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Lighting Spectrum and Photosythesis

411K views 203 replies 75 participants last post by  DutchMuch 
#1 · (Edited)
The most common mistake people make with planted tanks is to not understand photosynthesis and the visible spectrum of lighting that affects plant growth. Most people choose lighting solely based on the Kelvin temperature of a bulb. This tells you very little about what type of light within the spectrum is being emitted and at what strength. Visible light is on a scale in nanometers (radiated wavelength) from 400nm (violet) to 700nm (red). Simple matter of photosynthesis: plants can only utilize light that is absorbed. Bright light is essential yet only a portion of this white light is used for photosynthesis. The blue and red zones of the visible spectrum are the most beneficial to plants. Green plants appear green because it is reflected light. How "bright" a light appears has more to do with how much light is output in a given area visible to the human eye, with "brightness" being at a maximum in the green spectrum (middle of visible spectrum, or around 550nm).



Lighting for a planted tank should not be chosen on color temp alone. It is true that 'full spectrum' bulbs are referred to as bulbs between 5000 Kelvin (K) and 6500 K and are considered to be best for planted tanks. Yet this does not indicate what wavelength in nanometers the bulb is actually emitting. If you want to optimize plant leaf development (blue light) and stem elongation and color (red light) you need light in both the blue and red spectra for photosynthesis. You need a mix of blue and red for your plants, and green for you (brightness as perceived by humans). If your lighting looks extremely bright and your plants seem ultra-green, it means that you have lighting that outputs strongly in the green spectrum. Do not equate this with good lighting for your plants, because plants don't use light in the green spectrum for photosynthesis. Sunlight peaks in the blue spectrum at 475 nanometers (nm). This is a shorter wavelength than red light and is used by both plants and algae. As light passes through water the intensity decreases. The shorter wavelength blue light penetrates water better and more quickly than red, which is slower and absorbed more quickly. Chlorophyll, the photosynthetic pigment used by plants traps blue and red light but is more efficient with red light at 650 - 675nm. Blue is used at the same rate as red because it is more available for reasons mentioned above.

For green plants the lighting peaks that are most important:
Chlorophyll-a: 430nm/662nm
Chlorophyll-b: 453nm/642nm
Carotenoids: 449nm/475nm
Red pigmented plants use more light in the blue area of the spectrum.



Beyond choosing lighting that is optimal for photosynthesis, as above, you should choose lighting with the color temperature that best suits the aesthetic goals of your tank. So, don't obsess about color temperature beyond how you want your tank to look. From a color temperature standpoint, blue-colored light will enhance blues in your fish. Green-colored light will make the tank look bright to humans and enhance the green color of your plants. Red-colored light will enhance the reds in your fish, and any red plants.

Lux is lumens/square meter, so they are similar. They are both defined in terms that are meaningful to human perception of light - not plants. They stress the amount of energy in the green band to which humans are most sensitive - not plants.

Artificial light sources are usually evaluated based on their lumen output. Lumen is a measure of flux, or how much light energy a light source emits (per unit time). The lumen measure does not include all the energy the source emits, but just the energy with wavelengths capable of affecting the human eye. Thus the lumen measure is defined in such a way as to be weighted by the (bright-adapted) human eye spectral sensitivity.



Lumen ratings are usually available, but when you use them you have to keep in mind what they mean. Lamp A can have a higher lumen rating than lamp B and appear brighter to you, while lamp B provides more useful light for plants. Compare the lumen ratings for cool white and GroLux bulbs of the same wattage and you will see what I mean. A 40-watt cool white bulb is rated at 3050 lumen; a 40-watt GroLux bulb (not the wide spectrum) is way lower at 1200 lumens. The big difference is because GroLux lamps provide very little green light and cool whites provide a lot of green light. I have found it best to provide a mix of lighting to a planted tank. The GroLux bulb is perhaps the best plant bulb available but it has very little green light so the visual effects of your tank will look dim and purplish. Yet if you add some other lighting such as a Philips 6500K the effect is more pleasing to the eye and still beneficial to the plants. I find that the GroLux along with a GroLux wide spectrum (89 Color Rendering Index) has a great effect for use as dawn/dusk lighting. (A Sylvania rep. told me it was best to use both together.)



