AquaTricia
Aquarium Advice FINatic
The lights I use are Orbits. Doug approved them. Like to hear more about this, though.
Algae can grow under any color light. 2 things needed to grow algae- light and nutrients. I have both types of fixtures over my system- the blue/white, and the multicolored. The fixture with the reds in it doesn't grow algae any faster or differently than the area covered by the fixtures lacking reds. You simply have a green water outbreak. Do you have access to a UV sterilizer? That will wipe it out pretty quickly.
To answer the first part of your question- I don't think either of those claims (carbon or reds) are true. Hydroponics fixtures do have a large number of reds in them for certain growth stages in plants, but that's not the only way to grow them. Here you will see an explanation of color and plants-
http://www.colormatters.com/plant-gr...nd-light-color
I have seen green water outbreaks with 20k halides just as much as multicolored LED.
People who say that pets lower their blood pressure never had a reef tank!