| Coral Tank With LED Grow Light |
Matt G.- September 4, 2009
The Effects of the AquaBar on the Behavior and Growth of Captive Aquatic Organisms By Matthew G.(Excerpts)
For the last eight months, through the generous donation of four Aquabar APB5s from the LED Company Solar Oasis, I have performed a few
experiments on my 70 gallon reef tank on the ability of these lights to sustain various types of photosynthetic aquatic life. When I set-up my tank in
mid-November of last year, I started with soft corals from my smaller 20-gallon system which holds the mother colony of the same corals under high
wattage T-5 lights. One basic soft coral that still lives in both tanks, the green star polyp has thrived in both tanks, but the one under the LEDs has
grown in a different way. Instead of becoming greener as in my smaller tank, they have actually turned a slightly reddish orange color at the base of
their green tentacles instead of the regular bright green. They have also seemed to grow taller instead of covering more space compared to the same
coral under the T-5 lights in my 20-gallon tank. If the lights were not strong enough for this coral, the normal behavior would be for the green star polyp
to become more of a gray color, which makes the reddish orange seem interesting to think this could be a reaction to the LEDs.
Another observation is how the LEDs seemed to affect my Green Long Tentacle Anemone (GLTA). When I bought it 6 months ago, I placed the
anemone at the top of the tank directly under the lights. It stayed there a few days, but since anemones have the ability to move, it soon started
migrating around the tank to the back right-hand corner where there is almost no light from the LEDs at all. This type of anemone needs a good amount
of light energy to survive, but also does feed on fish every 3-5 days as a supplemental food source. This behavior of moving away from the light may
show that the anemone may have been receiving too much light, however, when switching to a 216 watt T-5 fixture for a brief period of time, it has yet to
move, making it seem its behavior is independent of the LEDs.
The Effects of the AquaBar on the Behavior and Growth of Captive Aquatic Organisms By Matthew G.(Excerpts)
For the last eight months, through the generous donation of four Aquabar APB5s from the LED Company Solar Oasis, I have performed a few
experiments on my 70 gallon reef tank on the ability of these lights to sustain various types of photosynthetic aquatic life. When I set-up my tank in
mid-November of last year, I started with soft corals from my smaller 20-gallon system which holds the mother colony of the same corals under high
wattage T-5 lights. One basic soft coral that still lives in both tanks, the green star polyp has thrived in both tanks, but the one under the LEDs has
grown in a different way. Instead of becoming greener as in my smaller tank, they have actually turned a slightly reddish orange color at the base of
their green tentacles instead of the regular bright green. They have also seemed to grow taller instead of covering more space compared to the same
coral under the T-5 lights in my 20-gallon tank. If the lights were not strong enough for this coral, the normal behavior would be for the green star polyp
to become more of a gray color, which makes the reddish orange seem interesting to think this could be a reaction to the LEDs.
Another observation is how the LEDs seemed to affect my Green Long Tentacle Anemone (GLTA). When I bought it 6 months ago, I placed the
anemone at the top of the tank directly under the lights. It stayed there a few days, but since anemones have the ability to move, it soon started
migrating around the tank to the back right-hand corner where there is almost no light from the LEDs at all. This type of anemone needs a good amount
of light energy to survive, but also does feed on fish every 3-5 days as a supplemental food source. This behavior of moving away from the light may
show that the anemone may have been receiving too much light, however, when switching to a 216 watt T-5 fixture for a brief period of time, it has yet to
move, making it seem its behavior is independent of the LEDs.
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| Aqua-Bar is Made in the USA by Solar Oasis |
| soft corals transitioned from T-5 lights |