All the color is generated with two black lights, six inches a piece I believe. Nine of the plants are glow in the dark, so the black lights really make them pop. All the other ones just happen to react to black light by chance. I bought dozens of plants and tested them under the lights. Some would glow really nice, some wouldn't do anything. The ones that didn't glow, didn't make it into the tank. The planets I got off a website that sells the glow in the dark star kits. I also bought a bag of glow in the dark gravel that really brings out the floor of the tank, and looks like moss on top of the cave. I have nine glow fish in there as well (3 orange, 3 red, 3 green), they stand out really well. You can't really see them in the pics because of the long exposure time on the camera. I think I had it set for 4.5 seconds, they couldn't sit still that long. My overall goal with this tank was to recreate the overall feel of Pandora at night, you know, from Avatar. It ended up coming out better than I ever thought it would, couldn't be happier with it.