Kelvin rating and lumens does not equate for plants. The Kelvin scale is more of how your tank will look to you/us and is totally subjective. It is true that the lower Kelvin ratings like 3000K will have more red light and a 10,000K will have more blue light. Lumens are meaningless for plants, as green plants do not utilize green light for photosynthesis. A higher lumen rating at the same wattage often means greener light. Lumen is a rating weighted entirely towards human perception. It has little to do with the value of a light for either growing or viewing plants.

The Kelvin rating is an indication of color temperature. The higher the temperature, the more blue the light. Here's a rough scale:

- Reddish/Yellowish Endpoint -
Incandescent Light: 2700K
Daylight: 5500K
Blue Sky: 10,000K
- Blue Endpoint -



Don't be fooled by color temperature as an indication of what wavelength of light may or may not be present. The emitted wavelengths of light for two bulbs with the same color temperature could be wildly different. Therefore, color temperature is not what you should use to determine useful light for growing plants. It will, however, give you an idea of how things in your tank will look. For example, the sky has a color temperature of 10,000K and looks blue. Lighting that has a higher color temperature, indicating that it is bluish, does point to the fact that blue wavelengths are dominant. This, in turn, just means that it will activate green plants in the blue range, which is a good thing, and enhance blue fish. Red photosynthetic pigment is less efficient at utilizing light and requires stronger light as a result. The less efficient red carotenoid pigment must rely on blue and some green light as well as more intense lighting. There are some plants that that are able to change the pigment they use for photosynthesis depending on available lighting. We see this in red-leaved plants that turn green if the lighting is too low, not enough blue and/or green light. Alternatively, some green leafed plants produce red foliage when closer to the light source or with overly bright lighting.

The Kelvin color designation of a particular bulb is not always true to the black body locus line on a CIE Chromaticity map. This is why some 5000K bulbs look yellow and others white, especially when trying to compare a linear fluorescent with a CF or MH. This is where Kelvin ratings of bulbs can fall prey to marketing schemes/hype.



The standard measure that quantifies the energy available for photosynthesis is "Photosynthetic Active Radiation" (aka "Photosynthetic Available Radiation") or PAR. It accounts with equal weight for all the output a light source emits in the wavelength range between 400 and 700 nm. PAR also differs from the lumen in the fact that it is not a direct measure of energy. It is expressed in "number of photons per second". The reason for expressing PAR in number of photons instead of energy units is that the photosynthesis reaction takes place when a photon is absorbed by the plant; no matter what the photon's wavelength is (provided it lies in the range between 400 and 700 nm). In other words if a given number of blue photons is absorbed by a plant, the amount of photosynthesis that takes place is exactly the same as when the same number of red photons is absorbed. This is why it is so important to get the spectral output of a bulb before deciding if is a 'good plant light'. You may need to add/mix bulbs to get a lighting that has good visual effects for the human eye and proper light for plants because 'plant bulbs' tend to be purplish. There is an additional term called "Photosynthetic Usable Radiation" or PUR which takes in to account blue and red light only.

I don't understand why people insist on distinguishing between lamps on the basis of their color temperature. No lamp renders color correctly or looks natural unless its Color Rendering Index (CRI) rating is very high. When CRI is over 90 the color temperature shouldn't make much difference; colors rendered accurately will always look about the same regardless of the Kelvin rating. Many bulbs render red and orange colors poorly and give you a look with very flat color contrasts. Other bulbs produce a lot of green light and don't render either blue or red very well at all.

CRI or Color Rendering Index is an indication of how close the light is to daylight (full spectrum) on a scale from 0 to 100 with respect to how it makes objects appear. In the case of the Philips PL-L 950, the CRI is 92, so it has pretty good color rendering properties. Two bulbs with the same Kelvin temperature but different CRI ratings can produce very different appearances. Compare a 5000K that has an 80-something CRI with a 5000K that has a 90-something CRI. The 80 CRI bulb is very bright, but it renders greens with a distinct yellow cast. The 90 CRI bulb is dim, but it renders rich colors across the whole spectrum.

