How Does Light Spectrum Affect Aquarium Plants? Master Aquatic Horticulturalist Explains.
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- čas přidán 12. 02. 2021
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I just came to know more about my cheap ass NICREW I got from Amazon. I came out as a light scientist. I'm subscribing, you're legendary.
...depends on the light..." Light turns on, whole mood change except for you, Bentley. Steady as a rock. Thanks for sharing and having this conversation
Light is the most difficult concept by far of this hobby. Thank you
Love how you explain things in a way that makes sense without going super nerd and losing me!! 🤪 My gf laughed when she heard what I was watching a video about! I told her I’m beyond the beginner stuff now haha
Great information as always Bentley!!
Hey Bentley Pascoe, i'm a 19 year old novice fish keeper. I just got into the fish keeping hobby last year when my friend got me a betta for my birthday randomly and I just wanted to say I really appreciate the videos you put out for us to become more knowledgeable about what happens behind the scene of our fish tanks. Im trying to get more of my homies into fish keeping and when they do, I'll for sure recommend your videos. Keep up the great work!
Welcome to the fish fam! I'm glad my videos can help
Great Discussion!
I can appreciate this topic quite a lot. What I actually love most was your "triangle", that is conceptual gold. Build on that.
I do have one correction, and one suggestion:
Correction: “nm” is “nano-meters”. Meters is the unit of measure in a wavelength… The spectral measurement, is the wave-Length of that band of color in the electromagnetic spectrum.
Mol’s are a measurement of the number of atoms in chemistry and goes back to Avogadro's number. Mol's are used in measuring PAR, because you are measuring the number of photons which impact or strike the sensors' surface. So PAR is a measure of the amount of particles (which is intensity).
Those particles are only useable in photosynthesis, if it is emitting a wavelength utilized by a photo-pigment in that plants tissue, hence my suggestion below.
Suggestion: A strong follow up would be a discussion on the photo-system present in a leaf structure of an aquatic plants.
For example, most plants primary photo system is the protein-pigment “chlorophyll a” it is most sensitive to 400-450 nm, and again at roughly 650 nm. That is primarily blue and red.
That is why red and blue are your primary grow colors.
The other spectrums matter when you discuss secondary pigments, or accessory pigments. There are three major sets of photosynthetic pigments: Chlorophyll, Carotenoids, & Phycobilins (there are more, but those are the big ones).
If you work backwards from the Photo-pigments, you will know which spectrum that specific species needs.
The discussion of plant morphology in relation to light spectrum are secondary. That is generally a hormone response to the spectrum present. Meaning the plants behavior shifts in response to the concentrations of PGR’s (Plant growth regulators/hormones) synthesized under that light conditions. A stretching plant, or a compact plant results from the over or under production of certain PGR’s, which are partly determined by light spectrum & intensity in various plant structures.
The primary discussion should be on energy generation. Which goes back to which primary and accessory pigments are present in that given species.
This as an example: You discussed marine organisms. A good example is “rhodophyta”, red macro algae. They are protists, not plants; but are highly photosynthetic; and they look red.
They look red because one of it’s primary photo-pigments is Phycoerythrin, a red pigment in the Phycobilins class. That pigment reflects red and absorbs blue. Because, as you noted, blue penetrates deep into water. Most Red algae are deep water species and evolved in regions of blue light.
I say this because most of our plants are green. So yes, some can use green light, but most green light is reflected. Green light is not used in energy production. Science is exploring additional process’s that use green in the plant, but they are secondary. They can be important to overall plant health, but the plant won't survive long-term on green light alone.
But this all goes back to which pigments are present. If you want to understand how plants use light, study it’s pigments.
This was a round-about way of highlighting why I suggested it as a good follow up. Because this video is great, but you meander through 3 or 4 loosely connected concepts.
Cheers Bentley, lots of great info on the light spectrum to ponder mate 🌿
Loving your vids Bentley thank you for sharing 👌
Love the lighting information. Always an educational experience. Thank you.
Thank you for addressing algae bloom!
All your bids are an excellent resource for concise information.
Many Thanks Bentley.
Thanks Bentley!
As always another Exceptional video
Great video. Always great info Bentley! Thank you kindly! - Little Bobby
Probably one of the best videos on the topic so far. You made it easy to understand whilst still super informative. Thank you!
This is very valuable information, and a great explanation light, color, and effect. You are breaking this down so that it’s easy to understand. Thanks Bentley!
