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.

Blue light for planted tank.

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. Soft white bulbs are designed to emit very little of this light to increase efficiency. 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. This full spectrum is activated when in the white light setting.

If its an actinic bulb and its a freshwater aquarium you can run it for a couple hours after your main lights turn off. That being said the light spectrum that supports the growth of freshwater aquarium plants best should include. Meaning 2 4 of a 4 tube t5 array. The fixture has five led colors to optimize plant growth.

Growing plants entirely under actinic blue light will make them grow very bushy and leafy. The light in the blue and violet region is however better at penetrating water column than the red light. If its a marine tank it s best to run the blue lights with the white lights to provide all spectrum of lighting all at once. 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.

Plants use a specific kind of blue light called actinic blue for vegetative growth. The fixture also has a low light blue light setting. The fresh plant 2 0 led has sturdy extendable brackets to accommodate the length of your tank up to about 34. 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.

It was too bright and awfully blue for my 35 gallon tank so i put a piece of yellow paper 1 3 the length of the fluorescent in the center so it s not too bright and it has a greenish tinge at the center and light blue on the left and right side. 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. In the video below.

I purchased a blue light before i had plants. What to look for in planted tank light spectrum. Vegetative growth is the growth of the plant leaves and stems. 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.

Similarly watts per gallon was the old rule used when fluorescent lighting for aquariums was the norm.