Aquarium Lighting Info

[aquafrogstuff]

For those of you wanting more detailed information on aquarium lighting, check out this website.... http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

[ILLUSN]

great artical and a very good read, I've been using it for some time.

the PUR vs PAR is still a bit of a cloudy issue IMO higher order plants have developed to utilize a broader spectrum of radiation then Algae which from my knowlage is how the PUR plots were first measured.

obviously green light at 520-535 is going to be wasted on green plants (as they reflect green) but these wavelengths are VERY importants for other reasons as they give the most lumens/w off any spectrum as its where our eyes are most sensitive. If you think of it this way you only need 1 w of green to look as bright as 10 watts of red and blue so by a adding "a little" green you get a huge spike in brightness for the least ammount of power. Also adding green to red and blue make a nice white light thats pleasing to the eye.

I've just started rebuilding all my DIY fixtures to use 1 green for ever 2 blues and 2 reds and the results are amazing I'll try and post some photos.

I think an important thing to remember that a light has to not only grow plants but make the tank look appealing and as ALOT of the coral boys are finding out just having the cool white (6500k+) and royal blue can wash things out a little, its good to use other parts of the spectrum to get colours to display right and with LED's you can easily match PAR from a 150w halide with energy savings of 80%-90% and maintain full coverage of the visable light spectrum.

[Hooked]

Hi aquafrogstuff,
Great link, thanks. Great timing for me, I'm wanting to upgrade my lights from the very basic T8's that I have been mostly using and try to get more than the basic plants to grow and colours to "pop" in the fish. I recently took the advice of a buddy and added an extra T5 unit with some blue and pink tubes and wow what a difference to the reds etc in the fish.
Leds seem to be the way to go so will read this info over the coming days.

Thanks mate,

Cheers

[aquafrogstuff]

Great response guys - check out a post I just did on some LED lights I installed today.

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23776&highlight=