I'm so glad I found your channel!!! THANK YOU for your informative work
Love the channel, I have learned a lot!!
Thank you for the video, this is just what I needed to understand about the Light Spectrum!!
Thanks a lot for sharing the knowledge!
Really good video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
Realize i'm seeing it late but great video
Just getting back into the hobby after a couple decade absence. Very helpful thank you
Nice video! I am definitely going to have to watch it again and listen better.
Lighting is a topic I frequently rewatch videos of to relearn the basics, and see if new studies have come out that can help me. Thanks Bentley!
Thank you for such great information! Now I have a much better understanding of aquarium lights which will def impact future purchases and how I manage my current light setups! 💕🐟🌱
Great explanation I was looking for long time from you tube .... thanks again
Bentley is awesome. He’s a great resource for more in-depth knowledge. Thank Sir 🙂
Thanks for this, I am looking at making some custom lights for a new aquarium set up and has helped me decide on the Leds to purchase.
Thank you for these free amazing advanced knowledge!
Thank you for a great insight into lighting.
Great explanation!!! Thank you very much!!!
Thanks Bentley.
I appreciate your videos so much! Some folks will not make detailed videos because it is "too long" so it ruins their watch time.
Very educational. 👍🏻
I am just getting into lighting and even though I've had a little bit of good luck with some inexpensive Amazon lighting and low-light plants.... I would really love to learn more and be able to keep some more higher tech aquariums!this is exactly the kind of video I need and I appreciate what you do and share Bentley!I know that it's going to be researched and on point and I appreciate you!! Hope you had a great weekend! 🙏🌿🐟🌿💚
Personally I picked out a light a year ago based on price alone. It is by MingDak and I did post a video about it and I show the specs on this particular light. I just consider myself lucky because what I'm growing seems to be working with it... But I want to understand what these different colors and what the different aspects of all these lights have and how they help our aquarium grow.. thanks again Bentley you are absolutely awesome 🙏♥️🌿🐟🌿💚
Very interesting. I have a small planted tank under orangy light and the root systems on the anubias and buce are really crazy in that tank compared to others. Now I understand why. Thanks!
Awesome information!
I got a light I could customize the colored lights and just to my eye went with no blue and a red / green mix along with lower white light and have had almost no algae. The colors make the green in plants look better in my opinion. Thanks for making this great help!
This certainly helps explain why I’m still getting decent growth (not high growth) with less algae since I turned down the intensity on my Fluval 3s. I use a modified version of the light “recipe” you put out when the 3s came out on 16g tanks. I also put the lights on risers because some of the plants are starting to grow up out of the water on one tank.
This video was super easy to understand, thank you!
Hope it helps!
You are the best youtuber on explaining these things. I recommend waching these kind of episodes and rent a par meter from bulk reef supply. Then dile in the ferts.
Thanks for the info!
Thank you for this!
I always thought that K (in 300K or 400K) refers to the temperature in Kelvins of the black body radiator that would produce the light.
it does...
Fantastic content again!
Very informative. Thank you
Just what I needed!
Thanks for this. I’ve watched this several times now. I appreciate your speaking skills and making everything comprehensive and easy to understand. Still a little confused on all three different white lights on fluval plant 3.0 though! What exactly do the three whites do for plants? Thanks!
I'm trying to understand various aspects of our hobby more thoroughly. I'm no longer satisfied with just parroting old info like plants need light, they need fertilizer, one inch fish per gallon, gravel is good or bad, etc. I want to understand the science behind these things to determine what is true vs myths that won't fade. This is exactly the kind of video I will be saving to build my knowledge base. Thanks Bentley 👍
Very interesting information.
Very very good information in this video 😍👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Saved to my favorites so I can share this everytime t he full spectrum conversation comes up
Wow this is fascinating deserve a sub
Thanks so much. Thats makes perfect sense. Do more videos like that. Is that black carbon that comes with on the back filters good for plants?
Not usually, it typically re.kves nutrients the plants want from the water.
Thanks Bentley, your videos are informative, and I love the calm voice you have :)
That said, please also review, if you can, Chihrios RGB A PLUS, or Chihrios WRGB2 SLIM lights, both have the same lumens as a Fluval, the only difference is that the rest of the world uses those, or variants. As Fluval is mostly US.
