Compulsory to use white (daylight) instead of pink for planted tank?

[aqualover]

Hi all,

There's something which has been bothering me for quite sometime.
Assuming all else being equal - Is it compulsory to use white tube/s with daylight instead of pink light for planted tank?

Afterall, freshwater plants do not make use of the entire spectrum of light, isn't pink light sufficient with similar wattage & colour temperature?

Yes, I do notice that almost all LFS uses white tubes for their planted tank. But what is the underlying reason? Most people probably do what everyone else is doing. I personally prefer pink light as it enhances the colour of the fishes in the tank.

Has anyone tried and succeeded?

[valice]

Well, this has been discussed many a times about light colour and its spectrum.

The difference between daylight (white) and pink (for planted tanks) is the amount of green emitted by the light. Plants needs more of the blue and red for photosynthesis as discussed before...

And white lights seemed to be brighter than pink due to the higher green and blue components which the human eyes receive better.

So it is down to personnal preference of the tubes to use as long as the tubes are within 5000K to 10000K...

[FishFan]

Hmm.. interesting question.

Can't really provide a physical explanation of the light spectrum usage. Pink lights do make fish look better but I feel that it is more important to focus on keeping the fish healthy so that they will look good naturally. Speaking of natural, what is aesthetically pleasing is white light as pink light is just not something that occurs in nature. Since you are keeping a planted tank, you also need to accord some focus on the presentation of the plants.

So I guess for me, I'll use white (daylights) and keep my fishes healthy so that they will exhibit nice colours.

[michael lai]

I think it's a matter of personal preference. Why not white and pink. Arcadia's flouroscent tube for planted tanks is in pink colour.

[valice]

AquaMedic's Planta tubes also pink in colour... I am using both white and pink...

[taygu]

For plants, daylight is prefer as it resemble sunlight., I have attached a link for you to read further.

http://www.thekrib.com/Lights/

[aqualover]

Thx 4 all the feedback. Yes, I was thinking of using both pink & daylight for my double-tube lighting. I just want to add that some of the pink light tube even comes with packaging stating that it's very good for aquatic plants, this includes scientific-looking histograms on it too. Case of misleading the consumer or misrepesentation?

[|squee|]

Frankly I think the majority of the public can make no sense of those light spectrum histograms/whatever you call them.

I buy 8000K white light tubes. Anything other than white is simply out of question. Natural's the best!

[GaspingGurami]

Frankly I think the majority of the public can make no sense of those light spectrum histograms/whatever you call them.

Sometimes, these information can be copied from another maker and incorporated into the packaging so that it looks the part.

I have access to a colourimeter and I measured one of this Ch**a made tubes that claimed 10,000K with fancy histograms on the box. The reading was 24,000K.

OTOH I've elbiru PL tubes that come out of generic looking plain white boxes that have no printing. Text printed on the tube says 8000K. Measurement on the meter reads 7500K. I'd excuse the 500 kelvins of shift to the old acrylic cover that has yellowed with age.

[valice]

I have access to a colourimeter and I measured one of this Ch**a made tubes that claimed 10,000K with fancy histograms on the box. The reading was 24,000K.

So what does that tell you? Never judge a book by its cover!

[aqualover]

Yeah, I understand that. But for an average consumer with no access to colourimeter, specs on packaging would be the next best thing (minus the marketing gimmick, of course)

[gorilla83]

OTOH I've elbiru PL tubes that come out of generic looking plain white boxes that have no printing. Text printed on the tube says 8000K. Measurement on the meter reads 7500K. I'd excuse the 500 kelvins of shift to the old acrylic cover that has yellowed with age.

Hi GaspingGurami,
Where did u get 8000K PL tubes? Is it the 13W ones?
Have been looking hard around but can't find it...
Went NA but Mr Chan says he don't have it...