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Red light only?

4K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  johnson18 
#1 ·
what would happen if i was to leave 48 660nm red led for 10 hours a day in my planted no Co2 tank and then 48 blue led the rest of the time?
 
#2 · (Edited)
I can't say for sure, but since red and blue are both photosynthetically active you'd pretty much be giving your plants a 24 hour photoperiod. I'm no expert but I doubt it would work well since plants do actually need to "sleep" at some point during the day. Your plants can also use more of the red spectrum than just 660 nm, so I'm not sure why you'd use just one wavelength.
 
#3 ·
I can't say for sure, but since red and blue are both photosynthetically active you'd pretty much be giving your plants a 24 hour photoperiod. I'm no expert but I doubt it would work well since plants do actually need to "sleep" at some point during the day. Your plants can also use more of the red spectrum than just 600 nm, so I'm not sure why you'd use just one wavelength.
Thanks for the input. I am a new at keeping plants but everyone here has been helpful.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Let's start with the fact that plants need dark, just like they need light. Running light of any color within the range of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), 400-700nm, for 24h/d would mean that the plant would be doing constant photosynthesis. Plants need the dark for other required processes.

It sounds like your pink is from the red & white led combos. White light will typically contain all of the necessary wavelengths for photosynthesis. I'd probably use the plant mode unless you absolutely can't stand the color it makes your tank.

Bump:
Here are a couple absorbance spectra for you to check out.

This first shows the wavelengths which chlorophyll a & chlorophyll b absorb & the percent absorbed.



The second has two. The top is basically the same as above but includes carotenoids While the second shows the rate of photosynthesis of the chloroplast under the various wavelengths of PAR.




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