Do Plants Need Total Darkness at Night?

[StevesPrettyCool]

Hey everyone! I just planted my tank and have a question. I know that plants need darkness during the night for the "Dark Reaction" process to begin. My question is, does it have to be total darkness? I have a large LED strip that has something like 15 different colors and remote with dimmer/bright buttons, and have been using blue or green during the night, and at the dimmest setting it is very dark (to the point that u basically only see the silhouettes of the fish). I'll post a picture of the light on the lowest setting in a few minutes (camera battery is charging now) and would really appreciate some feedback if anyone has the answers i seek!

 

[StevesPrettyCool]

ok heres the Blue and the Green on the lowest setting...

 

[aqua_chem]

Hey everyone! I just planted my tank and have a question. I know that plants need darkness during the night for the "Dark Reaction" process to begin. My question is, does it have to be total darkness? I have a large LED strip that has something like 15 different colors and remote with dimmer/bright buttons, and have been using blue or green during the night, and at the dimmest setting it is very dark (to the point that u basically only see the silhouettes of the fish). I'll post a picture of the light on the lowest setting in a few minutes (camera battery is charging now) and would really appreciate some feedback if anyone has the answers i seek!

"Dark Reaction" is kind of a misnomer. "Light Independent" would be a better description. In fact, some enzymes for that pathway are inactivated in the dark in certain species.

Also, LEDs are notorious for being dim and hard to grow plants under.

 

[StevesPrettyCool]

yeah i know LED's dont work for plant growing. I also have two 36" T6HO 12,000k Daylights I have on during the day, the LED strip is just a luxury strip. I was just wondering if at night, do they need absolute darkness, or do ya think I can get away with a dim light on? I like being about to see in the tank at night, even if its just a dim light.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Nah. I have blue moonlights on one of my planted tanks. The plants in that tank are doing better than any of my others (not that I am, by any means, blaming the led's... just saying that as my proof they don't cause issues).

 

[potatochobit]

LIght does not inhibit the process
you should not leave your lights on 24 hours mainly for the fish and animals sake

it is reported some plants do better with the lights turned off at specific intervals, but it probably has to do more with the plant resting.
dark reactions occur throughout the day, btw. it does not just take place at night.

remember, lights also add heat to the water, which may be another factor.

 

[Vircomore]

I would agree that those night-lights will not have a negative impact on the growth of the plants. If anything they may have more of a negative impact on the fish (especially the brightest green can be disruptive to the fish's night cycle).

Plants only make use of a certain spectrum of light so they likely won't be impacted by the colored lights (since they are out of the "daylight" spectrum).