reef's = same requirements as pot ?

[Crytone]

Maybe we're onto something here! With all these timers and light setups we use on our tanks, we can easily grow a few small plants on the side to supplement buying new SW stuff!

[Bloodasp]

And if cops raid your place show them your reef tanks and tell them it's the reason your electric bills are over $1000 a month. Hopefully they are not reefers too.

[Funky_Fish14]

It actually really brings to light how many people grow marijuana or indulge it! its a crazy number!

[lockrookie]

yesterday i did a search for rabbit cages and in the middel of the picture list was some vibration device with rabbit ears,, this is why you put on parental controles on your kids pc's

[BlueAbyss]

Hmm. I'm surprised that no one picked up on this sooner (or commented). Maybe it takes someone who is an avid indoor gardener and 'reefer' to see the similarities.

I have a pretty extensive collection of indoor plants and have been researching the possibility of a light garden, and saw the similarities right away. The only difference between metal halide for plants (and for weed for that matter) and that for coral (or the higher K lighting, 10K, 14K, etc. sold for marine tanks) is the bulb. For effective flowering and fruiting, plants need a fair amount of the red spectrum that is lacking in higher K bulbs (part of the reason those bulbs generally rate lower in PAR), which is why AgroSun bulbs have become popular for indoor growers who grow flowering / fruiting plants... I'm off topic here. The fact is that much of the equipment is interchangeable, since you are growing photosynthetic (well, mostly in the case of corals) organisms.

For the record, I'm betting that I can build an LED rig that will grow flowering plants, as well as coral, equally well.

[kien]

It doesn't help that my house glows a brilliant blue. I have to keep my front window open so that people can clearly see that I'm growing corals and not something else

[bauder1986]

haha reminds me of the time i went to fishytimes house the first time ever and i was trying to look for the address on the building at night time and as soon as Terry and I were with in sight of his house we had to laugh because we didnt need to know his address but look for the insane glow of the lights haha

[Funky_Fish14]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Hmm. I'm surprised that no one picked up on this sooner (or commented). Maybe it takes someone who is an avid indoor gardener and 'reefer' to see the similarities.

For effective flowering and fruiting, plants need a fair amount of the red spectrum that is lacking in higher K bulbs (part of the reason those bulbs generally rate lower in PAR).

Im pretty sure a lot of people noticed... just nobody commented on it?

Not that im trying to cut in to what your saying, but blue light (/wavelengths of light) actually has higher energy than green light, and much higher energy than red light. The larger the wavelength, the lower the energy (blue = 400-450nm while red = 600-690 ish). Recently we determined the rate of photosynthesis in spinach cells when exposed to different colours of light, it occured most effectively with exposure to blue light. The absorption of blue light by the photocells was about 50%, while with red light it was about 12% and green light like 5%. Though green light has a higher energy content than red light, I guess the plants do not absorb this as much? They appear green because they reflect back most of the green light.

So because of the benefit from the blue spectrum, I dont understand why higher K bulbs do not produce better plant growth? You mentioned the red seems correlated with flowering and fruiting? Is that the reason the lower K ratings are preffered?

Also just a note for anybody - The colour temperatures we use with our hobby are simply 'Correlated Colour Temperatures', meaning the temperature we interpret the light to be. If we were talking actual colour temperature, a blue light (around 420nm, like actinic) is actually around 7200 degrees kelvin. A crisp white would be around 42-4700 IIRC? And 'yellow' plant bulbs are in the 3000's. Correct me if im wrong.

Cheers,

Chris

[justinl]

as fas as I understand, it's not enough to just talk about red yellow blue etc light. When it comes to photosynthesis it's all about PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). Different processes involved in growth are triggered by specific wavelengths as well. For example in "sun plants" vertical growth is increased with greater far red to red light exposure. Absorption of the different wavelengths mediates phytochrome activity (which is associated with vertical growth, flowering, fruiting and a bunch of other things), but not photosynthesis.

On the topic of equipment, little of reefing equipment is novel. For example, plant growers were using halides and T5s long before we were.

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

For effective flowering and fruiting, plants need a fair amount of the red spectrum that is lacking in higher K bulbs (part of the reason those bulbs generally rate lower in PAR), which is why AgroSun bulbs have become popular for indoor growers who grow flowering / fruiting plants...

thats what fiji purples are for