Aquarium background color

[TomO]

If I paint the back glass of my tank red, will it enhance plant growth?

[Fish Folk]

On 6/20/2021 at 5:06 AM, TomO said:

If I paint the back glass of my tank red, will it enhance plant growth?

I’m going to vote “no” on this one. There is some study showing that plant light sources calibrated with a certain spectral red promote plant growth. But I believe that this is different than reflected visible red from surfaces.

Here is a short, interesting brief on red in plant lighting... 

https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/resources/pdfs/red-light.pdf

[BaRanchik]

You could test that without painting the back.

What I'm using as my background is a corrugated plastic sheet. It's super cheap, you can cut it to the perfect size, and use tape to attach to the back of the tank. If you don't like the color, or if you want to test something like you are suggesting it would make the task as easy as it gets.

Edit: I should mention you can get those in every color you want pretty much.

Edited June 20, 2021 by BaRanchik

[HH Morant]

I think plants can benefit from reflected light, but most tank backgrounds are not going to reflect enough light to matter. If you google "aquarium mirror background" and look at the images, there are some that look good. But some fish are not going to like seeing images of themselves (like bettas) and it might be hard to keep clean (algae). I have never heard of a mirror background to help plants.

[tonyjuliano]

On 6/20/2021 at 5:06 AM, TomO said:

If I paint the back glass of my tank red, will it enhance plant growth?

What an intriguing question!

Plant growth benefits most from both red and blue light, so I would imagine that an increase in reflection - from any source - would have benefit.  Assuming, of course, that there is also any accompanying food source to take advantage.

If this is true, than a white background would be very beneficial, as it contains both red and blue (along with every other color), and conversely, black would have the least benefit.

While my intuition tells me the benefit may be negligible at best, it still gives one thought!

[HH Morant]

If you decide to try a red background, you could use Plasti Dip rather than paint. It is a rubberized coating. If you change your mind, it will be a little easier to remove than paint.

[Tanked]

On 6/20/2021 at 9:09 AM, HH Morant said:

I think plants can benefit from reflected light, but most tank backgrounds are not going to reflect enough light to matter. If you google "aquarium mirror background" and look at the images, there are some that look good. But some fish are not going to like seeing images of themselves (like bettas) and it might be hard to keep clean (algae). I have never heard of a mirror background to help plants.

I agree.  A very bright red might reflect more red light, but I don't think it will be a noticeable benefit to the plants.  It may also prove to be a distraction when viewing the plants and fish.  I've used mirrors for backgrounds. in the past.  They reflect everything including dirty glass, algae particulates....  It was a short lived experiment.