Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tanks and Equipment => Topic started by: Aquamaid on December 09, 2014, 02:26:00 PM
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My second hand tank has come with two T5 39w bulbs, one white and one red, the red is very atmospheric and i'd love to keep it in, but is it any use to my plants, or should i really have two white ones?
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Plants photosynthesize using the red and blue light of the spectrum (they reflect the green, hence they look green). So it will be 'of some use' to the plants. However; there are far too many variables in your question to even start to say how good it would be.
Just for fun, have a skim down this (http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=184368) to get an idea of how complex the subject of photosynthetic radiation is.
EDIT: Not to mention that it may make your tank look like a brothel. ;D
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:-[ Oooh err, better keep the curtains closed then :rotfl: Thanks for baffling me with science Colin, i will have another read of that, just wanted to know if i need to replace it really.
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I'm assuming this is actually one of those lights with a pinkish glow rather than a true "red" light. If so, it probably won't make much difference to the plants either way. However, I find that a full white light makes the fish look better, under the reddish light some colours can look dull.
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Well it looks very very purple red at night, i will have to decide when i get fish in i guess. thanks :)