And I would love to have your input on the light
Don't know if I understand it all, but I kind of think I do. But what I DO know, is that your videos recently helped me buy the right LED for my anubias and moss tank. The Fluval Aqualight which after 3 weeks obviously have had a major positive affect on my plants growth with the right spectrum settings. Thanks!! :)
Great explanation!! I recently ordered a Fluval 3.0- hopefully I can fine tune it per your recommendations. 💚🌱
Just don't be afraid to tinker and use my settings as a starting point. If you see algae, dial it back some. Plants get long and leggy reaching for light, dial it up some. Cheers!
Love this ❤️
Appreciate your info. Wish I had known about affiliate link when bought fluval 3.0
I’m so glad that other people are talking about this! I’ve been using GE full spectrum LED plant bulbs to grow my aquatic plants and I find them to be extremely effective and much cheaper than your average aquarium light system 😊 The GE bulbs have a very well-balanced spectrum of color AND they’re pleasing to the eye. If you haven’t tried them yet, I highly recommend giving them a shot.
I started with the GE 32 watt flood lights, they are great as pendant lights, good shimmer, and cheap, but to be really effective they need to be like 18-24 inches above the aquarium.
Recently been switching out the flood lights for the GE 40 watt 2 foot grow light, really like it, and I can have it directly above the tank and still get good spread.
hi which light r u talking about bcs im thinking of buying it since im new to this
@@hephaestus5521 This applies to almost all lights in regards to spectrum and the general tips here. There's a lot of great options out there depending on the features you want or if you have a target budget.
@@BentleyPascoewhy does the spectrum matter? Whichever the spectrum, same PAR achieves same growth
@@dimitrijekrstic7567 not necessarily. You get different growth depending on the light. Blue vs red are very different. Also algae takes advantage of certain light better than others.
That was awesome I wonder if we can make our own LED strips with red and green and some white or is it gonna be too much just a buy another aquarium lights?
Great presentation! It would be great to see the light spectrum for the 3 whites on the Fluval Planted 3.0. Do you know where they can be found ? Not on the Fluval website that I can find.
Off hand I don't. I'd love to know though
Loved to hear that red light is really important for plant growth and blue encourages algae! Interesting 🤓
Excellent. 👍
Great informative vid
So good!
Coming from saltwater to freshwater (I know, its normally the other way!) This video has really helped me with setting up my AI prime 16HD to use for plant growth. Trying to keep the costs low, so reusing equipment. Thankfully this light has individual led channels and a kelvin channel for all leds. I've set it to 6500k which is using all leds in various % but maybe I should have a play? The actual freshwater version has more white leds but I think this will be good enough for my 60 litre.
You're a smart guy. You do your research
very good video
Thank you for your video, this was very helpful. I have a tank with an inbuilt light that's just white LED's and two blues. Could I had a attach strips of red/orange and maybe green acetate to get a wider spectrum?
Potentially yes, I personally haven't done any direct experiments using acetate, but I don't see why it wouldn't work
Just brilliant 🙏👍
liked commented ,already subbed... another great informative vid.. thanks!
nice one well done
Thanks
Great video Bentley but nm when talking about light wave length means Nano Meters not Nano Mols. Mols is a power density in the case. Loved everything else and spot on.
Thanks for the video been watching for awhile and some of your older videos. Great content . I do have a question now, I have a fluval aqua sky on my fluval roma 125 , the only algae I get is bba 😱, I know . How ever it’s on the plant leaves, I was none co2 but thought co2 will help some injecting 1 bubble per second to see if helps(125l roughly 33 us gallons), I went with some setting you have recommended I think on a fairly new video on your brother in laws tank with bba. 35 red 30 green, 3 blue and 65 white.
So question when you look at the spectrum graph on the box the blue is the highest available light , red is low assuming this is at 100% . So how come we turn down the reds so much when the Par at 16 inch is very low I assuming at full power, is it sensible to change these settings to the same level, so all at say 50% or maybe less blue. I have tried various things more co2 or less light etc and still get bba on the plant leaves them selves. Any advice , also can too much flow stress plants and cause bba , I do have a strong over filter powered fluval 307 , again now turned down to see for a few weeks if anything changes . I hope you see this and it makes sense . I would email you but feel bad when you probably get a lot and your so busy with life (work) at the moment and doing all this great content for people as well. Thanks for your channel
The thing is plants use blue light kind of inefficiently. They're actually very efficient at using red and white light and even some of like the kind of yellow and orange tones. It's not necessarily about what the light puts out, but more about how well the plant uses that light.
Very interesting bud 👍
Watched this as a review of sorts. It just clicked in my mind that the access algae growth in one of my tanks might be partially due to how long I leave the blue light on at night. Gonna cut that down and see if it makes a difference. Thanks.