Whether or not a bulb looks "natural" to you is totally subjective. It depends in part on what you're used to. If you only see the world under cool white fluorescents then that is probably what looks natural to you. If you live somewhere with frequently hazy or overcast skies then you may be accustomed to "natural" light having a color temperature near 7000K. If you live somewhere with clear skies and infrequent cloudy days then your natural light might have a color temperature closer to 5000K. If you are used to north skylight then maybe a color temperature close to 10,000K seems more natural. In any case of actual natural light the light will render colors pretty well. That is usually not the case for fluorescent lamps with a high Kelvin temperature rating. If you want a high K lamp that does render colors accurately then you might try finding the Philips C75. It has a 7500K color temp and a 90+ CRI. It could be hard to find and a bit pricey.

Plants will grow with ordinary bulbs as they tend to have both some blue and red emissions. The problem is that they also have wavelengths between 500 and 600nm, which algae likes. Green algae and green plants use the same pigments for photosynthesis (chlorophyll a/b & carotenoids). So, light that helps one helps the other. The algae that are different are the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), which contain Phycocyanin and absorb light heavily in the low 600nm (orange-red), which is unfortunately present in most standard fluorescents. In the planted aquarium artificial light should ideally peak (or be stronger) in the red area of the spectrum. The tanks' appearance can be compensated (balanced) with blue light and some green light for brightness to the human eye. Strong blue light will cause plant growth to be more compact and bushy and will also tend to promote algae growth. So remember to balance 2/3 red to 1/3 blue light emissions.



Bulbs sold as generic plant/aquarium bulbs usually have OK energy in blue and not much in red. A bulb sold as a generic "sunshine" bulb may or may not have some useful red, depending on the bulb. You can put any fluorescent lighting on your tank and do OK, but if you want to maximize plant growth, it's best to compare lighting options and, if possible, try to find the graphs/data for spectra output, rated life and output decay over time. Unfortunately, CF bulbs haven't caught up with linear bulbs in the ability to offer light (tri-phosphor type) in the proper areas of the spectrum.

Fluorescents lose efficiency over time. Some lose more than others - some bulbs may only suffer 10% drop in output, while others may drop 30% or more in the same time frame. The less the drop over time, the less you have to replace them, depending on your application. Linear fluorescent tubes should be changed out every six months and compact fluorescents every year.

Fluorescent bulbs marketed for aquaria are often more expensive and not necessarily better than generic versions. They are also not necessarily marketed correctly. Many bulbs offer spectral output graphs. However, many of these graphs are measured in relative power on the Y-axis rather than a known reference like watts per nanometer per 1000 lumens. All that 'relative power' lets you know is that 100% is the highest peak at a given nanometer and all other peaks are relative to this. So, don't be fooled by nomenclature and packaging (marketing hype).

Aquatic plants quickly respond to changes in light conditions and are more highly evolved than algae and are able to regulate photosynthesis more quickly than algae, which are biologically less advanced. Therefore, creating a 'siesta' period in the middle of the lighting period is effective at curbing algae. Plants are able to start photosynthesis once there is sufficient light. Algae need a long and uninterrupted lighting period to function properly. Intensity and duration will also be detrimental to algae growth. Create an hour dawn/dusk lighting period at the start and end of the lighting period to simulate natural lighting with the 'siesta' period in the middle of the intense lighting period. Duration depends on many variables such as type of lighting, size tank, intensity of the lights, etc. The point of this is to say that algae prevention is not a black art that involves estimation of color temperature. There are a few specific things that cause algae, mostly including excess nutrients (phosphate, nitrate) combined with light that is useful for photosynthesis. Fix the water chemistry and you should be able to get rid of the algae without impairing the total light available to your plants in areas of maximum activation for photosynthesis.
 
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#2 ·
This is a very interesting post Newt, although Im not quite sure of the need to change the bulbs every 6 months to a year or so, also the proof or need that a siesta period is beneficial in reducing algae may be questionable in a lot of peoples eyes and experience running planted tanks.
 
#3 ·
There are several methods to control/curb algae and a siesta period is one. It may not be the best but it does reduce the growth. I am only stating several options and didn't mean to suggest it was totally necessary.

