Do blue LEDs narrow our reefkeeping choice?

I’m lucky enough to be able to dive some of the best reefs the ocean gods have given us, but there is not a single dive that I pass a coral or a fish, and wonder why they are not more popular in reef aquariums.

*Acropora grandis* (formerly misidentified as *A. hoeksemai*) or Purple Tort is an astonishing coral, but it doesn’t look good under blue led!

Inspecting coral farms around Indonesia, I always wonder why this coral is popular, and not that one. What can I do to let reefkeepers know that there is so much more out there?

When I look at reef tanks from all around the world, I’m kind of bored to see the same thing over, and over again: same coral species, same fish species… same lighting! Only a few Japanese tanks will attract my eye.

The head of this *Pictichromis paccagnellae*, a very common but tenacious fish, will disappear under blue led.

I realize that blue LED revolutionized our industry, not really in terms of energy consumption as we were promised, but more in terms of putting some corals really in the tank’s center of attention, leaving fish secondary in the background. In a way, Blue LED managed to blossom reef tanks into coral tanks.

Pink bird nest, *Seriatopora hystrix* are fantastic corals, but blue led will make them look mainly grey.

The flaw of Blue LED is that even if they make yellow and red colors really pop, they also completely flatten pink and blue colors out. Making a bright pink Seriatopora hystrix or a bright blue Acropora grandis completely disappear and look grey…

See also Levi's Deepwater Reef Tank

Unfortunately, Gold Torch (*Euphyllia glabrescens*) will look dull in daylight!

Blue LED are great for gold LPS, and it’s only because of them, that what used to be basically brown torch 10 years ago went Banana, Tiger, Holy Grail… But also made Purple Tort, Purple Tang and most of the crazy common marine fish go into stealth mode…

So if I have a request to make for 2023, please turn your whites back on a few hours a day, and enjoy your reef as a whole, not just a few corals!

Happy New Year!

Vincent Chalias

Vincent is a coral passionate aquarist with extensive experience in the industry, travelling the world to learn about corals. His background is a master degree in Marine Aquaculture. He set up the first Indonesian Coral mariculture farms at the beginning of the century and spent over 20 years in Indonesia running them. He's been extensively diving and documenting corals all over the Indo-Pacific.