6500k spotlights and they love it.

Here are some examples:
My walk in rainforest room lit by cheap led shop lights.

My sump for my frag system lit by a 6500k led spotlight

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

back to square one…Could this be a photography problem?

Is there anything that measures how close a lighting source is to sunlight, or is it just a broad flat/even spectral spread?

Anyone please

I've been looking into this exact topic, and while I do not claim to be an expert on LED lighting, if you are looking for a higher CRI, warmer light, there certainly are commercial examples that would be close to that CRI and right on the color temp you want.

YOu probably already know these, but here are a couple:

GHL skywhite color
Kessil Tuna Sun

 

[oreo54]

I've been looking into this exact topic, and while I do not claim to be an expert on LED lighting, if you are looking for a higher CRI, warmer light, there certainly are commercial examples that would be close to that CRI and right on the color temp you want.

YOu probably already know these, but here are a couple:

GHL skywhite color
Kessil Tuna Sun

Kessil is notoriously closed lipped on led specs.
Historically "tuna sun" alone has a spectrum not reflective of a high k high cri unit really.