Dialing in the Reds, Greens and Blues…and white…

[Pepere]

Ok, so those of you who have color adjustable lights, and that ramp up and down in intensity over time..

How do you choose what level to have each color spectrum?  Do you just fiddle till you find something pleasing to your eye?

Part of the pleasure I derive from my tanks is watching the first hint of red lights come on, changing to a bit more orange and brightening up whiter and stronger as the morning progresses to maximum set intensity around mid portion of photo period for about 4-5 hours and ramping down as evening approaches with sunset hues followed by some moonlight time period.

 

basically I fiddled with settings to find something visually appealing…. And the plants are growing well and visible Algae is in abeyance.

 

But, I am curious as to how others approach it…

[Ninjoma]

I have fluval 3.0s on my high light tanks. I start by setting the intensity I want matching every color to the same percent other than blue, which I leave at 5%. Then I adjust the sliders to get a mostly neutral slightly warm tone with not too much yellow cast while retaining the same overall intensity. I try not to move pure whites too much, because that influences the intensity the most, I also try not to move blues past 12% because I've heard it can increase algae growth. 

I also like to have my lights on for 12 hours, so I get to see my fish most of the day. So I set a 2nd setting using only pure white, warm white and pink light to the dimmest possible settings where I can still see what's going on in the tank (4-10%) 

I do something like 2.5 hours dim lighting, 30 minute ramp up, 6 hours high intensity, 30 minute ramp down, 2.5 hour dim lighting, 30 minutes 1% blue, then lights off for 11.5 hours. 

I'm my low light tank I have a finnex 24/7 light. I aim for cool tones in the morning, warm neutral tones in midday and red tones in the evening. 

[Lennie]

I had success with full spectrum white/pink/reds, and no other colors. And a famous local light company here also told me this is what works the best for plants, rather than wrgb one.

I personally believe this works best for planted tanks as well. Wrgb does help to boost the color of the fish tho. So it may be a personal choice in that regard. 

There are also some claims about blue light triggering more algae and studies on it. I can't tell to what extend it is true. All I can say is, in my experience, wrgb triggered way more algae than my plant focused full spectrum white/pink lights.

https://undergradsciencejournals.okstate.edu/index.php/jibi/article/view/3872/

Edited March 23 by Lennie

[knee]

I use Week Aqua and Ledstar on my tanks. Both lights are customizable and I tend to push red a lot more but would add a bit of green to make it more aesthetically pleasing. I also try to put as much blue as I can without making the tank look purple. 

Ledstar (red tank)

 

 

Week Aqua (green tank) 

this is a stronger light than the ledstar and I don’t need to max out the colors to get good PAR.

Edited March 23 by knee

[Pepere]

On 3/23/2023 at 6:17 PM, Ninjoma said:

I have fluval 3.0s on my high light tanks. I start by setting the intensity I want matching every color to the same percent other than blue, which I leave at 5%.

Blue is a very important spectrum for plant growth as well.

I started my journey with Finnex Planted+ ACL lights without co2.  I struggled with Algae.  I tried programming a siesta to allow co2 recovery during dark period but the Finnex planted + utilizes a 3 hour ramp from time slot to time slot.  It really is not well suited fir programming a siesta.

 

I upgraded to the Fluval 3.0 which has an excellent ap for scheduling intenity, ramps and colors,  but the color rendering is dissapointing.  Put that same ap controlling the Finnex planted + ALC and I would love it.

 

I bought a Chihiros WRGB2 and the color is good and it has an app “like” the Fluval, but it is clunky as all get out.  Mistakes in setting it are best handled by resetting and starting again.  I hate the app.  I would love to see them upgrade it.

i sort ofbhave it set up on one tank…

the Fluvals are in storage, the Finnex ALCs are back in use.  Since I have CO2 dialed in , a Siesta is not in the works.  I have a program for the Finnex that works. I start out with full red with 20% green and 10% blue at 9:00 AM.  With the three hour ramp, I see red only at 6:00 AM and by 6:30 it is getting orange.  By 9:00 it is low light.  It ramps up to about 80% by noon and full intensity all diodes by 3:00and by 6:00 it reverts to 100% red, 20 green 10 blue and is off by 9:00 PM.  
 

