# Ai prime for plants?



## FS4L

I'm thinking of setting up a planted tank and I plan to use my Aqua illumination prime led. I don't know much about plants lighting so I want to ask what spectrum do plants like. The fixture is controlled by my phone. I can change the spectrum and brightness but I don't know what to set it to 

My plan for the tank:

10 gallon standard with Ada Amazonia, a few rocks, a 50 watt heater, fluval co2 system, and a small hang on back filter 

For livestock I want to have a dwarf hair grass carpet Cory cats and a school of neon or Cardinal tetras





Please help me planted tank masters


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## khiyasu

I don't know the science on the back of my head but plants like the red and blue spectrum the most for their growth. The green not so much as i believe it reflects off them but they still use it and it brings out the green in them. 

Do you have co2? What type of plants are you planning on planting? I'm not familiar with the lighting you have so I can't comment much on it.


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## khiyasu

Sorry just saw your post again. Co2 on top of lighting is very important for growth. flow would be important too. The challenge is finding the right balance between light and co2. With dhg you will need at least medium light so looking at everything you have with exception of the light which I don't know anything about, it would look like you should be good to get the dhg growing. 

However, just be careful to find the right balance of light and co2 for the tank. Too much light and not enough co2 will cause algae problems. Too much co2 and not enough light will suffocate the fish. If you don't have a bubble counter, may be good to invest in one and also a drop checker to check for co2 amounts in the water


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## FS4L

Thanks for the help
Ps my light is used for coral reef tanks so I'm pretty sure it's enough


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## khiyasu

FS4L said:


> Thanks for the help
> Ps my light is used for coral reef tanks so I'm pretty sure it's enough


I just briefly look at the light you have and it seems that it has a very strong PAR value. However, the light spectrum for corals and freshwater plants are very different. The light has very high blue intensity but weak for reds, which are important for plant growth. However, it may work - never tried saltwater lighting for freshwater plants so don't know if it would work but the PAR values do seem to be there.


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## FS4L

khiyasu said:


> I just briefly look at the light you have and it seems that it has a very strong PAR value. However, the light spectrum for corals and freshwater plants are very different. The light has very high blue intensity but weak for reds, which are important for plant growth. However, it may work - never tried saltwater lighting for freshwater plants so don't know if it would work but the PAR values do seem to be there.


I can controll the light so I could just dim the blues and intensify the Reds


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## khiyasu

It actually isn't as simple as intensifying the reds.

The ideal light spectrum for photosynthesis for plants have much higher reds:









The light spectrum for the AI Prime is slightly different.

Prime Â» AquaIlluminationÂ®

The Ai Prime has Very strong blues but minimal Red, even if intensifying reds it may or may not be enough. However, who knows, it may work. Try it out and let us know how it goes. Maybe some one who has tried before can let us know about their experience. Good luck!


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## FS4L

khiyasu said:


> It actually isn't as simple as intensifying the reds.
> 
> The ideal light spectrum for photosynthesis for plants have much higher reds:
> 
> View attachment 121850
> 
> 
> The light spectrum for the AI Prime is slightly different.
> 
> Prime Â» AquaIlluminationÂ®
> 
> The Ai Prime has Very strong blues but minimal Red, even if intensifying reds it may or may not be enough. However, who knows, it may work. Try it out and let us know how it goes. Maybe some one who has tried before can let us know about their experience. Good luck!


Thanks for the help I'll let you know how it goes


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## 2wheelsx2

The AI prime will be just fine, but you're going to be dialing it way down to manage the lighting level for a 10 gallon. If not you would have to inject so much CO2 it would be detrimental to your fishes. I was looking at one but the spread is too small for my low tech 100 gallon cube. I am going to be doing an Ecotech Radion XR15fw I think.


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## lawdan

I run the AI Hydra over my tank that is 18inches deep with great success. Definitely start with the lights turned way down and slowly increase them as you will grow green algae like you wouldn't believe!! I use the app on my phone and just set the color spectrum to 7000K at about 40% power. I then just crank the red channel up. They work fine for planted tanks. They might not be the absolute perfect spectrum, but they make up for it in many other ways as you probably already know. 

If you have any questions on settings just let me know

daniel


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## Geoffrey

I don't know too much about the light, but you may want to look into a proper CO2 setup. I've heard the Fluval one is rather small and run out quickly so it'll cost more in the long run for the canister refills.


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