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Lighting Suggestions for new tank

2K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  chvvkumar 
The most important thing to getting good colors out of plants, especially good reds, is going with the right color spectrum. The key to good colors is a lot of red and blue--that provides more color saturation. 99% of LEDs have a terrible color spectrum because they do not have enough red light and are almost all blue light. A good affordable option within your budget is the Finnex Planted+ 24/7. For comparison here is the Hygger light's color spectrum:
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Notice the very low red and the high amount of blue.

Here is the Finnex Planted+ 24/7's color spectrum:
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You can see the much higher amount of red.
 
Hygger is a perfectly useable spectrum.
For more red color saturation and a bit more targeting of photosynthesis 660 nm is arguably preferred.

Stingray II as an example. 2x the cost if the Hyggar.
Sizing is an issue.
I don’t mean to say it won’t grow plants well. Aesthetically the plants and fish just won't look as good and the hygger just won’t bring out specifically the reds nearly as well.

I don’t mean to say it won’t grow plants well. It just won’t bring out the deep reds nearly as well.
Here is an old comparison of my tank under a light spectrum like the hygger vs my new Chihiros which has a lot of red.
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And the difference in how red a fish looks under the two lights:
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Zero editing, just more red in the light.
 
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