Why RGB lighting?

[Pepere]

It sort of puzzled me why aquarium lights utilize Red Green and Blue lights where the primary colors are Red Yellow and Blue.  
 

I always figured it was because we have green plants and the green light makes them pop a bit.

 

It turns out we only have Red Green and Blue receptors in our eyes.   Any other colors we discern are the brain interpreting the relative signal strengths it is receiving from those three receptors..,  really weird…

Here is a video that made me see the light….

 

you might find it interesting.

The presenter is rather nerdy, just like I am…

 

Edited March 4 by Pepere

[AndEEss]

The “primary colors” concept isn’t based on anything at all. So it shouldn’t be the basis of anything.
 

You can’t “mix” different wavelengths of light and get another color/wavelength.

[Sweet Fish O Mine]

On 3/4/2023 at 8:53 AM, AndEEss said:

The “primary colors” concept isn’t based on anything at all. So it shouldn’t be the basis of anything.
 

You can’t “mix” different wavelengths of light and get another color/wavelength.

But you can get any color by mixing the Primary colors in paint. So it is based on something.

[CT_]

Mixing paint (pigments ) "subtracts" light.  Mixing LEDs "adds" light.  So what you get out of mixing is different

 

Edit: mixing RGB can "make" and color (that's why TV's work ) but when shined on pigments they can't /render/ all colors correctly.  If you want to spend a bunch of time reading about colors look up color rendering and color rendering index

Edited March 5 by CT_

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/4/2023 at 4:40 AM, Pepere said:

It turns out we only have Red Green and Blue receptors in our eyes.   Any other colors we discern are the brain interpreting the relative signal strengths it is receiving from those three receptors..,  really weird…

You also see the world upside down. Literally. 

Eyes are awesome. The way the eyes and brain handle things is really interesting.

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/4/2023 at 4:40 AM, Pepere said:

I always figured it was because we have green plants and the green light makes them pop a bit.

I went down a rabbithole trying to find a light color that the fish couldn't see well.  I kept noticing fish go nuts when I tried to turn on blue LEDs at night.  I prefer green at night just because I enjoy green.  Fish were slightly calmer to red / green LEDs at night.  Fun fact, fish see blue pretty well at night. I can track down the articles / research I found on that, but it's funny how we use blue to act as a lowlight and it's very efficient for fish to see using blue LEDs. 

I found a flashlight that lets you use red, green, or blue.  I need to get it still, but it's a tool I seriously want to have on hand because of trying to check on fish after lights out before bed.

[Luciferkrist]

On 3/6/2023 at 2:58 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I went down a rabbithole trying to find a light color that the fish couldn't see well.  I kept noticing fish go nuts when I tried to turn on blue LEDs at night.  I prefer green at night just because I enjoy green.  Fish were slightly calmer to red / green LEDs at night.  Fun fact, fish see blue pretty well at night. I can track down the articles / research I found on that, but it's funny how we use blue to act as a lowlight and it's very efficient for fish to see using blue LEDs. 

I found a flashlight that lets you use red, green, or blue.  I need to get it still, but it's a tool I seriously want to have on hand because of trying to check on fish after lights out before bed.

It is a very prevalent phenomenon that a lot of the animal kingdom simply cannot perceive red light, mostly terrestrial life though. Obviously it isn't a hard rule, and fish usually can see it very well, but it diffuses pretty quickly in water and is probably the least 'brightest' color to them.  It is also why a good number of deep sea fish are red, it is effectively black due to the complete absences of red light wavelengths. I am kind of surprised that pale red lights haven't been introduced to the hobby yet... but then again a lot of the products out there are for beginner and first time keepers, so they use the human perception of blue = nighttime.