Let’s establish what we all agree on first:
- I think the question as to whether LED lighting can create an environment in which corals thrive and exhibit good growth has been answered. It can.
- LED lights are bright. There is no lack of visible light.
- The Vertex Illumina lighting systems are awesome!
However, it’s really not that simple. A better question to ask might be “Is it more challenging to create an environment in which corals thrive and exhibit good growth when using LED vs. MH?”.
Consider T5 lighting. There are many examples of magnificent tanks where the primary lighting is T5. Just look at Lobsterboy’s tank. His main lighting has always been T5. However, most reef keepers who are serious about SPS have traditionally relied on MH even though T5 does have some advantages. It’s easy to assume this is simply a question of PAR, but there is always more than one variable.
Consider the SPS tank at J&L that has the Vertex LED lighting. I haven’t seen this tank and don’t know it’s history, but perhaps the details aren’t all that important. It’s been suggested that this tank hasn’t lived up to expectations under LED lighting, but that the reason might have nothing to do with the lighting. It could be water parameters, flow or perhaps even mishandling of the corals. However, saying that it might have nothing to do with the lighting does not rule out the possibility that it has everything to do with the lighting. J&L does have other tanks that are not having the same problem.
Coral and in particular what we call SPS coral are incredibly sensitive. There are many people who try unsuccessfully to keep SPS in their tanks. For others, it doesn’t seem that challenging, but perhaps we discount the hard work that we put into our tanks. Being successful doesn’t make it easy.
Also consider all of the stories where a coral won’t grow in one tank (where other corals are thriving) but when moved to another tank, the same coral takes off. Often it’s difficult to explain why the coral did poorly in one tank and thrived in another. It’s probably reasonable to speculate that the coral in question was outside of its optimum conditions in the first tank and within its optimum conditions in the second. Exactly where these lines are drawn on a per species basis is challenging to understand at the best of times, but we do understand that it is not the same for every species. All we can do is try to create an environment that is as close to optimum as possible and hope that we select corals that fit within the a safe variance.
Corals require a number of conditions to be in balance in order to thrive. The most commonly cited are Temp, Salinity, pH, Lighting, Flow, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium. There are countless others, some of which are known and being researched. Some of which we are likely unaware of at present but may be inadvertently providing through secondary sources.
Here’s my point. Coral’s are living things and can be stressed. Stress can be minor or major. Consider a scale where 0 is at complete peace and 10 is basically certain death. It’s probably reasonable that even in the ocean, corals are constantly living with a stress level of 1 or 2. Now let’s say that the nitrate spikes for a couple of days. Maybe these corals are now stressed to a 4 or 5. If there’s no plantonic food in the tank, stress elevates to a 7. If the temperature shifts, stress is now an 8. If the MH bulbs are replaced and the light intensity suddenly increases, the coral is stressed to the point of a 10 and dies. However, if the same coral had been fragged in the ocean and put into a shallow water holding area (more intense lighting but the same ocean water conditions), it would probably be fine. Of course you have to consider the degree to which the light intensity changed, but you get the idea.
Many factors contribute to coral stress. There is no question that lighting is one of these factors. Changing MH bulbs can stress or kill coral if not managed properly and is one of the reasons why I opted for LED lighting. However, MH lighting does have a long term and proven history of success on SPS tanks suggesting that it is not a significant factor contributing to coral stress. We simply don’t have this same data as it relates to LED lighting.
If LED lighting is a contributing factor to coral stress, it would still be possible to have an amazing SPS tank, it would just be significantly more difficult. If your starting point was a stressed coral, then you would need to keep your water parameters near perfect just too see any kind of real growth.
I can say from firsthand experience that SPS under MH lighting can tolerate a reasonably wide range of water parameters. The SPS in my 90G tank with MH lighting are thriving and I have posted pictures of this. This tank has not had perfect water parameters at all times, yet the SPS are just fine.
I don’t claim to be an expert on coral health. I am just learning like the rest of us. I’ve had some successes and failures; however, the whole reef hobby is watching with great anticipation to see how this new technology for lighting our tanks plays out.
There are many experienced reef keepers who have diligently researched the topic of LED lighting and are now testing these lights on their tanks. There are an equal number of experienced reef keepers who have done the same research and came to the conclusion that the technology was unproven and the concerns were unanswered. There are examples of success and failures, but it’s not always easy to say why. I personally am on the fence but perhaps the only way to know for sure is to see for oneself and thus I made the investment.
Short of marine biology at the PhD level, the only research that the average hobbyist can rely on is observational. TheDogFather has a unique opportunity to share his experience with the Vertex light because he has owned his longer than any other poster on Canreef or RC. We also have pictures of his tank from 8 months ago, so it should be easy to post some comparison shots. I am still hopeful that he will post an update.
Sorry for the long post.
- Brad