Do blue lights help plants at all? (freshwater)

[Mith]

Just curious :22:

[Little Embers]

The color temperature of the bulbs is also important. The bulbs should emit light from the blue end of the spectrum, giving off a slightly blueish or purplish glow. Blue light penetrates right to the bottom of the tank, ensuring that submerged plants get enough light. The packaging of florescent lights usually states if the bulb emits the proper color temperature for plants.
Extract from: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

A few other sites say the same thing.

[Lab_Rat]

I like the 6700K lights for my plants. The lower ones look too yellowy and make the tank look jaundice. The higher ones and actinic ones are bluer and are not the right spectrum for optimal plant growth. 10,000K are ok for plants though.

[Anomaly]

I like the 6700K lights for my plants. The lower ones look too yellowy and make the tank look jaundice. The higher ones and actinic ones are bluer and are not the right spectrum for optimal plant growth. 10,000K are ok for plants though.

Agreed - you're best off with 6700k for looks and growth IMHO. Some people do combine that with an actinic bulb though.

[Lady Hobbs]

The blue is sold for marine tanks and the white or pink for planted. I think the blue would make the planted tanks look icky and not the proper color of the plants.

[Northernguy]

I beleive the bluer lights really help to promote algae growth!

[Mith]

Still confused, I was thinking along the lines of Lazdy Hobbs that blue lights were for saltwater. I have two sets of white and blue florescent bulbs and thought that if the blue ones would help at all I'd keep them. But if the blue bulbs arew no good what so ever I'd have to replace all bulbs since the white and blue bulbs are each one unit.