Above: brown algae (Diatoms) and plant melt is common in new tanks. When starting a a new tank, it is common for users to have seemingly ‘perfect’ water parameters and still face significant plant melt and algae. This is because the microbial (“beneficial bacteria”) community isn’t established yet. It is hugely important, but cannot be […]
The best LED units for planted tanks in 2021
The tank below uses a custom build BML LED bar on this tank. You can see the mix of Red, Blue and Warm white LEDs mixed with neutral white LEDs being used. The fixture gives a long height clearance above the tank, which enables pruning work without the need to move the lights – to […]
What factors give rise to stem elongation?
Lets start by reading spectrum charts An example of a light spectrum chart of a T5 bulb is given on the left below. The amount of light produced for a particular spectrum segment is the area under the curve. This bulb has a balance of red/green/blue which will give the bulb a relatively neutral white […]
Fine Tuning Light Spectrum
Is 6500K ideal for planted tanks?
T5 vs LED, which is better?
Which part of the light spectrum is used for photosynthesis?
Dispersion, Angles & Spread of light units
6500K vs 2700K; what does the kelvin number actually mean?
How to read PAR tables
Is Colour Rendering Index (CRI) important for planted tanks?
Do Green plants reflect green light? Is green light useless for photosynthesis?