My first post here so, hi everyone.
- that's correct (except for the green bit, and my apologies in advance for being picky ops: ) Chlorophyll A and B both have peaks in the photosynthetic response curve in the red and blue area of the spectrum. However, there is also a measurable (albeit, smaller) response in the green area of the spectrum. In rain forests much of the light filtering down from the canopy is green and the forest floor plants (and algae) still manage to grow. Having said that, I am not sure we should view marine algae in quite the same light as plants.Actually all algae and plants use primarily red and blue only, since that's what chlorophyll A and chlorophyll B use. They don't use green ...
light does not penetrate well in seawater. Red light penetrates very poorly, green light does a little better and blue light is better still. Naturally the algae have adapted to what light is available to them at the depths that they grow. So, you will find algae that grow well for any colour of light - wherever there is a niche there is an algae to take advantage of it. I believe, some algae utilise Chlorophyll C which has a peak spectral response to green light :idea: this is why I was being picky about the green :idea: So, it could be that green light is actually useful for growing algae.
I am by no means an expert in this field and am happy to be corrected. I am just curious to what type of lighting is best, and most efficient, for a scrubber. I am presently using CFL's with 6500k(cool white) on one side and 2700k (warm white) on the other. After about 3 weeks of running my scrubber the warm white currently has better growth on it. The question is though, is it the right sort of algae? - time will tell.