OP
OP
There is an argument for "full spectrum" but that argument is primarily centered around chlorophyll and plants - not chlorophyll and algae.
I've seen this argument go both ways with logic and reason and the only thing I can back up my advice with is long-term experience. Red (deep red, 660ish) and violet ("hyper" violet, under 420) work well on algae. Originally it was red/blue (royal blue 445-455) but that was mainly because violets were expensive and unreliable (no longer the case).
Most of the stock fixtures are 660 red (maybe, usually a mix of 630/660) and RB 450 because those are cheap and available. For plants, I heard from a hort guy long ago that 660/450 doesn't work well because it's limited spectrum. Plants actually need more full spectrum light. So you're seeing the LED grow light market catch up after the craze of "GO LED OMG" has caught up to the reality that it's more than that, spectral tuning is important - tuned to what you need to grow. Growth vs budding/flowering stages = different spectra. NOAA still uses T12 VHO if that tells you anything (not kidding). So does the USDA Lab at ISU in Ames, IA (I've been inside their climate sim chambers for growing corn in different conditions, biggest lab in the US for that type of thing BTW).
Basically, if you get a fixture that is as heavy in the warm/red spectrum as you can get, you should be OK - but verify before trusting (buy one, try it) and see if they have a return policy (never hurts to ask) then protect the fixture just in case (so it doesn't get salt creep all over it). If memory serves me correctly, "growth" will lean warm white/red, and "budding/flowering" will lean more heavily into cool white and blue (you don't want that).
Intensity is another thing that most fixtures aren't made for - for plants, you don't want massive amounts of focused light, you want to spread it out. In a plant room, you put the light up higher to spread it out instead of placing the lamp 1" from the plant. We actually do that, but the difference is the plant isn't being provided nutrients to the surface with water rapidly flowing across it. So a specialized application doesn't demand that everyone make a fixture that works for it, making them hard to find (and apparently it's getting harder).
{Rant off}
I've seen this argument go both ways with logic and reason and the only thing I can back up my advice with is long-term experience. Red (deep red, 660ish) and violet ("hyper" violet, under 420) work well on algae. Originally it was red/blue (royal blue 445-455) but that was mainly because violets were expensive and unreliable (no longer the case).
Most of the stock fixtures are 660 red (maybe, usually a mix of 630/660) and RB 450 because those are cheap and available. For plants, I heard from a hort guy long ago that 660/450 doesn't work well because it's limited spectrum. Plants actually need more full spectrum light. So you're seeing the LED grow light market catch up after the craze of "GO LED OMG" has caught up to the reality that it's more than that, spectral tuning is important - tuned to what you need to grow. Growth vs budding/flowering stages = different spectra. NOAA still uses T12 VHO if that tells you anything (not kidding). So does the USDA Lab at ISU in Ames, IA (I've been inside their climate sim chambers for growing corn in different conditions, biggest lab in the US for that type of thing BTW).
Basically, if you get a fixture that is as heavy in the warm/red spectrum as you can get, you should be OK - but verify before trusting (buy one, try it) and see if they have a return policy (never hurts to ask) then protect the fixture just in case (so it doesn't get salt creep all over it). If memory serves me correctly, "growth" will lean warm white/red, and "budding/flowering" will lean more heavily into cool white and blue (you don't want that).
Intensity is another thing that most fixtures aren't made for - for plants, you don't want massive amounts of focused light, you want to spread it out. In a plant room, you put the light up higher to spread it out instead of placing the lamp 1" from the plant. We actually do that, but the difference is the plant isn't being provided nutrients to the surface with water rapidly flowing across it. So a specialized application doesn't demand that everyone make a fixture that works for it, making them hard to find (and apparently it's getting harder).
{Rant off}