Fluorescent tubes: linear tubes experience cathode tube decay over time and the spectrum can shift and the light output drops off dramatically. I believe the Interpet Triton tube claims theirs is the same until it goes dead; althou I haven't seen any data to back this up.



The T5 technology in CF/PC tubes enables them to be effective for twice as long but they have the same issues as the linear. So if you wish to have the same intensity of light and the designed spectral output change them out.
 
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#4 ·
I'm in direct sales for a living and have seen a fair number of guys come and go through my company. Interestingly, there seem to be one common denominator among the guys who couldn't hack it and fell off the board: Ego.

Ego manifests itself many different ways among each of us and is normal to varying degrees, but when it gets in the way of communicating with another person (customer, in my case, or fellow forum member, in the case of APC), then the person who ends up on the short end of the stick is ALWAYS the one doing the talking. In the case of sales, it means no production. In the case of the internet, it means not being taken seriously.

These are some guidelines that have been very helpful for me, and I try to keep them in mind when wanting to get a point across to someone else.

1.) Nobody likes a know-it-all. No matter how accurate the point that is trying be made might be, if the person across the table from you feels like they are stupid, the wall goes up immediately you're done for the day.

2.) Offer advice out of concern for the other person, not just to hear yourself talk: "How can I help you?"/ "Maybe my experiences can benefit you"/ "I was in your situation once and this is what worked for me"/ "I hear the problem. What do you think the answer is?"

3). People wil not listen to someone they can't relate to. In other words, be real. How credible would it be if I changed my handle from my real name to "Big Bird", and put my location as "Somewhere over the Rainbow", then started telling the whole forum what they didn't know about lighting, fertilizing, or whatever?

If the title of the thread is "My experiences with different types of lighting over planted tanks", I'm going to read it. When it starts saying "should", "don't", and "I don't understand", and the the rest of reads like some sort of analysis of mistakes I'm told I'll make, hitting "back" on the browser is next. Just my 2-cents, which you are free to accept/reject.
 
#6 ·
I thought this was a site for people to learn from. Most of the posters here are picking lighting based on kelvin temps alone. I have read many articles in The Journal of Plant Physiology and thought I would impart some knowledge I have gained (not my ego shouting) so that people here would understand what makes plants grow rather than streach out some chicken entrails and see what bulb it tells them to use. If I thought that where I reside made a difference as to the the accuracy of what I wrote I would have given my GPS coordinates. Sorry you were offended and while you gave your two cents I gave my $100.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thank you Newt

I want to show my appreciation for you knowledgeable post Newt. It was just what I was looking for.

I have been trying to have a decent topic discussion over at Aqua hobby. Great site, I love the people. But no one wants to talk specifics like this though. Everyone is happy to be told "use this bulb", but no one wants to make an educated decision.

This was the topic here for you to browse and you can see what I was trying to accomplish. Some were at least curious but I met with a little resistance. I don't want to rewrite the whole thing here obviously.

http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=42783 Lighting topic

Would you read through this topic Newt and offer your advise on my reasoning and logic.

It started over in this topic.

http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=42708

This was actually a really good topic, over 300 views in 3 days and almost 30 replies. Was a good time. When I started to get specific it died out that's why I started on the Lighting specific one.
 
#10 ·
Hi Moment,

You have a good thread started there.

I dont think you mean relative power in areas of blue and red. A lot of companies market bulbs with spectral output graphs based on 'relative' power and not a meaningful measurement such as watts per nanometer per 1000 lumens, as other companies do. This is probably because the former companies dont want you to know how little intensity is actually being emitted at a given nanometer. Relative power is only measuring the various outputs to the highest peak which they call 100%.

As for the second post (first to your original): "white light at 5000K looks terrible". This could be a combo of issues: first, the bulb manufacturers basically pick a kelvin rating somewhere near the bulbs actual kelvin temp because they want to market it as a 6500K bulb and not say 7245K, or whatever it may really be. The second issue could the a lower Color Rendering Index of the bulb. I use 5000K Philips PLL-950's (along with other bulbs) and the CRI is 92 which is very high. It is definitely a very white light. But I bet if I were to put it next to say a 5000K MH with a 98 CRI it would look yellow.

