What Color Light Do Corals Need

This will really make the colors in your coral stand out.

What color light do corals need. This often leads to a lighter colored or completely white appearance. Starting out with easier LPS corals at the beginning is the best practice to prevent losing motivation down the road. Corals need clear water that lets sunlight through.

Blue spectrum light penetrates salt water better than red spectrum light leading to enhanced or dulled coloring depending on which wavelengths the coral is absorbing. SPS require lots of light. So what is the best light for growing SPS corals.

Remember that corals and their zooxanthellae adapt to changes in their surroundings the same as we humans do. However its best to keep in mind that while all corals need some light the amount of light needed can vary based on coral type. Hammer corals are photosynthetic animals and need light to survive.

The spectrum of the light also plays a significant role. The chart from Orphek above helps visualize how this works. The wrong spectrum can cause major metabolic changes like loss or change of color poor growth and even death.

Fortunately there are many choices to select from. They must react as only they can by recoil and a slow but gradual return to normal behavior. If youve been looking for the magic light to really bring out the colors in your coral select units with light output in the actinic royal blue range.

However they are quite adaptable corals in terms of lighting. Orphek Atlantik V4 proved to have a stronger spectrum than Philips coral care LED light Philips coral care spectrum in red line Orphek spectrum in color. While tanks that are predominantly lighted with blue lights will bring out a lot of color in the corals it will tend to wash out the pinks and light purples in the corals and most yellow corals will turn green under this type of lighting.