Thank you! I 🙌
Hey again Bentley,
Another great video - I had a question about 2 particular lights i am considering for my new fish room expansion. One of them is what i currently use, Aquaneat (3 row high lumen white 6500K / some blues) and the other is the Beamswork EA F Spec (not DA, that is a great light but unfortunately isn't compatible with my racking system). I purchased one of the Beamsworks to test, and while it has more lumens according to the spec sheet, it's noticeably less bright comeparted to the Aquaneat. Now, my predicament is do i go with the slightly less bright Beamswork, or the 6500K but brighter Aquaneat? I need to purchase 12 48" lights for my 4 racks, so i am not taking this decision lightly. These will all be planted tanks, FYI. Thanks for your expertise!
Depending on the tank, you don't necessarily want super bright light. Personally I have better experience with Beamswork, but if you prefer the look of aquaneat, go with that.
@@BentleyPascoe Thanks! Agreed.
Thanks, i will try less blue light and more green.
I feel like you opened up a hack for aquariums. I’m not stuck paying 150 for a light. Haha TY
Do you think the "cool white" on a fluval 3.0 has a similar effect to blue in terms of promoting algae and low compact growth?
No, not nearly as much as it's more like 7500k white rather than pure actinic blue
Loved the vid! I wanted to know, how can a person find out if a light is full-spectrum? Like, what if I find a light which is just ACCIDENTALLY a full-spectrum light, how do I find that out? do I need some special camera? Thanks!!
Usually they will tell you or display a chart showing the light it hits. Any modern LED is full spectrum, so I wouldn't stress much there. Old tube lighting is where that might change
Great video Bentley! Thank you for explaining it so thoroughly and clearly!
A few rather important things you don't mention here, unless I missed something: Spectrums above and below the visible spectrum can be useful for improving the health of plants, partly for sanitation, and also for improving the immune system, among other potential benefits. Blue light can lead to more photo-reduction of iron, which is part of why it can grow more algae. Most aquariums are only a few feet deep, and most spectrums can penetrate that reasonably well. Speaking of penetration, penetration of light in water is not the only important thing when talking about plants typically sold as aquarium plants; We also have to consider the penetration of light through a forest canopy, since most aquarium plants are amphibious shade plants. The relationship between red and blue lighting on plants in general has been studied fairly rigorously, and it's been shown that plants in red light, and especially far-red, grow leggy partly as a means of more quickly obtaining more light. I know you mention the tall growth, but don't mention that it's mostly red, far-red, and green light that makes it to the forest floor. As such, it's not just that the lower frequency spectrums become more important, but that blue light becomes less important. That said, sometimes best overall plant growth is not desirable. An aquarist who wants a brighter tank but also is willing to sacrifice a bit of growth to have a tighter lower carpet might opt for more blue light.
Nice!
Would u recommend the current serene led or fluval plant 3.0 for a 40 gallon breeder planted or do u recommend something else in 200 range?
I don't have direct experience with the Serene, but in general I've seen Current lights tend to push a LOT of blue (the satellite does this). In general I have a preference to the Fluval, but that is also a lot of personal experience versus a product I have yet to test. I use Fluval 3.0s on several 40Bs and love them.
Was very helpful with understanding how each color affects the different part of the plant growth. Could you get a little more in depth on just how much of each light is needed per size of the tank? Would be greatly appreciated, because I can't find information on this ANYWHERE!!!!
The problem is each tank is unique, there is no real concrete answer. It's basically a mix of CO2 in the water, available nutrients, what plants and how many. Example: same parameters in light, co2 and fertilizer but rotalas and stems versus java ferns, swords and crypts. You'd likely see problems in one tank and not the other.
that really is the best video I have seen on lighting . Just one thing you never really mention Lumens , does it not matter , what effect will 9000K have on plants vs 6500 vs 2700
At lumens is just a different way to calculate the amount of light present similar to how when we do a PAR reading. It doesn't matter. It's just that most people will look at PAR over lumens.
Great video! Bentley Pascoe, what light from Amazon would you recommend for pond plants I want to overwinter indoors, water hyacinth, water lettuce, frog bit? Thanks! ❤️
Jc&p or Hygger have good options
@@BentleyPascoe , thank you! ❤️
greAT video
The visible light spectrum is approximately between 400nm and 700nm. That isn't nanomoles or whatever you said, it's nanometers.
