I've been meaning to ask the plant gurus about pink colour lights. I've seen a few that recommend themselves for planted aquariums. What, if any, are the benefits when it comes to plant growing? I know it contributes somewhat to bringing out the colours in fish, but what about plants?
I tried them and they looked ugly. Even after a month I could not get used to them so I threw them away and got daylight bulbs. I think they are bunk.
The GE 9325K bulb (which used to come with new Coralife units not sure if it does anymore) definitely has a pinkish hue to it.
Near the 10,000K range, stem plants will tend to grow in bushier, while in the 5,000K range they tend to be a bit more leggy. Not as pronounced in some plants but I definitely see it in things like Limnophila and Cabomba.
Hagen's Aqua-Glo it is an 18k. It has the pinkish hue.
I thought 10,000K is the top colour spectrum for plants; anything beyond that will not be contributing to photosynthesis. Am I confusing things?
And just to make sure I understand - pink and blue hues in fluorescent lights appear when the colour range is beyond 10,000K, right?
5500 is considered the mid day sun. It is in the blue-white specturm of light. I used 55k & 18k in a dual fixture over lower tech tank. The colour of the fish was great and easy plants grew well needing prunning often with liquid ferts. 10k is in the white spectrum. As the colour gets more red it is cooler light - a lower K rating. When the spectrum is at zero it is black. Here is a good read on the topic: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1789&articleid=2689 BUT BigDaddy is a pro on this topic! If you can follow along... :D I got lost quickly! :-[