Sunday, July 3, 2011

Planted Tank - Notes.

The best place to start is by considering the following parameters that are important when choosing lights for a planted tank.
  1. Intensity of light is more important than spectrum
  2. Aquatic plants use light in the red and blue areas of the spectrum most efficiently. They are less efficient at using green and yellow light, but they are also capable of using even this part of the spectrum as long as the intensity is adequate.
  3. Red light encourages long, �leggy� growth, while blue light encourages compact, �bushy� growth.
  4. Algae is much better at using poor-quality light than higher plants are, so strong light in the wrong spectrum can encourage algae problems, particularly in a tank with nutrient imbalances of one sort or another.