Blue Light For Planted Tank

What to look for in planted tank light spectrum.

Blue light for planted tank.

Simply speaking you can choose a light with just about any color spectrum as long as it s not too blue such as those used for raising saltwater corals. While the water almost does not absorb in the visible region hence its transparency it absorbs light significantly more in the red region than in the blue about ten fold figure 10. Plants use a specific kind of blue light called actinic blue for vegetative growth. For example there s a chart floating around that says plants barely absorb any light in the 540 to 580 spectral range the green light range.

The fresh plant 2 0 led has sturdy extendable brackets to accommodate the length of your tank up to about 34. Soft white bulbs are designed to emit very little of this light to increase efficiency. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that stronger red blue light produces plants in significantly better growth forms plants grow more compact with fuller leaves. Similarly watts per gallon was the old rule used when fluorescent lighting for aquariums was the norm.

In the video below. This full spectrum is activated when in the white light setting. At least 50 red light in the wavelength range of 630 to 700 nanometers at least 35 green light in the wavelength range of 500 to 580 nanometers no more than 15 blue light in the wavelength range of 435 to 495 nanometers. Meaning 2 4 of a 4 tube t5 array.

I purchased a blue light before i had plants. The fixture also has a low light blue light setting. Vegetative growth is the growth of the plant leaves and stems. We used to have it open 24 hours to at night we close all lights and the tank light is the only one open so we can still see our way if we need to go to the toilet or go to other rooms.

If the blue lights are led s you won t have to worry about algae growth. Advanced guide to lighting a planted tank the youtuber goes over some common misconceptions about the spectrums of light plants actually use. At the minimum i would recommend 50 of the tubes in a t5 array to be changed to pink red gro tubes. If its an actinic bulb and its a freshwater aquarium you can run it for a couple hours after your main lights turn off.

The light in the blue and violet region is however better at penetrating water column than the red light. Plants however use red and blue light efficiently for photosynthesis so red blue heavy lighting may have low lumen values but can be really great for growing plants. Plants can grow under a wide spectrum of lights so pick a color temperature that you feel makes your plants and fish look the best. Growing plants entirely under actinic blue light will make them grow very bushy and leafy.

That being said the light spectrum that supports the growth of freshwater aquarium plants best should include.