As for your resistance to your thread, just look how mine started. Most people are only going to choose based on kelvin ratings and that is too bad. They may have good luck doing that but wont know what they can really accomplish if they tried this approach. I find it curious that the Dutch and other Europeans choose lighting at around 3500K and as high as 5000K with only a few using say 6500K. They use a lot of Philips PLL 840s and 860s as well as some Osram bulbs similar to those. Here in the US hobbistes are going form like 6500K to 10,000K. Part of the issue is alot of bulb manufactures do not provide spectral output graphs and most of the ones who do use the relative power to describe the output intensity. If you choose a bulb that has a high CRI the kelvin doesnt play into it so much. So many people I see are using Coralife 6700K. They have good marketing but the bulb has an dominant spike in the green and casts a green hue on the tank. Perhaps they like this as it makes their plants look very green. Then you have people using the GE 9325K that only has a 67 CRI yet people love them. I used them awhile back and they grow plants well but the red region is more in the orange and not up near 675nm. I don't think they are that close to a 10,000K anyway. I had one side by side a Philips C75 (7500K). The Philips had a blue tone and the GE had a pinkish/red tone. You would think the GE would have looked more blue. I prefer a nice white light.



The GE 9325K:


I hope this has helped.
 
#11 ·
Are they T5 linear tubes or T5 CF/PC bulbs? Can you get spectral outputs for what you are thinking of using? T5 is the most efficient and will give you more light penetration required for taller tanks. A lot of the German hobbists are using T5 but they dont always tell the brand name.
 
#12 · (Edited)
It's so much better to know why you are doing something the way you are doing it than to just hope blindly it works out right. That's why I started digging though all the information I could find.

I'm really trying to justify the amount of money that my T5 setup cost me, and I want to make sure I got the right bulbs considering the cost.

So I guess given all you know about this, and that I am only starting to cobble it together, I will ask you a question. Which should I have bought?

I bought Hagen T5 linear bulbs based on the relative power that is shown in the spectrum. Thing is... as you said and I understand now, they do not necessarily reflect what the bulb actually puts out. The bulbs I bought were 18000k. The show large blue spike at 430 with smaller mound in blue around 450. Then they show red spike around 600 with smaller red mound around 650. They are Hagen Powerglo. I felt that since it was showing lots of red and blue they would be good for plants. I didn't buy Hagen 6700k Lifeglo because the peak was all in green and I knew that to be why the lumens were so high (3000 per 39watt bulb), and that green had no part in plant growth.

What do you know the Hagen bulbs aside from the fact that they poorly market there bulbs? Do you know where to get an actual spectral graph of their bulbs? One bulb comparison page I referenced in my forums actually showed that Powerglo had rather high Par efficiency. I feel good about this but still wonder based on the high color temp. Obviously it would be strong in blue but what about red? That last question was rhetorical...lol
 
#14 ·
Hagens are a bit pricey. Attached are the graphs for the PowerGlo, LifeGlo and AquaGlo. The AquaGlo is probably the better plant bulb. It is somewhat like the GroLux but lower power. I also attached two graphs of normalized spectral plots so that you can see the output intensity at a given nanometer in true relation to each other. You can go to HomeDepot and get some T5 Philips 6500K that will balance out the lighting and make it more pleasing to the eye.

PowerGlo:


LifeGlo:


AquaGlo:




Hagen spectral graphs:
 
#17 ·
The end of page one of this thread is the Coralife 6700K (Trichromatic). I will see if I can get one for the 10,000K Coralife.
 
#21 ·
Yes, they do grow plants well. I have used them and many people use them and like them a lot. There is a good 'sticky' thread on the 9325 bulb in this forum.

What other CF's have you tried?
 
#20 ·
#22 ·
Re: Lighting for the Planted Aquarium

wow excellent thread... it's about 3 years since the last response!

anyways... having trouble finding info about 20k tubes. i wonder if you got any info in that scrapbook of yours on the subject, newt.

hope you guys are still alive!:boxing:
 
#23 ·
Re: Lighting for the Planted Aquarium

Seems like Takashi Amano reccomends green light over blue and red.