Yep, it was a mistake - PAR measures in nanomoles and my brain slipped.
@@BentleyPascoe Ah! I knew I'd seen that measurement somewhere!
Honestly, the only reason I caught it was I'm taking a "physics of light and color" class lol
It would be interesting if someone made a non planted tank light tuned in a spectrum that didn't grow algae for fish only tanks. Most cheap lights still have a lot of blue. Not sure if there would be much market as planted tanks are very popular right now, but you could market it as the "anti algae light". Maybe not relevant to topic, but it made me curious.
This is nearly impossible because algae are so resourceful. Any source of light will grow it.
Hi Bentley, I have just a question for you. If red is the most important for plants, why you have less red than whites on all of your Fluval 3.0 settings? I don't know if it's a silly question. I am a beginner. Thanks.
White is all spectrum. So within it is red. Red is the best of the single color LEDs. Hope that makes sense!
What light setting do you recommend, for anunbias nana , barteri var nana petite and crypto flamingo and red lily. I have chihiros wrgb 2
You have a relatively powerful light, but the problem is you have a mix of plants that want very different light, be anubius especially the nana petite is going to want a lot lower light. Whereas most of lilies kind of want medium light and pink flamingo typically does best in the lower portions of high up into very high light. So what you might find yourself needing to do is arranging your plants so that the low light plants are getting some semblance of shade from other taller plants and the more light demanding plants are out in the open. From there, you're probably going to have to tinker with your settings to figure out what the right balance is that doesn't cause a bunch of algae
@@BentleyPascoe understood, it really help me alot, I’ll rearrange, I’ll try to keep Anubias var hide below some leafy plant
Hello Bentley. I’m a beginner to growing aquarium plants. I have a little 5.5 gallon with some low lights plants. Anubias, Amazon sword, Crypt wendtii, Rotala rotundifolia and a Ludwigia red. I’ve read the Ludwigia probably want grow with what I currently have in my tank. It’s crazy because my Amazon sword has been growing quite well with the three tiny bulbs that came with the original lid. I’m also using flourish root tabs. No CO2 or liquid ferts at this time. I’m super confused still. I have a Hygger HG-918 6500K 9 watt with red, white and blue lights. So, should I power up all three lights each day for plant growing? Or, should I just use the white light each day? I plan to start off at 50% intensity six hours per day as you suggested. Just unsure if I should be using all or just the white lights daily for growing. Thank you for any advice you might be able to share🙏🏾
White and red light are great for plants. You just don't want to have too much blue because it can help cause algae. You can have some blue, but if you have a way to dial its intensity down. If it's controllable in your particular light then you would turn down the blue so it's a very low amount. Otherwise I would have it off.
@@BentleyPascoe Hello Bentley. I have a total of 24 leds. 18 white, 4 blues and two reds. No way to turn the blues off without turning the reds off as well. Is it okay if I run the whites daily at 50% until I fine that happy medium for the plants? Also, should I start dosing an all in one liquid fertilizer or just rely on the root tabs and light for now. My tank has only been running for a month and two days but I’m so exited to be on this growing plants under water journey😁Thank you and I hope all is well with you and your fish and plants🙏🏾Thank you from Darrel in Houston Texas. And in case your wondering, it’s already in the 90’s here😩
Working on my five gallon nano,what light would you recommend for a five? Believe I am putting a Betta in it,thinking of one of the small l. E. D. They sell at wallie world in their pet department. Trying to keep from having to find fishy sunglasses. Plants will be two dwarf aquarium lilies one on each side to hide sponge filter and heater ( will keep trimmed) .
You will want something you can dim. With only two lilies, you'll want to be able to bring the light intensity down. Fluval Plant Nano, JC&P clip on both can do this.
@@BentleyPascoe thanks
is it possible for me to send you my Fluval Pro setting for your review?
You can email it to me: bentley.pascoe@gmail.com
how do you (un)link the colour spectrum of light versus light penetrating through a coloured foil ?
Basically the translucency of the foil allows for a small amount of filtered light to go through in the color range of the foil.
@@BentleyPascoe Does that then mean that the foil filters a certain spectrum of light ? If yes you can adjust certain amount of aqua light more and less in red or blue spectrum by putting some foil on certain parts on your LED... (of course starting with full spectrum light). But maybe then full spectrum is at the end still better then playing with it by filtering it through coloured foil... (?).
I wonder if it would be good to use strictly blue light during the early years of training a bonsai...
Possible!