The two tanks with this has good plant growth and no visible Algae and it has been like this for about a month now.

[Lennie]

On 3/24/2023 at 2:41 AM, Pepere said:

Blue is a very important spectrum for plant growth as well.

Well, I can’t say the science behind it but, without any blue, even my red plants are thriving without any co2. Just aquasoil and high tech full spectrum white pink plant light. I personally think blue is not a must really coming from my very own limited experience.

[Ninjoma]

On 3/23/2023 at 4:41 PM, Pepere said:

Blue is a very important spectrum for plant growth as well.

I can provide some additional context to why I think low amounts of blue may make sense on the fluval 3.0

1. Blue light has the lowest wavelength of the visible spectrum. Lower wavelengths have an easier time penetrating to the bottom of your tank. I intuit this means you can get away with less blue, while having disproportionate efficacy from the blue spectrum. I was an audio engineering major, so I see this similar to how lower frequencies of sound (bass) have an easier time penetrating walls. 

2. I've heard anecdotal experience from hobbyists suggesting blue light on this lamp causes more algae. Most notably Bentley Pascoe's "Ultimate Guide" for the lamp. 

3. MSU conducted experiments (https://www.greenhousegrower.com/production/plant-culture/growing-seedlings-under-leds-part-two/#slide=55866-55737-1) on how different color lights effect plant growth. Here is a specific excerpt that has influenced my strategy "We can conclude that adding blue light to the spectrum inhibits stem elongation and leaf expansion, while growing plants under only red light can increase stem length and leaf size. Twenty-five percent green light can substitute for 25 percent blue light without affecting fresh weight, but plants will be taller."

[Pepere]

On 3/23/2023 at 7:49 PM, Lennie said:

I personally think blue is not a must really coming from my very own limited experience.

Well, white light has a fair amount of blue in it.

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/23/2023 at 2:32 PM, Pepere said:

Ok, so those of you who have color adjustable lights, and that ramp up and down in intensity over time..

Related.... did you see the last livestream topic on BRSTV?  They went in a deep dive reviewing months of studying lighting and light spectrums (basically what you're asking about!)

Hopefully you're able to dial things in.

[Ninjoma]

On 3/23/2023 at 5:58 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Related.... did you see the last livestream topic on BRSTV?  They went in a deep dive reviewing months of studying lighting and light spectrums (basically what you're asking about!)

Hopefully you're able to dial things in.

This is awesome. I'll definitely be checking this out. 

[Pepere]

On 3/23/2023 at 8:58 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Related.... did you see the last livestream topic on BRSTV?  They went in a deep dive reviewing months of studying lighting and light spectrums (basically what you're asking about!)

Well, being that it is bulk reef supply, is there a fair amount relating to freshwater planted tanks?

[Pepere]

Well, I spent time watching a bunch of videos specifically geared to planted aquariums…

while I learned some things, I am left with the impression that fiddling till you find a color mix that tickles your fancy is about as good as anything else..

Tidbits I gained, reds cause taller growth, blues cause denser shorter plants and thicker more vibrant leaves and tend to have more colored leaves both in the red and green leaf colors.

Adding green to the mix helps dramatically with appearance as a tank would look really odd with just red and blue lights.

 

running just red and green makes the plant denser and not as tall as red only.

 

I plan on digging a bit further as well.

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/24/2023 at 2:41 AM, Pepere said:

Well, being that it is bulk reef supply, is there a fair amount relating to freshwater planted tanks?

Yep! Basically the study and topic was about replication of the sun. How and what that technically means.

Pick your location, spectrum chart, and then decide how (I would argue when) to interpret that. Maybe take one from each location of a few common plants and merge them or something.

On 3/24/2023 at 5:32 AM, Pepere said:

Tidbits I gained, reds cause taller growth, blues cause denser shorter plants and thicker more vibrant leaves and tend to have more colored leaves both in the red and green leaf colors.

Adding green to the mix helps dramatically with appearance as a tank would look really odd with just red and blue lights.

I am trying to adapt things so I have a redder morning, blue in the evening.  I am definitely pushing a lot of red for my visual interest based on the light I have.