Quoted from Aqua Journal:
In the tropical streams where aquatic plants grow, sunlight are filtered through many vertical layers of tree canopy. The upper layer receives as much as 25% to 100% direct exposure to sunlight. This is scientifically known as the euphotic layer. In the lower parts of the forest and streams below, where low light conditions occurs, this si known as the oligophotic layer where a mere 1-3 percent of light is made available to plants. This small percentage of light are filtered through the forest green canopy and reflected as incidental light, thus the natural wavelengths are dramatically altered. Aquatic plants have evolved millions of years to adapt to greenish light available to them. The NA-Lamp adopts a fresh green ulothrix fluorescent to reproduce nature's green irradiance wavelength in your aquarium.

Here's the spectral distribution of NA-Lamps.



So I guess land plants or those that get sunlight all teh time like red and blue, while those at the bottom and in water have evolved to make use of green better.
 
#44 ·
Re: Lighting for the Planted Aquarium

Seems like Takashi Amano reccomends green light over blue and red.

Quoted from Aqua Journal:
In the tropical streams where aquatic plants grow, sunlight are filtered through many vertical layers of tree canopy. The upper layer receives as much as 25% to 100% direct exposure to sunlight. This is scientifically known as the euphotic layer. In the lower parts of the forest and streams below, where low light conditions occurs, this si known as the oligophotic layer where a mere 1-3 percent of light is made available to plants. This small percentage of light are filtered through the forest green canopy and reflected as incidental light, thus the natural wavelengths are dramatically altered. Aquatic plants have evolved millions of years to adapt to greenish light available to them. The NA-Lamp adopts a fresh green ulothrix fluorescent to reproduce nature's green irradiance wavelength in your aquarium.

Here's the spectral distribution of NA-Lamps.



So I guess land plants or those that get sunlight all teh time like red and blue, while those at the bottom and in water have evolved to make use of green better.
Hi Newt,
I've been reading this thread and have found it relatively interesting. I stopped keeping fish several years ago. At that time there weren't as many options. I used Triton bulbs 100% of the time to grow plants and I felt that they did a good job. This was over 6 years ago. People were starting to use compacts but at the time I felt like they were overkill. Metal hallides were also being used, mostly for reef tanks but also by some freshwater hobbyist....I felt that this was overkill as well. Now, I see the need for such lighting, especially with some of the stem plants that are being grown these days.

I've just starting keeping aquariums again and I'm amazed at all the different options. Just out of curiosity, in your opinion what is the best bulb to grow aquarium plants assuming a normal 48in. T12 shop light? I've noticed that you seem to like Gro-lux bulbs but I still wanted to ask the question. Also, what is your opinion on Triton vs. Gro-lux?

Lastly, can you please address the quote above? All the things you've said makes sense and is pretty much how I've viewed aquarium lighting for years now. Without thinking too much about it, Amanos quote also seems logical and makes sense. I would really like to hear your opinion of this quote.

thanks,
aaron
 
#24 · (Edited)
Great thread this!

Does anyone know where to find the spectrum data for power compact fluorescents?

I bought a light hood that came with two generic CF 24W 10,000K bulbs in it (so I was told), photo:



Light hood is about 35cm long. The problem is that my red plants have all turned green and glosso is growing vertically, despite high CO2 levels, good water quality and good fert routine. At over 6W per gallon there should be plenty of light......so I have put it down to the output of the bulbs themselves.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks.
 
#25 ·
You apparently have about an 8 gallon tank (48 watts giving 6 watts per gallon), so the "watts per gallon" rule isn't of much value for that size tank. Looking at the photo of the light fixture, it looks like there isn't room in there for much of a reflector. If that is true, the bulbs aren't supplying as much light to the tank as an AH Supply light kit, with it's great reflector would. The fixture is also mounted on legs, higher above the water than a standard, rest on the tank, light would be, which also reduces the amount of light the plants get. I suspect that with that fixture you have moderately low light intensity now.
 
#26 ·
Thanks hoppycalif, appreciate your input.

The tank is actually only 7 gallon, made a mistake in the conversion from litres, which makes it 6.8W/gallon. The hood sits about 8cm above the surface of the water, and is mirrored internally. I understand what you are saying about the reflector though, which is about 50% blocked by the lamps themselves.

If anyone could give me some data on the available CF lamps I am looking for it would be fantastic.
 
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