Water quality (in which I include water movement) is top of the list in importance when it comes to keeping a saltwater aquarium. Closely following water quality is aquarium lighting, as much life on the reef depends on it.

The lighting used for a reef aquarium is more intense than on any other type. The reason for this is that we are trying to simulate the sun as far as humanly possible. Reef aquarium lighting is normally more towards the blue end of the colour spectrum as we are trying to produce the lighting colours present at between 10m and 30m in water depth.

Colours are lost the greater the water depth is, the first loss is red. The reason we choose colours present at the depth given is that is the depth where the majority of corals are obtained.

The provision of lighting for a marine reef aquarium needs careful consideration. The depth of the aquarium, distance of the lights from the water, and the type of animals you wish to keep are questions you need to ask yourself.

In the aquarium corals receive energy from the light which is provided for them. The remainder of the energy required is from the corals themselves actively feeding. I will produce a post in the future which will cover various ways to feed your corals.
In the marine reef aquarium the aquarists has a responsibility to supply the light the animals would receive in the wild as far as possible. Obviously we cannot equal the sun itself, particularly its intensity, however we can produce the spectrum of LED aquarium light essentially required.

In the wild the light provision is simple. In basic terms light is provided for around 12 hours a day and a night period of around 12 hours. The light provided by the sun is very intense even when there is cloud cover. The amount of lighting wattage we would need to provide the aquarium to even come close to this sun power would be enormous. In terms of cost and physically fitting the lights it is clearly of no use to an aquarist. buy led aquarium lighting in New Zealand, you can visit: www.ledgrowlight.co.nz